Carmen Romero Rubio: Biography

Carmen Romero Rubio (also known as"Carmelita") was the First Lady of Mexico between 1884 and 1911. She was the wife of Porfirio Díaz, president of the United Mexican States on seven occasions. In total, Díaz occupied the presidency of Mexico for 30 years. It has been the largest historical extension in the position.

Carmelita was born as María Fabiana Sebastiana Carmen Romero Rubio and Castelló in Tula, Tamaulipas, on January 20, 1864. She married Diaz in 1881 and they remained married until the day of the death of General Porfirio Díaz.

Due to the profile of the general, hard man and weapons, it is considered that the refined contribution of Carmelita and high education would provide the president with an approach to the economic powers of the time. In addition, it could have brought closer the relationship between Church and State.

Both Porfirio and Carmelita's parents had important influences in the Church, and the time required a rapprochement after previous estrangements. Carmen Romero Rubio died on June 25, 1944 in Mexico City, at 80 years of age.

Biography

Carmelita is born into a wealthy family, with a surname of long tradition in the Mexican aristocracy. She was the daughter of Manuel Romero Rubio and Agustina Castelló, and sister of Sofía and María Luisa.

His father, a lawyer by profession, was the right hand of Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada, president of Mexico between 1872 and 1876.

It was believed that Romero Rubio had great possibilities of aspiring to the presidency once Tejada's term ended. But in 1876, General Porfirio Diaz (his future son-in-law) deposed President Lerdo as head of the Tuxtepec plan.

The families of Romero Rubio and Lerdo de Tejada exile the United States, where Carmelita and her sisters will be raised. There he attends prestigious schools, studies languages ​​and arts and begins to master the manners of high society.

President Porfirio Díaz became a widow in 1880, when his first wife, Delfina Ortega, died after 13 years of marriage. Delfina Ortega, in addition to his wife, was also his niece.

On the day of their marriage, Puebla, the city of the ceremony, was besieged. Therefore, Porfirio had to send a legal representative in his place to sign the minutes.

Porfirio and Carmelita

A year after becoming a widow in 1881, Díaz meets Carmelita at an event at the US embassy. She hires her as an English teacher, but soon they begin to attract the young woman's charms.

There are assumptions that attribute the alliance of this relationship to strategic purposes, to stabilize the order and pacification of a Mexico processing the transition to peace after a long process of historical conflict.

Marriage

On November 5, 1881, Don Porfirio Díaz (51 years old) and Carmelita Romero Rubio (17 years old) got married. At that time, the government of Mexico was headed by Manuel González due to the impossibility of consecutive re-election of Díaz. In 1884 Porfirio Díaz returns to power, which makes Carmelita the first lady of Mexico.

It is believed that Carmelita had fertility problems, so she never had children. However, during her marriage she fulfilled the role of mother of the three children of Diaz: Amada, Luz and Porfirio were the children that Porfirio Díaz contracted with his wife Delfina and with Rafaela Quiñones.

Carmelita had a lot of influence on the behavior and manners of Porfirio Díaz. He was in charge of educating him in protocol and ceremonial customs, he assisted him with his personal style, he made it up and gave him language classes.

In addition, Carmelita attended inaugural events and acts of presence, formed relief meetings in major accidents and conducted charity work.

Pacification with the Church

After the liberal reformist process of Juárez and Lerdo de Tejada, relations between the Church and the State were in constant tension. The conflicts were evident in the political field and the laws of the liberal reform continued in the Magna Carta.

However, the wedding of Porfirio and Carmelita also composed a pacification strategy between the two institutions.

From this marriage began an approach led by the bishop of Yucatan, Eulogio Gillow, a diplomatic bishop who skillfully represented the Church. He had close relations with Díaz, as well as being a friend of the Carmelita family. Therefore, this union caused the beginning of conciliation.

Exile and return

Carmen Romero Rubio was first lady for 27 years, between December 1, 1884 and May 25, 1911. When Díaz resigned, he was exiled from Mexico and emigrated to France.

They settle in France and during their stay travel throughout the continent being received by the main political leaders of the region. The couple's trips are verified visiting Madrid, San Sebastian, Zaragoza, Munich and Cairo, among other destinations.

At the beginning of 1915 Porfirio Díaz began to suffer from a serious health condition. On July 2 of that year he died at 84 years.

Carmela still owned property in Mexico, so when her husband dies, she continues to live in Paris for the rent that they provided. In 1931 he decided to return to Mexico and settled in Mexico City.

Death

On June 25, 1944, at the age of 80, Carmen Romero Rubio y Castelló died in Mexico City. She is buried in the Panteón Francés de la Piedad, a prestigious cemetery in Mexico City.

The 3 contributions of Carmela Romero Rubio as first lady of Mexico

1- Carmelita is remembered as the first lady who, through a strategic marriage, managed to recompose to a large extent the peace of Mexico.

2- Through the social and political prestige of his family and contacts with important institutional leaders, he achieved contact between sectors historically in dispute.

3 - Influenced the manners and customs of President Diaz, to achieve reconciliation between his followers and the economic and political powers of Mexico.

References

1. Díaz, P. (2014). Memoirs. Barcelona: Digital Linkgua.
2. KRAUZE, E. (1987). Porfirio Diaz, mystic of authority. Mexico: Economic Culture Fund.
3. Tello Díaz, C. (1993). The exile: a family story. Mexico: Cal and Arena.
4. VIGIL, J. M. (1981). Mexico through the centuries, I take 10. Mexico: Editorial Cumbre.
5. ZERÓN MEDINA, F. (1993). Porfirio: The origin, the war, the ambition, the power, the collapse and the exile. Mexico: Editorial Clío.