Saint Maximino: The Mechanics of Personality Cults in Postrevolutionary Mexico

This paper argues that Maximino Avila Camacho's rise to power in the 1920s and 1930s in post-revolutionary Mexico was due, in large measure, to his creation of an image of himself as the savior of Puebla from decadent politicians and rapacious economic interests, in addition to his use of cooptation, coercion, and even assassination to silence critics and consolidate his personal power.  Beginning as a young officer in the revolutionary forces, Maximino recreated himself and rewrote his personal history in order to capitalize on the widespread desire of Mexicans emerging out of the 1910-1917 revolution for strong, benevolent leaders.  Maximino also used the struggle among the revolutionary leaders at the regional and national levels to secure the governorship of Puebla from which he launched campaigns for national office in the late 1930s and early 1940s.  Throughout he portrayed himself as the defender of local interests, as well as national well-being.  During his lifetime stories about him dominated not only the Pueblan press, but also the national media.

Using little studied documents from the Mexican and US archives, as well as contemporary newspapers and other documents, this paper examines how Maximino successfully covered up his own corruption and abuse of power by creating an image of himself as a leader larger than life, willing to sacrifice all for his beloved country and Puebla.  Maximino's outsized image has outlived him becoming the subject of a feature film and one of the most popular novels in modern Mexican history.  His political heirs continued to dominate Pueblan politics into the 1970s and he is remembered today as one of the most colorful of Mexican caciques.  His contributions to the consolidation of a one-party modern state which astutely employed mythbuilding have been less explored, but will be in this paper.