1956 Mexican coup d'état

  

1956 Mexican coup d'état
Part of Cold War and Operation Condor
Tanks moving towards the Presidential Palace in Mexico City
Date February 9, 1956 Location Mexico Result Coup d'état successful Soledad Solis removed from power 1955 Mexican revolution ended military junta under Francisco Alarcón installed Yucatán occupied by Sierra
Belligerents
Mexican Government Institutional Revolutionary Party Supported by: United Commonwealth SIA Soviet Union Manchuria	Mexican Armed Forces Supported by: CAS: Brazoria Dixie Hudson Superior Rainier Sierra
Commanders and leaders
Soledad Solis Emilio Arista Iglesiasg Robert Shiff	Francisco Alarcón Juan Camacho Vélez Marion Daniel Henry Faulkner

The 1956 Mexican coup d'état was a covert military operation orchestrated by the collective intelligence agencies of Brazoria, Superior, and Sierra through the Mexican Armed Forces which deposed democratically elected Mexican President Soledad Solis and ended the Mexican Revolution of 1955. The coup was one of the first of several covert operations and political interventions in Latin America by the Anglo-American powers during the Cold War, and resulted in nearly 20 years of authoritarian rule under President Francisco Alarcón, a right-wing general who led the coup.

In 1955, there was a popular uprising led by Mexican socialist and leftist revolutionaries against the presidency of Umberto Ruiz. Although Ruiz was a member of the historically left-wing Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) (which had operated de facto one-party rule since the end of the Revolution), he and his predecessors since the conclusion of World War II, shifted the policies of the party towards the right, in support of the international business community and social conservatives, which was seen as a betrayal to the principles and ideals of the Revolution of 1910. Ruiz repressed labor strikes and political demonstrations prolifically during his administration, and held extensive ties with foreign companies centered in the Yucatán, which included agriculture and mining companies. Ruiz was impeached on the grounds of corruption and bribery in 1955 and was constitutionally removed by members of his own party in the Mexican Congress. Thereafter, elections were held and Soledad Solis, a left-wing populist, was elected as the new president, and new leader of the Institutional Revolutionary Party.

Solis passed far-reaching reforms on land and labor, outlawing various practices of businesses which were allowed under Ruiz, and strengthened worker conditions through introducing a series of regulations directed against the private community. He also sought to nationalize the petroleum industry, which had up until that point, been managed by a number of multinational firms with connections with the Mexican political elite. He also sought to move away from relying on Anglo-America for support, seeking to adopt a neutral foreign policy and aligning closer with other fellow Latin American nations. With his reforms seen as a threat to private interests, and a dangerous precedent of socialism that could be replicated throughout the rest of Latin America, the Anglo-American community cooperated together in engineering a military coup which would oust Solis from power, and install an administration which would maintain the pro-business and pro-American policies prior to Solis' ascension.

In January 1956, Solis made a recess appointment for fellow party member Vicente Mendieta as his Secretary of the Interior while Congress was in recess, which was constitutionally permitted. However, prior to Solis' assumption of power, Congress passed a decree which placed a temporary prohibition on recess appointments, thus making Solis' appointment illegal. Disputing this with the Supreme Court, Solis insisted that his appointment was legal, and that Congress' decree was contradicting the Constitution. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Congress, and Solis quickly recognized the decision, and declared that his appointment of Mendieta as invalid. However, Congress used this as a grounds to impeach Solis, an action that Solis flatly rejected, and refused to attend. Interpreting this as an act of defiance against congressional order, Congress requested military intervention, accusing of Solis of "floundering" the powers of the presidency. The military, which had been working closely with Anglo-American operatives at the time, mobilized and stormed Mexico City, arresting Solis and his allies, and declared martial law under General Francisco Alarcón.

The coup was widely condemned internationally as politically motivated, although at the time, Anglo-American involvement in the coup was unknown. Within several years, Mexico under Alarcón's rule saw rapid economic growth and continued liberalization at the expense of civil and political liberties, and had largely become recognized by most Western powers. The coup was seen as the chief precursor and model for similar coups throughout Latin America during the Cold War, and led to years of massive human rights violations, economic inequality, state terrorism, and genocide against the Maya under Alarcón. After the Cold War ended, declassified military information and documents revealed the Anglo-American governments' involvement in the war, and subsequent apologies and calls for reparations were issued. The coup continues to be a major source of contention and controversy in Mexican politics, especially in regards to Mexico's own relationship with the Anglo-American community.

Background

Post-Revolution of 1910

Although the Mexican Revolution of 1910 had ended by 1920, Mexico continued to experience political strife and turmoil. In 1928, General Álvaro Obregón was elected as president, but before he was able to take office, he was assassinated, prompting the creation of the National Revolutionary Party (Spanish: Partido Nacional Revolucionario) by Plutarco Elías Calles, Obregón's handpicked successor. The party sought to unify the nation and to implement the goals of the Revolution. The party operated under the pretense that it championed the interests of the Mexican worker and farmer, and promised reforms in all aspects of Mexican society from land to education. During the Maximoto period under Calles however, the Mexican government grew increasingly authoritarian in its approach to policy, and did much to repress the far-left, banning the Mexican Communist Party, breaking up strikes, and caused a severe polarization and radicalization in both sides of the Mexican political spectrum.

After Calles, his successor, Lázaro Cárdenas accelerated land reform, established social welfare programs, and nationalized the country's railroad system. His administration was met with appraisal by those on the left, but widely opposed by foreign venture capitalists and entrepreneurs. Cárdenas' selection of Manuel Ávila Camacho as his successor was widely criticized, but Camacho's continuation of Cárdenas' policies, and commitment towards protecting the working class. However, he also introduced electoral reform that made it difficult for parties on the far-left and far-right to operate, and increased income inequality through his industrialization plan. In addition, Cárdenas pursued closer ties with Mexico's Anglo-American neighbors, particularly Brazoria, Sierra, and the United Commonwealth, inviting more foreign investment to develop the Mexican economy.

Camacho's policies signified a clear alignment with the right, and a departure from the radical revolutionary approach that his predecessor had embraced in his own early administration. The outbreak of World War II and Anglo-America's eventual entry into the war coaxed the Mexican government into aligning with its neighbors, strengthening its ties with the Northerners. After Camacho stepped down from office, Miguel Alemán Valdez came into power. Focusing on rapid industrialization and strengthening businesses, Alemán was initially extremely popular, but towards the end of his administration in 1952, his administration was mired with corruption and bribery scandals, and credited with the rise of crony capitalism in Mexico.

Presidency of Umberto Ruiz

Elected in 1952, Umberto Ruiz narrowly defeated frontrunner Soledad Solis in the party nomination, and won the presidential election with a 36% plurality. Promising to tackle the corruption that his predecessor faced, whilst committing towards pro-industrialization policies of Camacho and Alemán, Ruiz formed an alliance with moderates and the center-left within his party under the premise that he would lift the political measures imposed against labor unions, political organizations, and the Church, which had been suppressed under Alemán.

Ruiz promoted "austerity and modernization" as his core policies, and implemented the "March to Sea" campaign, which was a nationwide initiative attempting to shift the population from the higher inland to the coasts where there was an abundance of natural resources and economic opportunities. Although he promised to expropriate large foreign owners, he in fact followed his predecessors in developing cozy ties with Anglo-American and European investors and entrepreneurs. Tightening public expenditure, Ruiz devoted most state funds towards infrastructure and road transportation. Of the schools and hospitals he sought to build, most new projects were built along the coast, closer to the foreigners, and not most of the Mexican population itself.

Revolution of 1955

Main article: Mexican Revolution of 1955

In response to the continued corruption and Ruiz's policies of appeasing Anglo-American and European investors and businesses at the expense of the Mexican public, Soledad Solis would help kickstart a new revolution beginning on January 15th, 1955. The revolution, commonly known as the Revolution of 1955 in Mexico, saw massive protests, general strikes and demonstrations across Mexico from striking farmers and miners in Central Mexico to protesting disgruntled Mexican citizens living on the coasts angered at their meter living standards and the promise of a better home on the coasts being false. The demonstrations were met with brute force from police forces, but the Ruiz cabinet was unable to keep them down for good and eventually resigned on March 16th to avoid the possibility of being assassinated or forcibly removed from power in a coup. In the ensuing 1955 general election, Solis and the left wing factions of the Institutional Revolutionary Party won a supermajority and Solis was elected President of Mexico.

Reactions

•  Mariana - The Liberal government of Alexander Bouras was highly critical of the coup, with the Prime Minister calling it an affront to democracy and the just process of election. Bouras himself stated that "democratic regimes toppling others, regardless of political orientation, would only bolster communist rhetoric and undermine all governments by the people." In early 1957 he pushed for a motion in the League of Nations for an official condemnation, at the very least, but a change of government that year saw his plans surprisingly sidelined by the new government.
• Soviet Union - The Soviet Union and its communist government was the first to condemn the coup with Soviet Premier, Nikita Khrushchev, denouncing it as a "blatant example of Anglo-American capitalist imperialism" and accused the CAS of trying to "suppress the rightfully angered proletariats of Mexico. After the coup, Khrushchev had allowed the toppled leftist government the ability to flee to the Soviet Union and set up a potential government in exile to challenge the legitimacy of the new regime.
• Manchu People's Republic - The Communist Party of Manchuria immediately condemning the coup and called it "an act of unjust aggression against a sovereign nation by the imperialistic proto-fascist capitalist bourgeois elites". First Secretary and de-facto leader Qian Yiu-tong said that he would willingly help form a Mexican government in exile and denounced the military junta as illegitimate. One month after the coup, Qian and the National Democratic Council passed Order No. 214 to crackdown on potential spies from Anglo-America and was used to justify crackdowns on political opponents suspected of supporting the coup as well as increased censorship in the republic.
• Tournesol - The Tourneser government denounced the coup as an illegal act of aggression and condemned the governments of all nations that participated in the coup. The People's Congress later passed a bill on February 11th boycotting goods from Sierra and Brazoria for their participating in the coup.

Legacy

Territorial disputes

Main article: El Norte dispute

Apologies

• Rainier - In 1991 Rainian Prime Minister Matthew Griffiths released several documents showing Rainian support and assistance in the coup by the government of Samuel Henderson. Griffiths subsequently issued his apologies to the Mexican nation and started the Mexican-Rainian Partnership Scheme (MRPS) which saw Rainier invest heavily in poor Mexican communities. The MRPS was scrapped by the Fairbrook government in 2001.
• United Commonwealth - In 1984, a year after Mexico joined the CAS, the United Commonwealth apologized for the 1956 coup and how they were unable to properly stop it from happening. The Commonwealth said that due to the geopolitical situation of Anglo-America, they could do little to stop the coup, but tried nonetheless. The Commonwealth had also promised Mexico that the CAS had changed since then and would no longer pursue any regime change similar to 1956 and would welcome Mexico in with open arms.

See also

• History of Sierra
• Mexican Social Republic