A hundred years after his death, Porfirio Diaz is remembered not only as Mexico’s longest ruling president, but also as the person credited with putting Chapala on the map as a tourist destination.
Born in Oaxaca in 1830, and baptized José de la Cruz Porfirio Diaz Mori on September 15 of that year, he rose from a military hero in the Battle of Puebla (1862) to rule the nation with an iron fist through seven terms spanning the years 1876 to 1911.
Diaz led Mexico through an era of political stability, modernization and economic growth that greatly benefited the wealthy and big business, in detriment to the country’s downtrodden working class. Eventually, his reluctance to relinquish power sparked the outbreak of the Mexican Revolution and forced him to flee Mexico in May 1911 for exile in Europe. He died in Paris on July 2, 1915 at the age of 84. His remains are still buried in the Montparnasse cemetery.
From scant documents found in Chapala’s historical archives there is evidence that Diaz first visited the town in 1896, just as the area was starting to gain international renown as an idyllic haven blessed by natural attributes such as benign weather, healthful hot springs, gorgeous scenery and rich wildlife.
Numerous written accounts penned from that time forward refer to the notorious dictator, his family, and a large entourage of cabinet officers and business cronies who would make a custom of vacationing in Chapala during the Easter week holiday between 1904 and 1909. Their presence became a magnet for the crème de la crème of Mexican society, detonating the rapid development of the tourist trade and construction of magnificent lakefront mansions.
The Diaz clan holed up at El Manglar, the sprawling estate of Lorenzo Elizaga, brother-in-law of the president’s wife, that can be found today immediately west of the stretch of highway curves at Chapala’s outskirts.
In 1908, wealthy Jalisco entrepreneur and landowner Manuel Cuesta Gallard purchased Villa Tlalocan – a vast waterfront spread once owned by British Consul Leonel Carden – with the intention of gifting Diaz a permanent vacation residence. By the time it was ready for occupation, the president was on his way out, his glorious Chapala holidays a thing of the past.
Cuesta Gallardo’s descendants subsequently sold off portions of Villa Tlalocan, breaking it up into separate estates that now border the shoreline and Avenida Hidalgo. The original property encompassed the string of stately homes situated beyond the west end of the Malecón between Villa Ferrara and Villa Adriana.
While Diaz no doubt played a vital role in determining Chapala’s destiny, there was an environmental downside to his close relationship with Cuesta Gallardo. By presidential decree, the latter was permitted to build a long dike across the east end of Lake Chapala, segregating 50,000 hectares of wetlands to be turned into agricultural fields which forever altered the ecosystem’s well-being.