José Yves Limantour

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José Yves Limantour (1854-1935), Secretary of the Finance of Mexico from 1893 until the fall of the Porfirio Díaz regime in 1911. He is considered the political leader of the technocratic advisors to President Díaz known as Científicos who were educated and wanted expanded intellectualism and prosperity in Mexico, thus they supported the Diaz regime because of his support of the modernization of Mexico, yet they also wanted expanded freedom. Limantour became one of the central leaders of the Científicos in 1895 after the death of Romero Rubio.

As Secretary of Finance he expanded foreign investment into Mexico, but supporting free trade, and balanced the budget for the first time and generated a budget surplus by 1894. However, even with the economic prosperity of Mexican business, the common people of the country did not feel any good effects and even were worse off because of the rising cost of food.

Towards the end of the Diaz government, Diaz felt that Limantour was becoming too powerful, and thus he sent him to Europe to negotiate loans. Then, after the collapse of the government, he returned to Mexico and encouraged Díaz to resign. Then they both retreated to France, were he died in 1935.

References

• T.R. Fehrenbach, Fire & Blood: A History of Mexico, 1973
• Henry Bamford Parkes, A History of Mexico, 1969
• Ramon Eduardo Ruiz, The Great Rebellion Mexico 1905-1924, 1980

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