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Félix Díaz

A graphical timeline is available at Timeline of the Mexican Revolution

Félix Díaz Velasco (17 February 1868 – 9 July 1945) was a Mexican politician and general born in Oaxaca, Oaxaca. He graduated as an engineer from the Colegio Militar in 1888. He was a leading figure in the rebellion against President Francisco I. Madero during the Mexican Revolution.

Biography

He was the nephew of President Porfirio Díaz and held several offices during his uncle's tenure. After Porfirio Díaz was deposed, Madero was elected President and early in 1912, Díaz joined Victoriano Huerta and Bernardo Reyes in their rebellion against Madero. Díaz was captured in October 1912 and sentenced to death for treason, although Madero later commuted the sentence to life imprisonment.

Díaz escaped from jail during the La decena trágica ("the Ten Tragic Days"), the Huerta-led coup d'état that overthrew and assassinated Madero. A few days later, after Madero's arrest, Díaz signed the Embassy Pact (Pacto de la Embajada), facilitated by American ambassador Henry Lane Wilson) which installed Huerta as President and allowed Díaz to run as presidential candidate on the next election. Huerta did not honor his part of the agreement and sent Díaz to Japan as an ambassador. At his return Díaz was constantly harassed by Huerta causing him to go into exile to New York and later Havana.

He returned to Mexico in May 1916 and became the leader of the National Reorganizer Army (Ejército Reorganizador Nacional). His new revolutionary efforts were not too successful and was forced to retreat to the south of Mexico where he officially remained in arms.

In 1920 Díaz went into exile once again. He returned in 1937 and settled in Veracruz, Veracruz, where he died in 1945.

References

• The Man Who Upset Mexico - Felix Diaz, The New York Times Magazine Section Part 5, February 16, 1913. Retrieved on December 24, 2007.
• Peter Henderson ‘FÉLIX DÍAZ, the Porfirians, and the Mexican Revolution’ 1981