page_title: Gustavo Díaz Ordaz
section_title: Later life
hierarchical_section_title: Gustavo Díaz Ordaz / Later life
caption_attribution_description: English: Mexican president Gustavo Díaz Ordaz (left) and U.S. President Richard Nixon (right) riding a presidential motorcade in San Diego, California, USA. Español: El presidente mexicano Gustavo Díaz Ordaz (izquierda) con el presidente estadounidense Richard Nixon durante un recorrido en automóvil en San Diego, California, EE.UU.
context_page_description: Gustavo Díaz Ordaz Bolaños was a Mexican politician and member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party. 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.
context_section_description: After his term expired, Díaz Ordaz and his family vanished completely from the public eye; he was occasionally mentioned in newspapers (usually in a derogatory manner), he seldom gave interviews, and he was usually spotted only when voting in elections.
  In 1977, a break from that obscurity came as he was appointed as the first Ambassador to Spain in 38 years, relations between the two countries having previously been broken by the triumph of Falangism in the Spanish Civil War. During his brief stint as Ambassador, he met with hostility from both the Spanish media and the Mexican media, as he was persistently asked questions about his actions as President. He resigned within several months because of that and his health problems. Popular discontent led to a catchphrase: "Al pueblo de España no le manden esa araña" ("To the people of Spain, do not send that spider").
  He died in Mexico City of colorectal cancer.
caption: President Gustavo Díaz Ordaz (left) riding a presidential motorcade in San Diego, with US President Richard Nixon
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