Belisario Domínguez Medal of Honor

Background

The award is named after politician Belisario Domínguez (1863-1913). Domínguez was a Senator for the state of Chiapas at the time of the Mexican Revolution. After Victoriano Huerta's coup d'état, which ousted President Francisco I. Madero, Domínguez circulated a speech as a letter to fellow members of congress in which he denounced Huerta's actions and encouraged Congress to depose him. At the end of his letter he also encouraged readers to make copies of it and distribute them around the country. The speech was not taken well in Huerta's circles and Domínguez was assassinated a few days later, on October 7, 1913.

In 1953 President Adolfo Ruiz Cortines signed the decree establishing the award in remembrance of this "martyr of democracy". That same year the Senate decided to bestow the first medal on the bust of Belisario Domínguez that already existed in the Senate Chamber as a symbolic act. It is for this reason that the medal was awarded twice in 1954.

Description

The Order consists of a single class and is awarded to a single recipient during a solemn ceremony in the Senate Chamber on October 7. A gold medal hanging from a silk ribbon with the colors of the Mexican flag is given together with a diploma signed by the President of the Republic and the leader of the Senate.

The medal has the national coat of arms on one side together with the inscription "Estados Unidos Mexicanos, H. Cámara de Senadores 1952-1958" ("United Mexican States, Honourable Chamber of Senators 1952-1958"). The reverse side of the medal has an image of Domínguez' bust together with the inscription "Ennobleció a la Patria, 7 de octubre de 1913" ("Ennobled the Nation, October 7, 1913").

Recipients

The following is a complete list of people who have been recipients of the Belisario Domínguez Medal. Only in 1954 and 2012 the medal has been awarded twice.

1954 – Rosaura Zapata

1954 – Erasmo Castellanos Quinto

1955 – Esteban Baca Calderón

1956 – Gerardo Murillo, "Dr. Atl"

1957 – Roque Estrada Reynoso

1958 – Antonio Díaz Soto y Gama

1959 – Heriberto Jara Corona

1960 – Isidro Fabela

1961 – José Inocente Lugo

1962 – María Tereza Montoya

1963 – María Hernández Zarco

1964 – Adrián Aguirre Benavides

1965 – Plácido Cruz Ríos

1966 – Ramón F. Iturbe

1967 – Francisco L. Urquizo

1968 – Miguel Angel Cevallos

1969 – María Cámara Vales, widow of Pino Suárez, Francisco I. Madero's vice president

1970 – Rosendo Salazar

1971 – Jaime Torres Bodet

1972 – Ignacio Ramos Praslow

1973 – Pablo E. Macías Valenzuela

1974 – Rafael de la Colina Riquelme

1975 – Ignacio Chávez Sánchez

1976 – Jesús Romero Flores

1977 – Juan de Dios Bátiz Peredes

1978 – Gustavo Baz Prada

1979 – Fidel Velázquez Sánchez

1980 – Luis Padilla Nervo

1981 – Luis Alvarez Barret

1982 – Gen. Raúl Madero González

1983 – Jesús Silva Herzog

1984 – Salomón González Blanco

1985 – María Lavalle Urbina

1986 – Salvador Zubirán

1987 – Eduardo García Maynez

1988 – Rufino Tamayo

1989 – Raúl Castellano Jiménez

1990 – Andrés Serra Rojas

1991 – Gonzalo Aguirre Beltrán

1992 – Ramón G. Bonfil

1993 – Andrés Henestrosa Morales

1994 – Jaime Sabines Gutiérrez

1995 – Miguel León Portilla

1996 – Griselda Alvarez Ponce de León

1997 – Heberto Castillo Martínez

1998 – José Angel Conchello Dávila

1999 – Carlos Fuentes

2000 – Leopoldo Zea Aguilar

2001 – José Ezequiel Iturriaga Sauco

2002 – Héctor Fix Zamudio

2003 – Luis González y González

2004 – Carlos Canseco González

2005 – Gilberto Borja Navarrete

2006 – Jesús Kumate Rodríguez

2007 – Carlos Castillo Peraza (post mortem)

2008 – Miguel Ángel Granados Chapa

2009 – Antonio Ortiz Mena (post mortem)

2010 – Javier Barros Sierra (post mortem)

2010 – Luis H. Álvarez

2011 – Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas Solorzano

2012 – Ernesto de la Peña (post mortem)

2013 – Manuel Gómez Morín (post mortem)

2014 – Eraclio Zepeda

2015 – Alberto Bailleres

2016 – Gonzalo Rivas (post mortem)