| Creel-Terrazas | |
|---|---|
| Current region | Chihuahua |
| Place of origin | Chihuahua, Mexico |
| Founded | 19th century |
| Founder | Luis Terrazas |
The Creel-Terrazas family is a powerful and wealthy Mexican political family from the Mexican state of Chihuahua.
| Creel-Terrazas | |
|---|---|
| Current region | Chihuahua |
| Place of origin | Chihuahua, Mexico |
| Founded | 19th century |
| Founder | Luis Terrazas |
The Creel-Terrazas family is a powerful and wealthy Mexican political family from the Mexican state of Chihuahua.
During the rule of President Porfirio Díaz and the Mexican Revolution, this family was part of the científico faction. The científicos were conservative civilian technocrats and advisors of President Díaz. The family was poised to succeed Díaz in power, but it was largely discredited because of the economic decline at the time before the outbreak of the Revolution.
By the early 20th century, the family controlled 50 haciendas and ranches throughout the state with a total extension in excess of 7 million acres (28,000 km2). They owned 500,000 head of cattle, 225,000 sheep, 25,000 horses and 5,000 mules. Encinillas, north of the state capital of Chihuahua, was the largest hacienda occupying an area of 1,300,000 acres (5,300 km2). It employed some 2,000 peons.
The wealth of the family is evident by simply examining the various properties in the city of Chihuahua that were owned by the clan at the outbreak of the revolution in 1910: the Casa Creel on Aldama, the Residencia Terrazas at the corner of Colón and Juárez and, formerly, the gem of the collection, the Quinta Carolina in Colonia Nombre de Dios in the north of the city. This last was the summer estate of Don Luis Terrazas and his family. Though now in a semi-ruined state, the governments of the city and state of Chihuahua are beginning an extensive rehabilitation and restoration of the property. The estate was completely outside the city at the time, and where there are now houses, once only ranchland, cultivated farmland and gardens surrounded the estate house, chapel and outbuildings.
A book by Mark Wasserman discusses the family's "efforts to maintain its power after the Revolution, including its use of economic resources and intermarriage to forge partnerships with the new, revolutionary elite." 1
After the Revolution, the Creel-Terrazas family extended to include other families that immigrated from Chile, Argentina, and Poland.
Some noteworthy members of the family are:
Members of the Creel-Terrazas extended family have served for a total of 67 terms in Chihuahua's state legislature, and 23 terms in the Congress of Mexico.
Francisco I. Madero González was a Mexican businessman, revolutionary, writer and statesman, who served as the 37th president of Mexico from 1911 until he was deposed in a coup d'état in February 1913 and assassinated. He came to prominence as an advocate for democracy and as an opponent of President and de facto dictator Porfirio Díaz. After Díaz claimed to have won the fraudulent election of 1910 despite promising a return to democracy, Madero started the Mexican Revolution to oust Díaz. Madero supposedly initiated the Mexican Revolution with guidance from spirits The Mexican revolution would continue until 1920, well after Madero and Díaz's deaths, with hundreds of thousands dead.
Francisco "Pancho" Villa was a Mexican revolutionary and general in the Mexican Revolution. He was a key figure in the revolutionary movement that forced out President Porfirio Díaz and brought Francisco I. Madero to power in 1911. When Madero was ousted by a coup led by General Victoriano Huerta in February 1913, Villa joined the anti-Huerta forces in the Constitutionalist Army led by Venustiano Carranza. After the defeat and exile of Huerta in July 1914, Villa broke with Carranza. Villa dominated the meeting of revolutionary generals that excluded Carranza and helped create a coalition government. Emiliano Zapata and Villa became formal allies in this period. Like Zapata, Villa was strongly in favor of land reform, but did not implement it when he had power. At the height of his power and popularity in late 1914 and early 1915, the U.S. considered recognizing Villa as Mexico's legitimate authority.
The Mexican Revolution was an extended sequence of armed regional conflicts in Mexico from 20 November 1910 to 1 December 1920. It has been called "the defining event of modern Mexican history" and resulted in the destruction of the Federal Army, its replacement by a revolutionary army, and the transformation of Mexican culture and government. The northern Constitutionalist faction prevailed on the battlefield and drafted the present-day Constitution of Mexico, which aimed to create a strong central government. Revolutionary generals held power from 1920 to 1940. The revolutionary conflict was primarily a civil war, but foreign powers, having important economic and strategic interests in Mexico, figured in the outcome of Mexico's power struggles; the U.S. involvement was particularly high. The conflict led to the deaths of around one million people, mostly noncombatants.
The city of Chihuahua or Chihuahua City is the state capital of the Mexican state of Chihuahua. As of 2020, the city of Chihuahua had a population of 925,762 inhabitants. while the metropolitan area had a population of 988,065 inhabitants.
Pascual Orozco Vázquez, Jr. was a Mexican revolutionary leader who rose up to support Francisco I. Madero in late 1910 to depose long-time president Porfirio Díaz (1876-1911). Orozco was a natural military leader whose victory over the Federal Army at Ciudad Juárez was a key factor in forcing Díaz to resign in May 1911. Following Díaz's resignation and the democratic election of Madero in November 1911, Orozco served Madero as leader of the state militia in Chihuahua, a paltry reward for his service in the Mexican Revolution. Orozco revolted against the Madero government 16 months later, issuing the Plan Orozquista in March 1912. It was a serious revolt which the Federal Army struggled to suppress. When Victoriano Huerta led a coup d'état against Madero in February 1913 during which Madero was murdered, Orozco joined the Huerta regime. Orozco's revolt against Madero somewhat tarnished his revolutionary reputation, but his subsequent support of Huerta compounded the repugnance against him.
José Venustiano Carranza de la Garza was a Mexican land owner and politician who served as President of Mexico from 1917 until his assassination in 1920, during the Mexican Revolution. He was previously Mexico's de facto head of state as Primer Jefe of the Constitutionalist faction from 1914 to 1917, and previously served as a senator and governor for Coahuila. He played the leading role in drafting the Constitution of 1917 and maintained Mexican neutrality in World War I.
The Científicos were a circle of technocratic advisors to President of Mexico Porfirio Díaz. Steeped in the positivist "scientific politics", they functioned as part of his program of modernization at the start of the 20th century.
Abraham González de Hermosillo y Casavantes was the provisional and constitutional governor of the Mexican state of Chihuahua during the early period of the Mexican Revolution. He was the political mentor of the revolutionary Pancho Villa, whom he had met and befriended before the revolution.
Francisco Javier Barrio Terrazas is a Mexican politician affiliated with the National Action Party (PAN). He is a former governor of Chihuahua and former secretary in the cabinet of President Vicente Fox.
José Reyes Baeza Terrazas is a Mexican politician and lawyer. In 2004, he was elected Governor of Chihuahua as a member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party for the term ending in 2010. Prior to that, he was Chair of Law at the University of Chihuahua in Chihuahua. He then served as mayor of the city of Chihuahua from 1998 to 2001 and as a congressman in the federal Chamber of Deputies (Congress).
José María Pino Suárez was a lawyer, journalist, and politician who was a key figure of the Mexican Revolution. He was a newspaper proprietor who served as the last Vice President of Mexico from 1911 until his assassination, during the events of the Ten Tragic Days. Along with president Francisco I. Madero, he is remembered as a champion of democracy and an advocate for social justice in Mexico.
Luis Héctor Álvarez Álvarez was a Mexican industrialist and politician. Álvarez was a member of the National Action Party. In 1958 he was a candidate for the Presidency of Mexico. He has also served as Mayor of Chihuahua, president of his party and was the coordinator of the dialogues for peace in Chiapas.
Luis Terrazas was a Mexican politician, businessman, rancher, and soldier.
José Enrique Clay Ramón de Jesús Creel Cuilty, sometimes known as Henry Clay Creel was a Mexican businessman, politician and diplomat, member of the powerful Creel-Terrazas family of Chihuahua. He was a member of the Científicos, as well as founder and president of the Banco Central Mexicano, vice-president of Kansas City, Mexico and Orient Railway, as well as governor of Chihuahua on two occasions, ambassador of Mexico to the United States, and Minister of Foreign Affairs of President Porfirio Díaz in the last years of his regime. The foremost banker during the Porfirato (1876-1910) he is considered a symbol of the Porfirian regime.
Chihuahua, officially the Estado Libre y Soberano de Chihuahua, is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 federal entities of Mexico. It is located in the northwestern part of Mexico and is bordered by the states of Sonora to the west, Sinaloa to the southwest, Durango to the south, and Coahuila to the east. To the north and northeast, it shares an extensive border with the U.S. adjacent to the U.S. states of New Mexico and Texas. Its capital city is Chihuahua City; the largest city is Ciudad Juárez.
The Treaty of Ciudad Juárez was a peace treaty signed between the President of Mexico, Porfirio Díaz, and the revolutionary Francisco Madero on May 21, 1911. The treaty put an end to the fighting between forces supporting Madero and those of Díaz and thus concluded the initial phase of the Mexican Revolution.
The Battle of Cuautla was a battle between the forces of Emiliano Zapata and the federal army of the Mexican government that took place in the state of Morelos from May 11–19, 1911, during the Mexican Revolution. It has sometimes been described as "six of the most terrible days of battle in the whole Revolution". Eventually, the remains of the defending "Golden Fifth" regiment, the Fifth Cavalry Regiment of the Federal Army, withdrew and Zapata took control of the town. The Zapatista victory convinced Porfirio Díaz to come to terms with Francisco Madero, agree to the Treaty of Ciudad Juárez and resign as president.
Events from the year 1911 in Mexico.
The Battle of Ojinaga, also known as the Taking of Ojinaga, was one of the battles of the Mexican Revolution and was fought on January 11, 1914. The conflict put an end to the last stronghold of the Federal Army in Northern Mexico.