The Maximato was a historical period in Mexico.
The notion of Maximato is not part of the dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy ( RAE ). The term is used to refer to a historical period in Mexico that lasted between 1928 and 1934 .
The name of the period derives from the nickname of Plutarco Elías Calles , known as “Maximum Chief of the Revolution.” The period in question was marked by the influence exerted by this political leader.
Background of the Maximato
From 1924 to 1928 , the Mexican president was the aforementioned Plutarco Elías Calle . This president, based on a law that imposed certain limitations on Catholicism , maintained a confrontation with religious groups that led to the outbreak of the so-called Cristero War .
The Law of Tolerance of Cults , mentioned as the Calles Law , limited the number of priests per inhabitants and established the obligation of a license for the exercise of the priesthood, for example. This license was issued by the General Congress of the United Mexican States , which displeased the Catholic Church .
The Maximato lasted between 1928 and 1935.
The importance of Álvaro Obregón
Calles ' mandate, on the other hand, was influenced by the figure of former President Álvaro Obregón , who remained at the head of the government between 1920 and 1924 . Although Obregón was initially going to retire from politics , in practice he ended up co-governing with Calles , according to some sectors.
Obregón , in this framework, ended up running again as a presidential candidate thanks to the possibility opened by a constitutional reform. In July 1928 he won the elections, but a week later he was assassinated in the midst of the confrontation between the State and the Church .
Faced with this situation, Calles managed to impose Emilio Portes Gil as interim president. He was a man identified as moderate who was accepted by Obregonism and the opposition .
Beginning of the Maximate
Formally, it is usually indicated that the Maximato began on December 1, 1928 , when Portes Gil took office as president. Beyond the management of Portes Gil , Calles retained a large portion of power and even elected the members of the cabinet.
On March 3, 1929, the Hermosillo Plan was announced, where the legitimacy of Portes Gil 's presidency was unknown and Calles was named responsible for the murder of Obregón . In this context, the Hermosillo Plan sought to proclaim General José Gonzalo Escobar as president.
Calles was thus appointed Secretary of War and Navy to quell the insurrection . In November '29 , after the call for elections, Pascual Ortiz Rubio was elected amid controversy over how the electoral process was developed.
The resignation of Ortiz Rubio and the presidency of Abelardo L. Rodríguez
Two years after his inauguration, Pascual Ortiz Rubio presented his resignation. Thus, in 1932 Abelardo L. Rodríguez took office. Historians maintain that Calles ' influence continued to be notable, which implied the continuity of the Maximato .
The establishment of the minimum wage , the inauguration of the Palace of Fine Arts , the promulgation of the Organic Law of the Federal Courts and the delivery of exchange control to the Bank of Mexico were some of the main measures of Rodríguez , who responded politically to Calles .
The end of the Maximato
With the elections of 1934 , Lázaro Cárdenas became the Mexican president. His appointment marked the closure of the Maximato , as Cárdenas clashed with Calles .
In 1936 , then, Cárdenas forced Calles into exile. The Maximato leader settled in the United States , living with his daughter in San Diego (state of California ) for five years. President Manuel Ávila Camacho was the one who promoted Cárdenas 's return to Mexican territory , where he died in 1945 .