José María Pino Suárez (Spanish pronunciation: [xosemaˈɾia ˌpinoˈswaɾes]; 8 September 1869 – 22 February 1913) was a Mexican lawyer, statesman, politician, and journalist who served as the 7th and last Vice President of Mexico from 1911 until his assassination during the Ten Tragic Days coup in 1913. A close ally of President Francisco I. Madero and a prominent figure of the Mexican Revolution, he is considered a national hero for championing democratic reforms and advocating social justice. Between 1910 and 1913, he also served as President of the Senate, Secretary of Education, Governor of Yucatán, and Secretary of Justice in Madero's provisional government. He was the great-grandson of Pedro Sáinz de Baranda y Borreyro, the naval commander who founded the Mexican Navy and expelled the last Spanish forces from national territory during the Mexican War of Independence.
Born in Tenosique, Tabasco, into a distinguished political family from Yucatán, he was educated by the Jesuits in Mérida before earning his law degree in 1894. Later, he established a law firm in Mexico City in partnership with Joaquín Casasús and became involved in various businesses alongside his father-in-law, Raymundo Cámara.
In 1904, he founded El Peninsular, a newspaper that gave voice to a new generation of liberal intellectuals opposed to Olegario Molina, a powerful Porfirian cacique. El Peninsular quickly gained readers and advertisers, standing out for its use of modern printing technology, coverage of national and international news, and its editorial team that included prominent Yucatecan intellectuals. Pino Suárez authored a series of investigative journalism articles that exposed the exploitation of Maya and Yaqui indigenous people, who had been illegally reduced to conditions of slavery on some henequen haciendas. This provoked the anger of certain sectors of the Yucatecan oligarchy, known as the divine caste, who used their political and economic power to threaten the existence of the newspaper. The defense of freedom of expression against government censorship led Pino Suárez to enter the political arena.
As a supporter of Francisco I. Madero, he shared in Madero's struggle to democratize the country. As Madero's popularity grew, Porfirio Díaz, the dictator, decided to imprison him on charges of sedition. After escaping from prison, Madero issued the Plan de San Luis, which declared the 1910 federal elections fraudulent and demanded various political and social reforms, including the establishment of democratic institutions, prohibition of presidential reelection, agrarian reform, and an eight-hour workday, among others. This plan became a reference point for opponents of the Porfirian dictatorship and led to the Mexican Revolution. Pino Suárez organized the revolutionary cause in the southeastern region of Mexico and, threatened with imprisonment and forced into exile, joined Madero in San Antonio, Texas. There, Madero established a provisional government and appointed Pino Suárez as Secretary of Justice. After a significant military victory for the revolutionary cause, Pino Suárez was one of four peace commissioners tasked with negotiating the Treaty of Ciudad Juárez (1911), marking the end of the Porfirian dictatorship after three decades in power.
After the triumph of the Revolution, Pino Suárez was appointed interim Governor of Yucatán by the State Congress, but his appointment was met with violent protests by followers of Delio Moreno Cantón, a populist politician with close ties to the old regime who had strong support among the working classes. In a closely contested election, Pino Suárez managed to gain the support of the majority of the regional economic elite and was elected to his own term as governor by a narrow margin. Shortly thereafter, he requested a leave of absence from his position to assume the Vice Presidency, and the State Congress appointed Nicolás Cámara Vales, his brother-in-law, as his successor in the governorship.
The presidential elections of 1911 were characterized as peaceful, clean, and democratic, marking an important milestone in the country's history. In those elections, Francisco I. Madero was elected president and José María Pino Suárez as vice president, forming what is considered Mexico's first democratically elected government. In February 1912, Pino Suárez assumed a prominent role as Secretary of Education, and his main objective was to carry out a comprehensive educational reform. Aware of the low literacy rate in the country, he focused his efforts on making public education accessible beyond the elite, advocating for popular education. Additionally, he sought to promote an ideological transition in education, shifting from positivism to humanism. He faced opposition from los Científicos, the group that controlled the National School of Jurisprudence and resisted the educational reforms of the Madero government. This situation led to the founding of the Escuela Libre de Derecho, which was established in open opposition to Pino Suárez. Despite this, Pino Suárez authorized this institution to operate autonomously from the government.
Within the government, Pino Suárez led the renewal bloc, a liberal faction of the Maderist movement that advocated for public policies oriented towards social liberalism and the progressive reforms promised in the Plan de San Luis. Despite having a parliamentary majority, they faced a well-organized opposition that included former Porfirians. Despite the challenges, politicians from the renewal bloc played a significant role in the drafting of the Constitution of Mexico (1917), which stands out as the world's first constitution to include extensive social and economic guarantees and protections, such as provisions regarding labor, agrarian reform, and the social dimension of property rights.
Madero's reformist government was considered too progressive by some and not radical enough by others. It had to contend with several rebellions led by different revolutionary and counterrevolutionary factions until it was overthrown in a military coup in February 1913. Subsequently, both Madero and Pino Suárez were assassinated on the orders of General Victoriano Huerta, the dictator who replaced them. In 1969, María Cámara Vales, Pino Suárez's widow, received the Belisario Domínguez Medal of Honor from the Senate of Mexico, recognizing the sacrifice that the couple had made for the country.
Born in Tenosique, Tabasco, "almost by accident – his family was among the most notable in Mérida." He was the eldest son of José María Pino Salvatiel, a businessman, and Josefa Suarez; both his parents had been born in Mérida. A few years after his birth, his mother died, an event that was devastating for the young boy. He had a younger brother, Néstor Pino Suárez who served as a colonel and was mortally wounded in battle in 1912, trying to end the Quintero insurrection in Sinaloa.
His great-grandfather was Pedro Sainz de Baranda (1787–1845), a Naval Officer, industrialist and liberal politician born in San Francisco de Campeche, who having trained in the Spanish Navy, fought in the Battle of Trafalgar. Afterwards, he was a deputy in the constituent assembly which drafted the liberal Spanish Constitution of 1812, before returning to Mexico to fight in the Mexican War of Independence and played an important role in founding the Mexican Navy. Under his command, Mexico captured the Fort of San Juan de Ulúa in Veracruz, the last remainder of Mexican territory still in Spanish hands, successfully thwarting a Spanish attempt to reconquer Mexico. Prior to his death in 1845, he served as Governor of Yucatán and is also credited with introducing the Industrial Revolution to Mexico, founding Aurora Yucateca, the first textile factory in the country to use steam power.
Pino's great-uncles were Joaquín Baranda and Pedro Baranda. Joaquín had served as Chief justice of the Supreme Court of Justice, Governor of Campeche, Senator, and, between 1882 and 1901, was a long-serving Cabinet Minister, being appointed as Secretary of Justice, Education and, briefly, Foreign Affairs under presidents Manuel González and Porfirio Díaz. He became one of the most powerful Cabinet Ministers of the porfiriato, but he resigned in 1901, after falling out with José Yves Limantour, the influential Secretary of the Treasury and head of the Cíentificos, a powerful group of technocrats; Limantour had demanded Baranda's resignation after the latter had, as Justice Secretary, successfully thwarted Limantour's presidential arguing that he was constitutionally ineligible to be president due to his French origins. During his time in government, Joaquín Baranda was responsible for founding the Public Prosecutor's Office (Procuraduría General de la República) and the Normal school (Escuela Normal de Profesores). Meanwhile, his brother, General Pedro Baranda fought for the liberal cause in the Reform Wars and the French Intervention, and participated in the constituent assembly that drafted the liberal Constitution of 1857. Later in his career, he promoted the creation of the states of Campeche and Morelos, serving as Governor of both states. In Campeche, the influence of the Baranda brothers was such that for many years, the State Capital was known as Campeche de Baranda:“ [Pedro Baranda] came from the highest echelons of southeastern political royalty. [He] haled from a Campeche-based family long active in civil and military affairs. His father, Pedro Sáinz de Baranda, [...] had championed a socially conservative, gaditano independence; shortly thereafter, he founded the famous Aurora Yucateca cotton mill in Valladolid, a bold experiment in industrial revolution […] Pedro himself had fought […] to create the state of Campeche, then fought against the interventionists in Tabasco. Promoted to the rank of General by Juárez, he then served as first Governor of Morelos and later as the Senator from Campeche. The honorific "Campeche de Baranda" commemorates his role there, while an enormous statue of his father don Pedro the elder, sword tightly in hand, greets the modern day motorist along the city's malecón.Another uncle of Pino Suárez was Joaquín Casasús, a lawyer, economist, diplomat, and banker who was a leading member of the influential Cíentificos group and made a substantial fortune representing American and British interests in Mexico. He at one time served as Mexican Ambassador to the United States and managed to obtain a favorable arbitration ruling for Mexico in the Chamizal dispute, a border conflict with the United States.