Luis Echeverría
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Luis Echeverría Álvarez (January 17, 1922 - July 8, 2022) was a Mexican politician and lawyer, member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and president of Mexico from 1970 to 1976.
He was born in 1922 in Mexico City and in 1946 he joined the PRI, where he worked for the party's president, as secretary to General Rodolfo Sánchez Taboada.
In 1958 he was appointed Undersecretary of the Interior. In 1964 he was appointed Secretary of the Interior by President Gustavo Díaz Ordaz. At this time the tragic Tlatelolco Massacre occurred on October 2, 1968.
In 1969 he was chosen as PRI candidate for the presidential elections, being the winner and assuming the presidency.
Biography edit
Echeverría was born in Mexico City to Rodolfo Echeverría and Catalina Álvarez on 17 January 1922. Echeverría joined the faculty of the National Autonomous University of Mexico in 1947 and taught political theory and constitutional law.
Echeverría became the private secretary of the president of the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) in 1940 and received a law degree from the National Autonomous University of Mexico in 1945. He rose rapidly in political circles and held several important posts in government and the PRI prior to being appointed secretary of the interior in 1964 by Pres. Gustavo Díaz Ordaz. He was severely criticized for his harsh handling of the 1968 student demonstrations that culminated in the “Tlatelolco massacre,” in which more than 300 demonstrators were killed or wounded and thousands arrested.
After becoming president, Echeverría moved sharply to the left. He released most of the prisoners arrested in 1968, redistributed millions of acres among the landless peasantry, expanded social security, housing, and transportation programs, and poured huge sums of money into public works. Reversing an earlier stand, he introduced a national family-planning program to reduce population growth. His administration was plagued by runaway inflation, high unemployment, and illiteracy, and his leftist economic proposals, including the government purchase of many privately owned enterprises, alienated business interests, causing reduced domestic investment. A declining balance of trade forced the devaluation of the peso by 50 percent in 1976, producing insecurity and antagonism among Echeverría’s middle-class supporters. In foreign policy, Echeverría opened diplomatic relations with China and supported Latin American solidarity. After leaving office in 1976, he served as ambassador to Australia and New Zealand (1977–80) under his successor, Pres. José López Portillo.
In the 1990s Echeverría began to be formally investigated for his involvement in both the 1968 massacre and the killing of more than a dozen protesters by police in 1971. He later faced genocide charges for both incidents, but, after numerous legal maneuvers, a federal court in 2009 ruled that Echeverría could not be tried for the killings.
He was the oldest president of Mexico, turning 100 on January 17, 2022
He later died on July 8, 2022.
Villainy edit
During his presidency, a large number of human rights violations were experienced, mainly repressing youth movements and left-wing opponents, being tortured and executed on Echeverría's orders.
During his presidency, things such as the prohibition of rock music, multiple forced disappearances, the use of death squads such as the Halcones, multiple massacres of students, and an economic crisis at the end of his term were highlighted.
He is also the only president of Mexico who has been accused of genocide.