Preceded by Luis Echeverria Name Jose Portillo Religion Roman Catholic | Nationality Mexican | |
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Full Name Jose Guillermo Abel Lopez Portillo y Pacheco Born June 16, 1920Mexico City, Mexico ( 1920-06-16 ) Presidential term December 1, 1976 – November 30, 1982 Books Quetzalcoatl: A Novel, Quetzalcoatl: A Myth Similar People Luis Echeverria, Miguel de la Madrid, Carlos Salinas de Gortari, Gustavo Diaz Ordaz, Sasha Montenegro | ||
Children Jose Ramon Lopez Portillo | ||
Jose lopez portillo s historic 1982 speech
José Guillermo Abel López Portillo y Pacheco ([xoˈse ˈlopes porˈtiʝo]; June 16, 1920 – February 17, 2004) was a Mexican lawyer and, politician affiliated with Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) who served as the 51st President of Mexico from 1976 to 1982.
Contents
- Jose lopez portillo s historic 1982 speech
- Synd 18 2 77 president jose lopez portillo of mexico leaves washington after addressing congress
- Early life and education
- Early career
- Domestic policy
- Foreign policy
- Presidential succession
- Personal life and death
- Works
- Awards
- Presidente de m xico jos l pez portillo y pacheco visita espa a caparroso navarra 1977
- References
Synd 18 2 77 president jose lopez portillo of mexico leaves washington after addressing congress
Early life and education
López Portillo was born in Mexico City, to his father José López Portillo y Weber (1888–1974), an engineer, historian, researcher, and academic, and to Refugio Pacheco y Villa-Gordoa. He was the grandson of José López Portillo y Rojas, a lawyer, politician, and man of letters. He was the great-great-great grandson of José María Narváez (1768–1840), a Spanish explorer who was the first to enter Strait of Georgia, in present-day British Columbia, and the first to view the site now occupied by Vancouver. He studied law at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) before beginning his political career.
Early career
After graduating, he began his political career with the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) in 1959. He held several positions in the administrations of his two predecessors before being appointed to serve as finance minister under Luis Echeverría, a close friend from childhood, between 1973 and 1975.
Domestic policy
When López Portillo entered office, Mexico was in the midst of an economic crisis. He undertook an ambitious program to promote Mexico's economic development with revenues stemming from the discovery of new petroleum reserves in the states of Veracruz and Tabasco by Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex), the country's publicly owned oil company. In 1980, Mexico joined Venezuela in the Pact of San José, a foreign aid project to sell oil at preferential rates to countries in Central America and the Caribbean. According to some, the economic confidence that he fostered led to a short-term boost in economic growth, but by the time he left office, the economy had deteriorated.
One of his last actions as president, announced during his annual State of the Nation address on September 1, 1982, was to order the nationalization of the country's banking system.
López Portillo was the last economic nationalist president to emerge from the ranks of the Institutional Revolutionary Party. Subsequent presidents have all been for free trade (librecambismo).
During his presidential term, his critics accused him of corruption and nepotism.
An electoral reform conducted during his presidential term increased the number of members of the Chamber of Deputies to 400: 300 being elected single-seat constituencies by plurality vote (uninominals) and 100 being elected according to proportional representation (plurinominals). The reform furthermore opened the electoral process for small opposition parties.
Foreign policy
In 1981, the Cancun Summit, a North-South dialogue, took place. The summit was attended by 22 heads of state and government from industrialized countries (North) and developing nations (South). During López Portillo’s presidential term, Mexico supported the Sandinista National Liberation Front in Nicaragua. In 1977, after the death of dictator Francisco Franco, Mexico resumed diplomatic relations with Spain. Also, Pope John Paul II visited Mexico for the first time.
Presidential succession
In the year leading to the end of his term as president on December 1, 1982, López Portillo personally chose two candidates as possibilities to replace himself, following the succession ritual established by his party. One, Javier García Paniagua, would have been appointed if a man of greater political skill were needed. The other, ultimately his successor, was Miguel de la Madrid, who was chosen for his financial and administrative skills, which were deemed much more necessary after the devaluation of the peso in February 1982 and the subsequent economic crisis.
Personal life and death
López Portillo's first wife was Carmen Romano. After Romano's death in 1997, López Portillo married his longtime partner, the Yugoslavian-born actress Sasha Montenegro. They had two children (Nabila and Alejandro) but later separated.
He was the brother of late Mexican novelist Margarita López Portillo, who died on May 8, 2006, of natural causes.
He died in Mexico City when he was 83 years old. He was the victim of a cardiac complication generated by a pneumonia. He was buried at the Pantheon Federal District military.