THE REVOLUTIONS

During the first years of the twentieth century, the inequalities and injustices of the Porfiriato began to cause general unrest.

In the countryside, more and more giant farms were formed, converting the peasants into little more than serfs, working long days for extremely low pay. They were given credit at the farm store, which tended to belong to the farm owner, but this did not save them from a life hardship and misery. In the factories, workers were made to work shifts as long as 14 or 16 hours, subjected to corporal punishment, paid a pittance and were even locked inside the factory. They also had to suffer discrimination in favor of foreigners.

The most notable protests were those in Rio Blanco and Cananea, Veracruz, where the workers, sick of ill treatment, formed an anti-government movement. However, the leaders of the protest were executed and any further dissent was ruthlessly suppressed by the Government.

During the first days of 1908, Porfirio Diaz granted an interview to the American journalist, James Creelman, declaring among other things his desire to pass the Presidency on to the elected choice of the people, inadvertently strengthening the opposition's cause. Francisco I. Madero, was one of those interested in putting his name forward for the Presidency, under the banner "Effective Suffrage, not re-election". However, at the height of his campaign, Madero was arbitrarily taken into custody and while he was in prison, a fraudulent election took place that once again returned Diaz to power.

After being released, Madero made his way to San Antonio, Texas, where he formulated his Plan of San Luis, refusing to recognize Diaz' legitimacy and setting November 20 as the date for the start of the Mexican Revolution. On that day, Pascual Orozco led an armed revolt in Chihuahua, while the following year, Candido Navarro did the same in Guanajuato on February 22, in Purisima. On May 21, 1911, the Treaty of Ciudad Juarez was signed, giving Diaz and his Vice-President Corral a month to resign their posts and naming Leon de Barra as provisional President. On May 31, Diaz left the country and in the ensuing elections on October 15, Madero and Pino Suarez were voted in as President and Vice-President respectively.

On entering power, Madero had to deal with the wars old regime had left in full swing and the provisions of the Plan of San Luis had to wait. On February 18, 1913, Generals Victoriano Huerta and Felix Diaz signed the Pact of the Citadel, agreeing to install Huerta as President, becoming effective the following day. Three days later, Madero and Pino Suarez were killed in the yard of the Belen prison.

In the State of Guanajuato, Victor Jose Lizardi was elected Governor from 1911 to 1915, but not without opposition from supporters of the former Governor, Obregon Gonzalez.

In 1912, as part of the independence celebrations, a lunch was organized, attended by a heavy police presence. When the Governor appeared to proclaim independence, the assembled citizens began to hurl insults. As a result, the police opened fire, causing numerous injuries.

These events became known as "the lamentable events of the San Pedro Square and Cantarranas Street. On July 4, Lizardi left his post as Governor to be replaced by the Huerta supporter Romulo Cuellar.

Once again, there was discontent among the people and revolutionaries. Venustiano Carranza reformed his Plan of Guadalupe, in which elections to the Congress and the Presidency were called. With this call to the governments of all the states, Carranza hoped to ratify his proposal for a new Constitution. The elected representatives began to gather in Queretaro on December 1, 1916, producing the current constitution on February 5, 1917.

Many noteworthy representatives from Guanajuato participated in the design of the Constitution, including Ramon Fausto, Vicente M. Valtierra, Jose Natividad Macias, Manuel G. Aranda, Ignacio Lopez, Gilberto Navarro, Francisco Diaz Barriga, Nicolas Cano, Francisco Rendon, David Peñaflor, Carlos Ramirez Llaca, Jose Villaseñor Lomeli, Luis Fernandez Martinez and Hilario Medina.

Venustiano Carranza was elected President of the nation on March 11, 1917. Immediately after, he began to talk of the succession in 1920 and among the strongest contenders were Alvaro Obregon, backed by the Sonora Revolutionary Party, and Pablo Gonzalez for the Independent Liberal Party and the Great Progressive Party. In April 1919, a rebellion broke out against Carranza when Adolfo de la Huerta, Governor of Sonora, proclaimed himself Chief of the Constitutionalist Liberation Army. The rising spread throughout the country and Carranza was forced to abandon Mexico City and seek refuge in Tlaxcalantongo, Puebla, where he was subsequently assassinated. On May 24, 1920, Congress named Adolfo de la Huerta as Provisional President.

In Guanajuato, under the governorship of Jose Reynoso, the years of the revolution were hard ones. More than 200,000 people died as a result, plus the state suffered a severe economic crisis, especially in agriculture where the redistribution of land was the burning question of the day.

In 1923, Plutarco Elias Calles was elected Governor. During his spell in power, the War of the Cristeros broke out between the government and the clergy, taking place principally in the states of Guanajuato, Jalisco, Colima and Michoacan. In his final Governor's report, Calles cleared the way for the formation of the National Revolutionary Party (PNR).

The general elections of June 1, 1928 were won by Alvaro Obregon, who was assassinated by Leon Toral, and subsequently Pascual Ortiz Rubio was designated President of Mexico. In Guanajuato, a number of education projects were undertaken, the budget was balanced and an agreement was reached for the founding of the Coordinated Public Health Service.

The road system was improved with the construction of a highway between San Francisco del Rincon and Apaseo that passes through various towns and villages and construction began on the first damming project in the municipality of Doctor Mora.

In 1944, the University of Guanajuato was officially instituted, taking over from the State College.

In our state, the redistribution of lands began in 1915. The great haciendas were divided up between the rural communities who worked the land. Farmland and communities of agricultural workers occupied a large percentage of the territory, the majority of farming being done on smallholdings. Since that time, small farmers have had to organize themselves in order to do their work together and share the necessary equipment and machinery between them. The crops for which the region has become known are wheat, corn, sorghum and alfalfa. Animal rearing is concentrated mainly on cattle and pigs, but there are also sheep, horses, goats and mules and donkeys.

Another activity that has become important since the beginning of the twentieth century is industry. Mining has been here from the start and is one of the most important activities on both a national and international level, but there have also been periods of crisis. The principal products are silver, fluorite, gold, copper, lead and zinc. Given the necessities for growth and subsistence on the part of the area's inhabitants, industrial activity has diversified, leading to the development of trade and industries such as food production, textiles, wood, paper and petroleum derivatives, as well as the footwear and leather goods industry.

Since the nineteenth century, the textile industry has stood out for its longevity and organization. The principal textile mills are to be found in the cities of Irapuato, Celaya, Juventino Rosas, Comonfort, Moroleon, Uriangato and Salvatierra.

Another important industry is tanning and its related activities, situated principally in the city of Leon since the eighteenth century. The oil industry occupies a special place in Guanajuato. On July 30, 1950, the Engineer Antonio M. Amor Refinery (RIAMA) was opened in Salamanca, bringing industrialization to the center of the country. The refinery produces derivatives such as resins, lubricants, paraffin, sulfur and fertilizers. In this way, an agricultural town has become the most important industrial zone, supplying not only this state but numerous parts of the country.

During the era of the Porfiriato, the state began to develop a transport system that has made economic development possible. The highways joined the most important cities, bringing commercial benefits to the region and other cities in the country. The railways extend all over the territory of Guanajuato, going beyond as far as Ciudad Juarez, Manzanillo, Nuevo Laredo, Lazaro Cardenas and Tampico.