Gustavo Díaz Ordaz

President of Mexico

12 March 1911 San Andrés, Puebla, Mexico

15 July 1979(1979-07-15) (68) Cerrada del Risco 133, Jardines del Pedregal, Mexico City, D.F., Mexico

1 December 1964 (1964-12-01 )  – 30 November 1970 (1970-11-30 )

56th president of Mexico For the municipality, see Gustavo Díaz Ordaz, Tamaulipas. In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Díaz Ordaz and the second or maternal family name is Bolaños. This article includes a list of general references, but it remains largely unverified because it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (December 2009 ) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) Gustavo Díaz Ordaz Bolaños (Spanish pronunciation:  ; 12 March 1911 – 15 July 1979) was a Mexican politician and member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). He served as the President of Mexico from 1964 to 1970. Díaz Ordaz was born in San Andrés Chalchicomula, and obtained a law degree from the University of Puebla in 1937 where he later became its vice-rector. He represented Puebla's 1st district in the Chamber of Deputies from 1943 to 1946. Subsequently he represented the same state in the Chamber of Senators from 1946 to 1952 becoming closely acquainted with then-senator Adolfo López Mateos. Díaz Ordaz joined the campaign of Adolfo Ruiz Cortines for the 1952 election and subsequently worked for the Secretariat of the Interior under Ángel Carvajal Bernal. He became the secretary following López Mateos' victory in the 1958 election, and exercised de facto executive power during the absences of the president, particularly during the Cuban Missile Crisis. In 1963, the PRI announced him as the presidential candidate for the 1964 election, he received 88.81% of the popular vote. His administration is mostly remembered for the student protests that took place in 1968, and their subsequent repression by the Army and State forces during the Tlatelolco massacre, in which hundreds of unarmed protesters were killed. After passing on presidency to his own Secretary of the Interior (Luis Echeverría), Díaz Ordaz retired from public life. He was briefly the Ambassador to Spain in 1977, a position he resigned after strong protests and criticism by the media. He died of colorectal cancer on 15 July 1979 at the age of 68.