:''See also Campeche (disambiguation)''

name	Campeche
native name	Estado Libre y Soberano de Campeche
settlement type	State
flag size	160px
image seal	Coat of arms of Campeche.svg
seal size	60px
nickname
motto
anthem	Himno Campechano
map caption	State of Campeche within Mexico
coordinates type	region:MX-CAM_type:adm1st
coordinates display	inline,title
subdivision type	Country
subdivision name	Mexico
subdivision type1	Capital
subdivision name1	San Francisco de Campeche
subdivision type2	Largest City
subdivision name2	San Francisco de Campeche
subdivision type3	Municipalities
subdivision name3	11
established title	Admission
established date	April 29, 1863
established title2	Order
established date2	25th
seat type	May 3, 1858
leader title	Governor
leader name	Fernando Ortega
leader title1	Senators
leader name1	Guadalupe Fonz
Leader title2	Deputies
Leader name2
unit pref	Metric
area footnotes
area total km2	57924
area note	Ranked 18th
elevation max footnotes
elevation max m	390
population total	822,441
population as of	2010
population density km2	auto
population density rank	29th
population demonym	Campechano (a)
population rank	30th
timezone1	CST, (UTC-6)
timezone1 dst	CDT
utc offset1 dst	-5
postal code type	Postal code
postal code	24
area code type	Area code
area code
iso code	MX-CAM
blank name sec1	HDI
blank info sec1	0.825 High Ranked 18th
blank name sec2	GDP
blank info sec2	US$ 12.0 billion
website
footnotes	a. Separated from Yucatán on May 3, 1858, was federal territory from 1858 to 1863. b. The state's GDP was 153.6 billion of pesos in 2008, amount corresponding to 12.0 billion of dollars, being a dollar worth 12.80 pesos (value of June 3, 2010). }}

Campeche () is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. Located in Southeast Mexico, it is bordered by the states of Yucatán to the north east, Quintana Roo to the east, and Tabasco to the south west. To the south it is bordered by the Petén department of Guatemala and to the west by the Gulf of Mexico.

The area of Campeche is , and the population is only 822,441 inhabitants in 2010. This makes Campeche one of the states with the lowest population densities in Mexico (fifth behind Baja California Sur, Durango, Sonora, and Chihuahua).

The capital city of the state is the city of San Francisco de Campeche, which was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

In addition to the city of Campeche, the state of Campeche includes the cities of Ciudad del Carmen, Champotón, and Escárcega, the towns of Bolonchén, Calkiní, Dzitbalché, Hecelchakán, Hopelchén, Lerma, Tenabo, and Sabancuy, and many ruins of the Maya civilization such as Becán, Calakmul, Silvituc, Dzibilnocac, Edzná, Hocchob, Holactún, Río Bec, Uxul, Xicalango, Xpuhil, and Xtampak.

''Campeche'' derives from the name of the Mayan city of Kan pech, which became today's San Francisco de Campeche.

History

Campeche was home to the ancient Mayan culture. Their advanced cultural and scientific development made the Maya one of the most important pre-Hispanic cultures in Latin America. Many Maya ruins that still stand in Campeche, such as Calakmul, Chicanna, Becan, Edzna, Xpujil, Hormiguero, Balamku, and El Tigre, among many. The name Campeche has Maya origins, however its meaning has had different interpretations: the most accepted one is that Can means snake and Pech means tick, or "Site of Ticks and Snakes"; this matches the sculpture of a large snake with a tick on its head found within one of its temples.

When the Spaniards first landed on the coast of Campeche in 1517, they were defeated several times by the local leader Moch Couoh. After his death and thanks to territorial conflicts among the indigenous groups, the Spaniards were able to take control and in 1540 gave the settlement the official name of Villa de San Francisco de Campeche to honor Francisco de Montejo, "El Mozo". The polytheist religion of the Maya civilization, which controlled every aspect of their lives, made the evangelization process of the Spaniards specially difficult to achieve in Mayan territory.

The new government readily took advantage of the geographical location of the port and this was soon reflected in a commercial boom. Salt; timber; and Palo de Tinta, timber from a tree called Tinta, were exported to foreign countries. This boom not only attracted the conquistadores, it attracted European pirates as well; during the 17th century Campeche was attacked repeatedly by them until 1704.

In 1821, at the end of the war for Independence, the new sovereign country was witness to political conflicts between liberals, conservatives, centralists and federalists. In a rebellion about federalism, from 1841 to 1848 Campeche, along with Yucatán and Quintana Roo states, broke away from Mexico, becoming the independent Republic of Yucatán. In 1847 an indigenous rebellion known as the "Caste War" began, with the Mayas rebelling against the "white government" to regain control of their land. The insurrection was mostly crushed with the help of the Mexican Army and the Yucatán Peninsula once again rejoined Mexico in 1848 (although the Maya continued to resist until the early 20th century).

The peninsula was also one of the regions in the country that rejected the imposition of a federal government. And to top it all, Campeche and Yucatán had economic conflicts between them at the same time. It wasn’t until May 3, 1858 that Campeche was formally separated from Yucatán. But it was only recognized as a sovereign region in 1863 by president Benito Juárez.

The state economy has been based on the exportation of timber and salt since the government of Porfirio Díaz. Corn and sugar cane are the main agricultural products. In 1975, the state's economy was impelled by the discovery of an oil bed off its coasts in the Gulf of Mexico.

Municipalities

The State of Campeche is divided into 11 municipalities (), each headed by a municipal president (mayor).

Data from the II Conteo de Población y Vivienda 2000, INEGI.

Tourism

Demographics

Inhabitants: 805,182

Age Average: 24 years.

Annual Population Growth: 1.46%

Population at the Capital: 216,900.

Population that speaks a native tongue: 89,000.

Population that does not speak Spanish: 3,140

References

External links

Yucatan Today - The leading tourist guide to Merida and Yucatan - article about Campeche

Campeche State Government Instituto de Cultura

Category:States of Mexico Category:States and territories established in 1858

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{{infobox president| name	Lázaro Cárdenas
nationality	Mexican
order	35px 44th
office	President of Mexico
term start1	December 1, 1934
term end1	November 30, 1940
predecessor1	Abelardo L. Rodríguez
successor1	Manuel Ávila Camacho
office2	Governor of Michoacán
term start2	1928
term end2	1932
predecessor2	Luis Méndez
successor2	Dámaso Cárdenas
birth date	May 21, 1895
birth place	Jiquilpan, Michoacán
death date	October 19, 1970
death place	Mexico DF
spouse	Amalia Solórzano
party	Party of the Mexican Revolution }}

Lázaro Cárdenas del Río (May 21, 1895 - October 19, 1970) was President of Mexico from 1934 to 1940.

Early life

Lázaro Cárdenas was born on May 21, 1895 in a lower-middle class family in the village of Jiquilpan, Michoacán. He supported his family (including his mother and seven younger siblings) from age 16 after the death of his father. By the age of 18 he had worked as a tax collector, a printer's devil, and a jailkeeper. Although he left school at the age of eleven, he used every opportunity to educate himself and read widely throughout his life, especially works of history.

Cárdenas set his sights on becoming a teacher, but was drawn into politics and the military during the Mexican Revolution after Victoriano Huerta overthrew President Francisco Madero. He backed Plutarco Elías Calles, and after Calles became president, Cárdenas became governor of Michoacán in 1928. During his four years as governor, Cárdenas initiated a modest redistribution of land at the state level, encouraged the growth of peasant and labour organisations, and made improvements to education at a time when it was neglected by the federal government. Cardenas ensured that teachers were paid on time, made personal inspections of many classrooms, and opened a hundred new rural schools. His grassroots style of governing was such that during his time as governor, Cárdenas made important policy decisions based on direct information received from the public rather than on the advice of his confidants.

Presidential career

Calles continued to dominate Mexico after his presidency with administrations that were his puppets. After having two of his hand-picked men put into the position, the PNR balked at his first choice, Manuel Pérez Treviño, in 1932. Instead they selected Cárdenas to be the ruling party's presidential candidate, and Calles went along with it, thinking he could control him as he had the previous two. This however, was not so. Cárdenas's first move once he took office late in 1934 was to have his presidential salary cut in half. Even more surprising moves would follow. After establishing himself in the presidency, Cardenas and the Mexican Congress turned on Calles and condemned his continued war-like persecution of the Catholic Church; In 1936, Cárdenas had Calles and dozens of his corrupt associates arrested or deported to the United States, a decision that was greeted with great enthusiasm by the majority of the Mexican public. During the course of his presidency, Cardenas became known for his progressive program of building roads and schools and promoting education, With twice as much federal money allocated to rural education than all his predecessors combined), land reform and social security.

During his time in office, Cárdenas openly sought the National Revolutionary Party's six-year plan of social and political reform. The plan called for 1) restoration of the system of ejidos (common lands) through a strong agrarian program to combat the domination of the large haciendas; 2) modern secular schools that would teach rationalist doctrines and combat the "fanaticism" of the Church; 3) workers' cooperatives to oppose the excesses of industrial capitalism. Cárdenas subsequently decreed the end of the use of capital punishment (in Mexico, usually in the form of a firing squad). Capital punishment has been banned in Mexico since that time. The control of the republic by Cárdenas and the PRI (Partido Revolucionario Institucional) predecessor ''Partido de la Revolución Mexicana'' without widespread bloodshed effectively signalled the end of rebellions that began with the 1910 Mexican Revolution.

Cárdenas was perhaps the only Mexican President who never employed armored cars or bodyguards to protect himself. In the presidential campaign of 1934, he travelled through much of the republic that was not accessible by train, by auto and horseback, accompanied only by a chauffeur and an aide-de-camp. This fearlessness generated widespread respect for Cárdenas by the electorate. He became the first occupant of the current official presidential residence of Los Pinos, and converted the previous residence, the ostentatious viceregal and Mexican imperial palace, Chapultepec Castle, into the National Museum of History.

Russian exile Leon Trotsky was welcomed into Mexico by Cárdenas, reportedly to counter accusations that Cárdenas was a Stalinist. Cárdenas, like his 1920s predecessor Álvaro Obregón, understood that left wing and labor union support was critical to maintain control of the republic. The bloated and corrupt CROM union of Luis Morones was marginalized as Cárdenas promoted the "purified" Confederation of Mexican Workers of socialist Vicente Lombardo Toledano. The CTM and Toledano in turn supported Cárdenas' deportation of ex-President Calles. Cárdenas was not as left-wing as Leon Trotsky and other socialists would wish, but still Trotsky described the Cárdenas's government as the only honest government in the world.

Cárdenas sought to actively help the Republican government in the Spanish Civil War, but those efforts were largely thwarted by the Roosevelt administration. After the war ended with the defeat of the loyalist Republicans, Cárdenas gave specific instructions to his ambassador and envoys in Europe to give safe haven and protection to all exiles, including President Manuel Azaña, actively sought for deportation by the Spanish fascist government and by French collaborationist authorities. Azaña died in France under Mexican diplomatic protection, but Cárdenas was able to bring to Mexico tens of thousands of refugees, among them distinguished intellectuals who left a lasting imprint in Mexican cultural life. But not only intellectuals were granted asylum in Mexico: from the 4,559 passengers who arrive to Mexico in 1939 on board the ships ''Sinaia,'' I''panema'' and ''Mexique'', for example, the largest groups were formed by technicians and qualified workers (32%), farmers and ranchers (20%), along with professionals, technicians, workers, business people students and merchants- this last group represented 43% of the total.

Cárdenas is considered by many historians to be the creator of a political system that lasted in Mexico until the end of the 1980s. Central to this project was the organization of corporatist structures for trade unions, ''campesino'' (peasant) organizations, and middle-class professionals and office workers within the reorganized ruling party, now renamed the Party of the Mexican Revolution (PRM). During Cárdenas's presidency, the government expropriated and redistributed of hacienda land to peasants, and urban and industrial workers gained unprecedented unionization rights and wage increases. The railway Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México was nationalized in 1938 and put under a "workers administration". However, Cárdenas and subsequent presidents also used the PRM and its successor, the Institutional Revolutionary Party or PRI, to maintain political control; leaders of the worker and ''campesino'' organizations delivered votes and suppressed protests in exchange for personal favors and concessions to their constituencies.

In the later years of his term, Cardenas' oil policy proved to be unpopular. Vincente Lombardo Toledano took advantage of Cardenas' unpopularity and organized pro-Communist militias. This move by Lombardo would also lead to rise of ring-wing militias lead by General Juan Andreu as well.

In the elections of 1940, Cárdenas, with hopes of preventing another uprising in the country, suprised people and endorsed the PRM nominee Manuel Ávila, a moderate conservative who he hoped would also salvage some of his liberal policies and act as a compromise candidate between liberals and conservatives in the country, against Ávila's opponent, Juan Andreu, but insisted on open debate and free elections. The elections, however did not follow the pattern Cárdenas wished. The campaign was peppered with violent incidents and on election day, the opposing parties hijacked numerous polling places and each issued their own "election results". After "official" results declared Ávila as winner, Andreu threatened revolt then attempted to set up a parallel government and congress. Nevertheless, Ávila crushed Almazan's forces and assumed office. His inauguration was attended by US Vice President-elect Henry A. Wallace, who was appointed by the US as a "special representative with the rank of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary" for Mexico.

Oil expropriation

Also central to Cárdenas's project were nationalistic economic policies involving Mexico's vast oil production, which had soared following strikes in 1910 in the area known as the "Golden Lane," near Tampico, and which made Mexico the world's second-largest oil producer by 1921, supplying approximately 20 percent of domestic demand in the United States.

Cárdenas's efforts to negotiate with Mexican Eagle, in the managerial control of Royal Dutch/Shell, and Standard Oil of New Jersey were unavailing, and the companies rejected a solution proposed by a presidential commission. So at 9:45 p.m. on the evening of March 18, 1938, Cárdenas nationalized Mexico's petroleum reserves and expropriated the equipment of the foreign oil companies in Mexico. The announcement inspired a spontaneous six-hour parade in Mexico City; it was followed by a national fund-raising campaign to compensate the companies.

Even though compensation for the expropriated assets was included in this legislation, the act angered the international business community and vexed foreign governments, especially the United Kingdom. The government was more worried about the lack of the technical knowledge required to run the refineries. Before leaving, the oil companies had made sure they did not leave behind anything of help to the Mexican government, hoping to force Cárdenas to accept their conditions. Although Mexico was eventually able to restart the oilfields and refineries, production did not rise to pre-takover levels until WW2, during which technical advisers were sent by the United States as part of the over-all Allied war effort.

The British severed diplomatic relations with Cárdenas's government, and Mexican oil and other goods were boycotted, despite an international ruling in favor of Mexico's government. However, with the outbreak of World War II, oil became a highly sought-after commodity. Mexico began to export oil to Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy.

Throughout Latin America, Franklin Roosevelt's “Good Neighbor Policy” was necessary at such a delicate time, and in the case of the Mexico, ultimately led to the Douglas-Weichers Agreement in June 1941 that secured Mexican oil only for the United States, and the Global Settlement in November 1941 that ended oil company demands on generous terms for the Mexicans, a rare example of the U.S. putting national security concerns over fairness for American oil companies. Mexican Eagle and Royal Dutch/Shell held out longer and received a better deal after the conclusion of the war.

The company that Cárdenas founded, Petróleos Mexicanos (or Pemex), would later be a model for other nations seeking greater control over their own oil and natural gas resources and, 70 years later, it remains the most important source of income for the country, despite weakening finances. Seeing the need to assure the technical expertise needed to run it, Cárdenas founded the National Polytechnic Institute.

Post presidential career

After his presidential term, Cárdenas served as Mexico's secretary of defense until 1945.

It is often said that Lázaro Cárdenas was the only president associated with PRI who did not use the office to make himself wealthy. He retired to a modest home by Lake Pátzcuaro and worked the rest of his life supervising irrigation projects and promoting free medical clinics and education for the nation's poor. He also continued to speak out about international political issues and in favor of greater democracy and human rights in Latin America and elsewhere. For example, he was one of the participants in the Russell Tribunal for investigating crimes of war in Vietnam.

Lázaro Cárdenas died of cancer in Mexico City on October 19, 1970 (at the age of 75). His son Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas and his grandson Lázaro Cárdenas Batel have been prominent Mexican politicians.

In his honor, his name was given to a number of cities, towns, and a municipality in Mexico; including Lázaro Cárdenas, Michoacán, the municipality of Lázaro Cárdenas, Quintana Roo and other smaller communities. There are also many streets that have been named after him, including the ''Eje Central Lázaro Cárdenas'' in Mexico City, and highways in Guadalajara, Monterrey and Mexicali. ''Šetalište Lazaro Kardenasa'' (''Lázaro Cárdenas promenade'') in Belgrade, Serbia is also named after him. There is also a street in Barcelona, Spain, and a monument in a park in Madrid dedicated to his memory, in recognition of his role in admitting defeated Spanish Republicans in Mexico after the Civil War in that country.

Lázaro Cárdenas was awarded the Stalin Peace Prize in 1955, which was later renamed for Lenin as part of de-Stalinization.

Legacy

President Cárdenas and his administration are given credit by socialists for expanding the distribution of land to the peasants, establishing new welfare programs for the poor, nationalizing the railroad and petroleum industries, including the oil company that Cárdenas founded, Petróleos Mexicanos. Toward the end of his Presidency, unhappy landowners and foreign capitalists began to challenge his programs and his power.

Cárdenas's party, the PRI, continued in power until 2000. This is attributed by some to electoral fraud and coercion. This legacy led his son, Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas, to form the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) to contest the 1988 presidential election. Since that year, the PRD has become one of the three major parties in Mexico, gaining working class support that was previously enjoyed by the PRI.

In his Political Testament, written the year before his death and published posthumously, he acknowledged that his regime had failed to make the changes in political distribution and corruptness that were the basis for his presidency and the revolution. He expressed his dismay in the fact that some people and groups were making themselves rich to the detriment of the mainly poor majority. It was said about Cárdenas at his eulogy that, “he was the greatest figure produced by the revolution… an authentic revolutionary who aspired to the greatness of his country, not personal aggrandizement.”

Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay patterned his people–oriented government on the principles which he found in the 1952 edition of the biography of past President Lázaro Cárdenas, which was written by William Cameron Townsend, the founder of Wycliffe Bible Translators and the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL International).

See also

History of Mexico

Notes

References

Riding, Alan ''Distant Neighbors''. New York, New York: Vintage Books - Random House, 1986.

Becker, Marjorie. Setting the Virgin on Fire Lazaro Cardenas, Michoacan peasants, and the redemption of the Mexican Revolution. Berkelely: University of California P, 1995.

La Cultura de Mexico, quoted in Manual Suarez Valles, Lazaro Cardenas: una vida fecunda al servicio de Mexico (Mexico City, 1971) p. 25.

Jeffrey Kent Lucas. ''The Rightward Drift of Mexico's Former Revolutionaries: The Case of Antonio Díaz Soto y Gama''. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 2010.

The Political Legacy of Lázaro Cárdenas Author(s): Charles H. Weston, Jr. Source: The Americas, Vol. 39, No. 3 (Jan., 1983), pp. 383–405 Published by: Academy of American Franciscan History Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/981231 Accessed: 26 February 2009 14:16

Becker, Marjorie. Setting the Virgin on Fire Lazaro Cardenas, Michoacan peasants, and the redemption of the Mexican Revolution. Berkelely: University of California P, 1995.

Category:Presidents of Mexico Category:Presidents of the Institutional Revolutionary Party * Category:Governors of Michoacán Category:World War II political leaders Category:Institutional Revolutionary Party politicians Category:Mexican generals Category:People from Jiquilpan Category:Stalin Peace Prize recipients Category:1895 births Category:1970 deaths Category:Mexican Secretaries of the Interior Category:Cancer deaths in Mexico

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