José María Pino Suárez

7th Vice President of Mexico from 1911 to 1913

José María Pino Suárez (xosemaˈɾia ˌpinoˈswaɾes; 8 September 1869 – 22 February 1913) was a lawyer, journalist, and politician who was a key figure of the Mexican Revolution. He was a newspaper proprietor who served as the last Vice President of Mexico from 1911 until his assassination, during the events of the Ten Tragic Days. Along with president Francisco I. Madero, he is remembered as a champion of democracy and an advocate for social justice in Mexico. Born in Tenosique, into a prominent political family from the Yucatán Peninsula, his great grandfather was Pedro Sainz de Baranda, a hero of the Mexican War of Independence. Pino Suárez was educated by the Jesuits in Mérida before earning his law degree in 1894. Later, he established a law firm in Mexico City in partnership with Joaquín Casasús and became involved in various businesses alongside his father in law, Raymundo Cámara. In 1904, he founded El Peninsular, a newspaper that gave voice to a new generation of liberal intellectuals opposed to Olegario Molina, a powerful Porfirian cacique. El Peninsular quickly gained readers and advertisers, standing out for its use of modern printing technology, coverage of national and international news, and its editorial team that included prominent Yucatecan intellectuals. Pino Suárez authored a series of investigative journalism articles that exposed the exploitation of Maya and Yaqui indigenous people, who had been illegally reduced to conditions of slavery on some henequen haciendas. This provoked the anger of certain sectors of the Yucatecan oligarchy, known as the divine caste, who used their political and economic power to threaten the existence of the newspaper. The defense of freedom of expression against government censorship led Pino Suárez to enter the political arena. As a supporter of Francisco I. Madero, he shared in Madero's struggle to democratize the country. As Madero's popularity grew, Porfirio Díaz, the dictator, decided to imprison him on charges of sedition. After escaping from prison, Madero issued the Plan de San Luis, which declared the 1910 federal elections fraudulent and demanded various political and social reforms, including the establishment of democratic institutions, prohibition of presidential reelection, agrarian reform, and an eight hour workday, among others. This plan became a reference point for opponents of the Porfirian dictatorship and led to the Mexican Revolution. Pino Suárez organized the revolutionary cause in the southeastern region of Mexico and, threatened with imprisonment and forced into exile, joined Madero in San Antonio, Texas. There, Madero established a provisional government and appointed Pino Suárez as Secretary of Justice. After a significant military victory for the revolutionary cause, Pino Suárez was one of four peace commissioners tasked with negotiating the Treaty of Ciudad Juárez (1911), marking the end of the Porfirian dictatorship after three decades in power. After the triumph of the Revolution, Pino Suárez was appointed interim Governor of Yucatán by the State Congress, but his appointment was met with violent protests by followers of Delio Moreno Cantón, a populist politician with close ties to the old regime who had strong support among the working classes. In a closely contested election, Pino Suárez managed to gain the support of the majority of the regional economic elite and was elected to his own term as governor by a narrow margin. Shortly thereafter, he requested a leave of absence from his position to assume the Vice Presidency, and the State Congress appointed Nicolás Cámara Vales, his brother in law, as his successor in the governorship. The presidential elections of 1911 were characterized as peaceful, clean, and democratic, marking an important milestone in the country's history. In those elections, Francisco I. Madero was elected President and José María Pino Suárez as Vice President, forming what is considered Mexico's first democratically elected government. In February 1912, Pino Suárez assumed a prominent role as Secretary of Education, and his main objective was to carry out a comprehensive educational reform. Aware of the low literacy rate in the country, he focused his efforts on making public education accessible beyond the elite, advocating for popular education. Additionally, he sought to promote an ideological transition in education, shifting from positivism to humanism. He faced opposition from los Científicos, the group that controlled the National School of Jurisprudence and resisted the educational reforms of the Madero government. This situation led to the founding of the Escuela Libre de Derecho, which was established in open opposition to Pino Suárez. Despite this, Pino Suárez authorized this institution to operate autonomously from the government. Within the government, Pino Suárez led the renewal bloc, a liberal faction of the Maderist movement that advocated for public policies oriented towards social liberalism and the progressive reforms promised in the Plan de San Luis. Despite having a parliamentary majority, they faced a well organized opposition that included former Porfirians. Despite the challenges, politicians from the renewal bloc played a significant role in the drafting of the Constitution of Mexico (1917), which stands out as the world's first constitution to include extensive social and economic guarantees and protections, such as provisions regarding labor, agrarian reform, and the social dimension of property rights. Madero's reformist government was considered too progressive by some and not radical enough by others. It had to contend with several rebellions led by different revolutionary and counterrevolutionary factions until it was overthrown in a military coup in February 1913. Subsequently, both Madero and Pino Suárez were assassinated on the orders of General Victoriano Huerta, the dictator who replaced them. In 1969, María Cámara Vales, Pino Suárez's widow, received the Belisario Domínguez Medal of Honor from the Senate of Mexico, recognizing the sacrifice that the couple had made for the country.

Born in Tenosique, Tabasco, "almost by accident – his family was among the most notable in Mérida." As mentioned above, Pino Suárez came from a well known family in the Yucatan Peninsula, his great grandfather was Pedro Sainz de Baranda (1787–1845), a Naval Officer, industrialist and liberal politician born in San Francisco de Campeche, who having trained in the Spanish Navy, fought in the Battle of Trafalgar. Afterwards, he was a deputy in the constituent assembly which drafted the liberal Spanish Constitution of 1812, before returning to Mexico to fight in the Mexican War of Independence and played an important role in founding the Mexican Navy. Under his command, Mexico captured the Fort of San Juan de Ulúa in Veracruz, the last remainder of Mexican territory still in Spanish hands, successfully thwarting a Spanish attempt to reconquer Mexico. Prior to his death in 1845, he served as Governor of Yucatán and is also credited with introducing the Industrial Revolution to Mexico, founding Aurora Yucateca, the first textile factory in the country to use steam power. Pino's great uncles were Joaquín Baranda and Governor of Campeche, Senator, and, between 1882 and 1901, was a long serving Cabinet Minister,being appointed as Secretary of Justice, Education and, briefly, Foreign Affairs under presidents Manuel González and Porfirio Díaz. He became one of the most powerful Cabinet Ministers of the porfiriato, but he resigned in 1901, after falling out with José Yves Limantour, the influnetial Secretary of the Treasury and head of the Cíentificos, a powerful group of technocrats; Limantour had demanded Baranda's resignation after the latter had, as Justice Secretary, successfully thwarted Limantour's presidential arguing that he was constitutionally ineligible to be President due to his French origins. and the Normal school (Escuela Normal de Profesores). Meanwhile, his brother, General Pedro Baranda fought for the liberal cause in the Reform Wars and the French Intervention, and participated in the constituent assembly that drafted the liberal Constitution of 1857. Later in his career, he promoted the creation of the states of Campeche and Morelos, serving as Governor of both states. In Campeche, the influence of the Baranda brothers was such that for many years, the State Capital was known as Campeche de Baranda:“ [Pedro Baranda] came from the highest echelons of southeastern political royalty. [He] haled from a Campeche based family long active in civil and military affairs. His father, Pedro Sáinz de Baranda, [ ] had championed a socially conservative, gaditano independence; shortly thereafter, he founded the famous Aurora Yucateca cotton mill in Valladolid, a bold experiment in industrial revolution [ ] Pedro himself had fought [ ] to create the state of Campeche, then fought against the interventionists in Tabasco. Promoted to the rank of General by Juárez, he then served as first Governor of Morelos and later as the Senator from Campeche. The honorific "Campeche de Baranda" commemorates his role there, while an enormous statue of his father don Pedro the elder, sword tightly in hand, greets the modern day motorist along the city's malecón. Another uncle of Pino Suárez was Joaquín Casasús, a lawyer, economist, diplomat, and banker who was a leading member of the influential Cíentificos group and made a substantial fortune representing American and British interests in Mexico. He at one time served as Mexican Ambassador to the United States and managed to obtain a favorable arbitration ruling for Mexico in the Chamizal dispute, a border conflict with the United States. His first cousin, Luis Felipe Domínguez Suárez [es] would later serve two terms as Governor of Tabasco.

Shortly after Pino's birth, his mother died. His father, a busy businessman, entrusted his education to a Private Tutor. When Pino reached adolescence, it was decided that he should study in Mérida, where he lived in the house of Raúl Carrancá, a close friend of his father, who was then the Spanish Consul. His son, Raúl Carrancá y Trujillo, would later become an outstanding criminal defense lawyer. In Mérida, Pino was admitted to the prestigious , a Jesuit run grammar school that had a curriculum based on the French Lycées. During those years, Pino became a close friend of Norberto Domínguez, then the headmaster, who would later become Archbishop of Yucatan. Pino graduated from San Ildefonso speaking fluent French and English. He obtained his law degree from Instituto Literario de Yucatán in 1894. the eldest daughter of Raymundo Cámara Luján, a business magnate and head of the House of Cámara, "a powerful clan of the high Yucatecan aristocracy." Two of Marías brothers had political careers of their own: Nicolás Camára Vales served as Governor of Yucatán, while Alfredo Pino Cámara served as Governor of Quintana Roo. The Pino Cámara couple had six children: Maria, Alfredo, José, Aída, Hortensia and Cordelia. When Pino Suárez died in February 1913, at the age of 43, María, the eldest of his daughters was a 14 year old teenager while Cordelia, the youngest one, had not celebrated her first birthday. His two sons, Alfredo and José, followed in their father's footsteps, excelling in the legal profession. Alfredo Pino Cámara, was an Associate justice of the Supreme court and is remembered for having acted as presiding judge in the criminal proceedings against Tina Modotti, the Italian actress and photographer accused of the First Degree Murder of Julio Antonio Mella, a political activist and one of the founders of the Communist Party of Cuba. Several of his daughters married off into well known Yucatecan business families. María, her eldest daughter, married Fernando Ponce Alonzo in her first marriage. Ponce Alonzo was the grandson of , the founder of Cervecería Yucateca, an important brewery which was sold by the Ponce family to Grupo Modelo in the 1980s. In her second marriage, she married José González Sada, an industrialist who was the first cousin both of president Francisco I. Madero and Eugenio Garza Sada, chairman and CEO of the Cuauhtémoc Moctezuma Brewery and founder of Tecnológico de Monterrey. Similarly, Cordelia married Patricio Escalante Guerra, the grandson of , the wealthy industrialist responsible for developing the henequen industry in Yucatán; meanwhile, his great uncle was Carlos Peón Machado, a liberal politician who served as Governor of Yucatán; between 1894 and 1897. His grandson, Ismael Moreno Pino, served as deputy foreign secretary and Ambassador of Mexico to Germany, The Netherlands, Chile, the OAS in Washington, D. C., and the United Nations in New York City and Geneva, Switzerland. He was one of the key negotiators of the Treaty of Tlatelolco which led to the denuclearization of Latin America.

Newly wed, the Pino Cámara couple moved to Mexico City where Pino founded a law firm with his uncle, Joaquín Casasús, a distinguished jurist who had extensive connections with los Cientificos, the circle of technocratic advisors of President Díaz. Around 1899, he returned to Mérida where he undertook commercial activities in partnership with his father in law, Raymundo Cámara Luján, a wealthy businessman with close ties to the Yucatecan oligarchy (known as the Divine Caste). At that time, the export house headed by Cámara Luján and José María Ponce Solís, exported 16% of the total bales of henequen fiber that was exported to the US and European markets, which had an insatiable demand for the Yucatecan monoculture. Unlike other businessmen, Cámara Luján focused on the export of henequen and not on its production, finding that this business was more profitable. Similarly, unlike other Yucatecan capitalists, he had diversified his business interests to include railways, and brewing. In association with Eusebio Escalante Bates, he was owner of Compañía Agrícola del Cuyo y Anexas, S. A, a company which owned a private estate of 2,627 km2 in the northwestern part of Yucatán (roughly the size of Luxembourg or Rhode Island) which was used to exploit various raw materials such as chicle, sugar cane, tobacco, cocoa, cotton, banana, vanilla and various forest resources.48 The dyewood and chicle were destined for export to the US and European markets. By the end of the 19th century, the henequen boom had transformed Mérida into the city with the most millionaires per capita in the world; between 1870 and 1920, henequen comprised 20% of Mexico's total exports, making it the second largest product in Mexico. most important Mexican exportable after precious metals. Much of this wealth had been concentrated in the hands of a small number of Yucatecan families of European descent (criollos). The rivalry between various business groups intensified in the first decade of the 20th century. On the one hand were Eusebio Escalante, José María Ponce Solís, Carlos Peón and Cámara Luján himself, who represented a group of capitalists "made up of the traditional landowning families [ ] whose prestige came from the viceregal era and who 'demonstrated a mysterious ability to adapt to the changing economic order'." On the other hand, there was Olegario Molina, whose fortune was newly minted but who intended to make use of the political and economic power that he monopolized as Governor of Yucatán and Secretary of Commerce and Industry to create a lucrative monopoly over the Henequen industry. In 1902, he signed a secret pact with Cyrus McCormick, the American businessman who headed International Harvester, to depress the prices of Henequen and force his competition into bankruptcy. In 1899, the couple returned to Mérida where Pino Suárez undertook business activities in partnership with his father in law, Raymundo Cámara Luján. After the financial panic of 1907, the Escalante export house, one of the major henequen trading houses collapsed. had been a close business ally of Cámara Luján and his bankruptcy surprised the entire society of Mérida as well as financial circles in Mexico City, New York City and Paris. Many wealthy entrepreneurs and individuals lost significant sums of capital while the rival group of businessmen, headed by Olegario Molina profited: "rarely in history has one business benefited so much from the misfortune of another. The fall of the Escalante House ensured Molina's dominance over the key sectors of the regional economy." Faced with this situation, several landowners from traditional families, including the Cámara family, distanced themselves from Molina and the federal government headed by Porfirio Díaz. Faced with this situation, several traditional businessmen, including Cámara Luján, distanced themselves from Molina and the government of Porfirio Díaz, who supported him. These events surely influenced the young lawyer.

In his spare time, Pino was also an accomplished poet, having published two volumes: Melancolias (1896) and Procelarias (1903). He also wrote the prologue to Memorias de un alférez (Memoires of an Ensign), written by Eligio Ancona in 1904, his close friend. Shortly before he died, he wrote to his friend, Serapio Rendón, asking him to rescue a third volume that he was preparing that would be titled Constellations; Unfortunately, this last volume of poems was never published:In the drawers of my desk, I keep some manuscripts that have nothing to do with politics, since they are literary outlines written in a rush. Try to get them from the Undersecretary, who knows the passcode. If you get them, please give them to my wife. I don't want them to become lost or to be seen by profane eyes. You will find the little volume called Constellations written on blue paper at the bottom of the drawer on the right, under several letters of a private nature. In 1912, when Marcelino Menéndez Pelayo died, Pino Suárez received a letter from Alejandro Pidal y Mon, director of the Royal Spanish Academy, proposing to fill the vacant chair. Pino Suárez, then Vice President of the Republic, rejected the distinction citing his excessive workload. The chair was finally occupied by Jacinto Benavente.

By February 1913, Gustavo Madero had already been appointed Ambassador to Japan, although he had not yet left for Tokyo. His separation from the government was "a good guarantee, hidden in a valise diplomatique, of his discrepancies [with the President]." For similar reasons, Pino, "in his heart of hearts, longed to resign and it was a point that he often discussed in hermetic privacy." Luis Cabrera, always close to Pino Suárez, "foreseeing the earthquake which would sink the government" decided to go abroad, to Europe. As they made their way through the city center, the military column, led by the President, riding on horseback, was fired upon by a sniper. The President and his entourage had to stop, seeking shelter at a daguerre photograph shop where they were joined by Gustavo Madero and, some time later, by General Victoriano Huerta. There, Madero was informed that General Villar had been wounded during combat and, at the request of Ángel García Peña, Secretary of Defense, it was decided to appoint General Huerta to replace him as the military commander in charge of ending the insurrection. After the failure of the rebels to take the National Palace, the rebels had to retreat to La Ciudadela, a fortress and armements depot in the historic center of Mexico City. Victoriano Huerta, who had secretly reached an agreement with the rebels to assume the interim presidency once President Madero fell, pretended to remain loyal to the government. Nevertheless, his ammunition was fired in such a way as to cause minimum damage to La Ciudadela, ensuring that the fortress did not fall in government hands, and causing maximum damage to other buildings, particularly occupied by foreign residents, to convince the foreign diplomatic missions of the inefficiency of the Madero Government. As Pino before him, Gustavo Madero question that General Huerta, who had previously been recognized throughout his career for his talent in employing artillery, would now display such ineptitude. On 17 February, Gustavo Madero decided to arrest General Huerta and presented him to his brother, accusing him of treason. President Madero, in a mistake that would cost him his life, decided to free General Huerta, giving him a 24 hour deadline to capture La Ciudadela. Prior to this, Madero had already travelled to Cuernavaca to enlist the support of the army headed by Felipe Ángeles, a capable and respected general who had remained loyal to the government and who was successfully quenching the Zapata rebellion in the State of Morelos. In case Huerta failed to meet the President's deadline, he would be replaced by Ángeles. The following day, 18 February, while the Cabinet was meeting in the National Palace, rebel troops led by Colonel Teodoro Jiménez Riveroll broke into the session and tried to arrest the President, vice president and the entire Cabinet. The secret service protected the President, and one of its officers, Captain Gustavo Garmendia, managed to kill Colonel Jiménez Riveroll, frustrating that attempt to overthrow the Madero government. A small delegation headed by President Madero and Vice President Pino Suárez intended to go to the courtyard of the National Palace to enlist the support of loyal troops. The military personnel stationed there, however, stood by while General Aureliano Blanquet arrested their commander in chief. Madero and Pino Suárez, now prisoners of the rebel forces, were taken to the offices of the quartermaster of the National Palace. There, they were imprisoned together with Felipe Ángeles. As these events were developing in the National Palace, Huerta had invited Gustavo Madero to a luncheon at Gambrinus, an elegant restaurant in the city center, ostensibly to smooth their misunderstandings and give him a full report of the military advances. There, Gustavo was arrested, brutally tortured by the rebel army and, subsequently assassinated. Pedro Lascuráin, the Foreign Secretary, acted as an intermediary between the Madero government and the rebels led by General Huerta. Lascuráin conveyed Huerta's offer to Madero and Pino Suárez: if both men resigned from their respective positions, he would grant them safe conduct to travel to the port of Veracruz, from where he would allow them to embark to the foreign country of their choice. Madero and Pino Suárez agreed to present their respective resignations, but they established several conditions, among them, they demanded that Lascuráin not submit the double resignation to Congress until Madero, together with his brother Gustavo (they still did not know of his tragic end), Pino Suárez and Ángeles, had embarked with their respective families on a warship that had been provided by the government of Cuba. When drafting the resignation documents, Pino Suárez "haughtily stated that he was not satisfied with the reason given as the cause of the resignations and wanted it to be recorded that they were forced to do so by the force of arms," it was only after hectic negotiations with the vice president, that it was decided that the resignation should contain the phrase "compelled by circumstances." In 1986, President Miguel de la Madrid ordered the remains of José María Pino Suárez to be transferred with full military honors to the Rotonda de las Personas Ilustres (Rotunda of Illustrious Persons), a site that honors those who are considered to have exalted the civic and national values of Mexico. In 1915, the Congress of the State of Tabasco ordered that Pino's birthplace was to be renamed as Tenosique de Pino Suárez. In Villahermosa, the state capital of Tabasco, a statue was erected in his honor. Later, his name was written in golden letters in the assembly hall of the Congress of the State of Tabasco. The public library is also named after him. Throughout the country, several cities have streets named in his honor near the city center. Pancho Villa decided that his memory should be honored in the historic center of Mexico City: on the morning of 8 December 1914, he declared that one of the street leading out of the Zócalo would be named for Pino Suárez; to this date, it remains as Pino Suárez Avenue (Avenida Pino Suárez), it is one of the most popular and historically significant streets in the city and was pedestrianised in 2009. The Supreme Court of Justice building is located in this street and is commonly known as Pino Suárez 2. A long running television program which covers the judicial branch (canal judicial) is also called Pino Suárez Dos. Metro Pino Suárez, one of the most important stations of the Mexico City Metro also bears his name. In 2010, on the 100th anniversary of the Mexican Revolution, the Central Bank of Mexico (Banco de México) ordered the minting of a five peso coin ($5.00) which bore the portrait of José María Pino Suárez. Similar coins were minted bearing the likeness of Francisco I. Madero, Álvaro Obregón, Venustiano Carranza, Pancho Villa, Emiliano Zapata and other important revolutionary leaders.