Lopez Portillo, Jose

▪ 2005

      Mexican politician (b. June 16, 1920, Mexico City, Mex.—d. Feb. 17, 2004, Mexico City), served as president of Mexico from 1976 to 1982; although he presided over a spectacular oil boom, inefficiency and corruption in his government brought the country to the brink of economic collapse, and he spent much of his later life in self-imposed exile in Europe. López Portillo attended the National Autonomous University of Mexico, where one of his classmates and close friends was future president Luís Echeverría Álvarez. After graduation, López Portillo briefly practiced law and then returned to the university as a professor of law, political science, and public administration. He eventually joined Mexico's ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and held a number of government posts before Echeverría took office and appointed him minister of finance in 1973. Although the inflation rate and unemployment rose under the Echeverría administration, López Portillo was credited with modernizing tax-collection procedures, pursuing tax evaders, and reducing public spending. Before leaving the presidency, Echeverría designated López Portillo as his successor. An energetic and charismatic man whose wide-ranging interests included writing, painting, boxing, and javelin throwing, López Portillo initially enjoyed widespread popularity as president. He succeeded in bringing about several important political reforms, most notably an increase in the size of the federal Chamber of Deputies to 400 members, with a minimum of 100 seats reserved for opposition parties. This measure was designed to permit more minority participation in Mexican politics, which had been dominated by the PRI since 1929. López Portillo also benefited from the discovery of huge petroleum reserves in Veracruz and Tabasco states. He launched an ambitious program to exploit these reserves, rapidly expanding the country's oil exports. Much of the resulting wealth was squandered, however. The government borrowed heavily abroad against future oil revenues, and billions of dollars were lost to rampant government corruption. When world oil prices collapsed in 1981, Mexico was left with a huge foreign debt, and López Portillo left office in disgrace a year later. To escape withering criticism at home, he immediately fled to Europe, but he eventually returned to settle in Mexico in the late 1990s as his health deteriorated.

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▪ president of Mexico

in full  José López Portillo y Pacheco 

born June 16, 1920, Mexico City, Mexico

died February 17, 2004, Mexico City

 Mexican lawyer, economist, and writer, who was president of Mexico from 1976 to 1982.

      López Portillo attended the National Autonomous University of Mexico and the University of Chile. He then practiced law and later was professor of law, political science, and public administration at the National University of Mexico before beginning his political career. He held various administrative positions under Presidents Gustavo Díaz Ordaz (Díaz Ordaz, Gustavo) and Luis Echeverría (Echeverría Álvarez, Luis) before becoming minister of finance in 1971. In this position he modernized tax-collection procedures, pursued tax evaders, and reduced public spending.

      As president of Mexico, López Portillo followed a more conservative approach than that of his predecessor, Echeverría, deemphasizing land redistribution and favouring the creation of nonagricultural jobs, exploitation of oil and natural gas, tax concessions to stimulate industrial development, and attraction of foreign investment. He continued Echeverría's population-control program, which achieved a modest reduction in the country's high birth rate. López Portillo's most significant political reform was to increase the size of the Chamber of Deputies to 400 members, with a minimum of 100 seats reserved for opposition parties. This measure was designed to permit more minority participation in Mexican politics, which had been dominated by the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) since 1929.

      López Portillo mounted an ambitious program for the exploitation of huge, newly discovered petroleum reserves in Veracruz and Tabasco states by Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex), the state-owned Mexican oil agency. The program resulted in rapid economic growth and a dramatic increase in Mexico's oil exports, but much of the resulting wealth was squandered on inefficient state-run enterprises or was pocketed by government and labour union officials. Rampant government corruption and unrestrained government borrowing resulted in $60 billion in foreign debt, and when world oil prices collapsed in 1981 Mexico defaulted on its debt, triggering a global debt crisis. By the time his term ended in 1982, his administration had been discredited, and López Portillo lived abroad for several years to escape the animosity Mexicans felt toward him. He eventually returned to Mexico and published his memoirs, Mis tiempos: Biografía y testimonio político (1988; “My Times: Biography and Political Testament”).

      López Portillo adopted a somewhat conciliatory approach toward supplying the United States with oil and gas while exerting pressure for the easing of U.S. trade and immigration restrictions. In 1978 Mexico reopened diplomatic relations with Spain after a 38-year hiatus. In 1983 President Miguel de la Madrid (Madrid, Miguel de la) dissociated himself from López Portillo's administration, accusing it of aggravating the “grotesque” maldistribution of wealth and defrauding Pemex.

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