| THE DICTATORSHIP OF PORFIRIO DÍAZ (The “Porfiriato”). Díaz returned to power. He amended the constitution in order to be reelected, expanded rural police, and adopted a conciliatory attitude toward the church. He allowed expropriation of Indian communal lands, which facilitated encroachment by big landowners. Peasants rebelled against loss of their lands (1878–84), and agrarismo emerged as an ideology to redress peasants' grievances. Yaqui Indians in the north suffered extermination campaigns (1880, 1890). Díaz's government encouraged foreign investors, with concessions for railroad construction and mining. Díaz promoted centralization of power. By the turn of the century, the Mexican peasantry was impoverished, and the middle class's opportunities were very limited. Debt peonage was extensive in certain rural areas. Sexual exploitation of women created further outrage against Porfirian authorities. Opponents to Díaz, led by Ricardo Flores Magón, an anarchist, organized the Mexican Liberal Party in 1905. Mexican workers at the Cananea Copper Company and Río Blanco textile plant protested against labor conditions (1906). Francisco I. Madero (1873–1913), a wealthy hacendado, challenged Díaz in the presidential elections of 1910. Díaz claimed victory after imprisoning Madero, who launched the Plan of San Luis de Potosí, unleashing a general armed insurrection against Díaz. The census of 1910 indicated a population of 15,150,000. (See Mexico) | 6 |
