Manuel Plata

**Manuel María Plata Mújica** (December 24, 1865 - December 14, 1936) was a Mexican general and politician who served as prime minister of Mexico from June 19, 1917 until his forced resignation on February 21, 1919. Prior to his premiership, Plata served as deputy prime minister from September 1916 to June 1917, and twice served as secretary of state for defence; first from 1901 to 1915, and then from 1915 until 1919. Between 1915 and 1919, Plata was also an independent member of the Congress of Mexico.

Born in 1865, Manuel Plata grew up in a working class family and entered into the Imperial Military College in 1882, before graduating as an engineering lieutenant in 1886. During his military career, Plata took part in the quelling of uprisings in numerous parts of the country and was deployed to the Corps of Engineers. In 1895, Plata became the deputy director of the Imperial Military College. Due to his close connections with the military establishment, Plata was appointed as secretary of state for defence in the government of Bernardo Reyes in 1901 and remained in post after Francisco León de la Barra became prime minister in 1910. In 1915, Plata stepped down from his cabinet position and assumed office as an independent congressman following the 1915 general election. However, after Emperor Juan I dismissed prime minister León de la Barra and appointed a loyalist government amid the constitutional crisis of 1916, Manuel Plata returned to government as defence secretary and deputy prime minister, before being appointed as prime minister in 1917 after the resignation of Enrique Creel.

During his premiership, Manuel Plata presided over the implementation of harsh security measures and the repeal of civil rights legislation, as well as the rapid expansion of the armed forces and a crackdown on criticism of the royal House of Iturbide. After the government stripped the diplomatic immunity of foreign ambassadors and arrested the US ambassador to Mexico in September 1918, the United States of America invaded Mexico in January 1919 during the Mexican Expedition. Plata presided over the disastrous Mexican armed response to the invasion and ordered the retreat of Mexican forces which ultimately forced Emperor Juan I to surrender to the United States in February 1919. Two days following the Mexican government's capitulation, Manuel Plata resigned as prime minister and was succeeded by Francisco Carvajal.

## History

Manuel Plata was born on December 24, 1865 in the city of Toluca as the eldest child of Enrique Plata, a former soldier who took part in the Coup of 1852, and Angelica Mújica, a peasant farmhand. After briefly attending primary education in Toluca, Plata withdrew from his education after his father was reenlisted to fight in the First Mexican Revolution against rebel forces - in 1871, Plata's father was killed during the Battle for Toluca.

## Military History

In 1882, Manuel Plata enrolled in the Imperial Military College in Mexico City and joined the Imperial Armed Forces. By 1886, Plata had achieved the rank of lieutenant of engineers, and took part in campaigns against insurgent forces in the districts of Puebla, Morelos, and Tlaxcala as part of the Sapper Battalion. From 1887 to 1888 he belonged to the Corps of Engineers of Mexico City. At some point afterwards, Plata was then redeployed to serve in Sonora and Sinaloa , where he remained until 1891, when he was transferred to Tamaulipas and Nuevo León . He remained in the Geographical Exploratory Commission until 1895. In that year he went to the Military College, of which he became deputy director.

## Political Career

### Secretary of State for Defence

#### First Term: 1901 - 1915

Following the 1901 general election, former general Bernardo Reyes led the Mexican Radical Party to electoral victory and was appointed as prime minister. As part of Reyes government formation, Manuel Plata was invited to become secretary of state for defence in the new administration - on March 3, 1901, Manuel Plata was promoted to the rank of division general by Emperor Pedro II and took office as defence secretary. For much of his first term as defence secretary, Plata presided over a peaceful internal and external situation with little military deployment required. Following the 1910 general election, prime minister Bernardo Reyes resigned and was replaced by Francisco León de la Barra of the conservative Restoration Party.

Regionalist agitation in many of the states, most notably the northmost and southmost states of the empire, began to erupt following the general election and caused significant social disorder within the affected territories, prompting calls from the Catholic church and regional notables to restore order to affected regions. Subsequently, prime minister Francisco León de la Barra introduced the Provisions for Territorial Integrity Act of 1912 in November 1912 as a direct response to the crisis - the act expanded the legal maximum size of the armed forces and granted regional military commands the power to act on the orders of regional governors, rather than waiting for orders from the central government. Following the 1915 general election, Manuel Plata stood down as defence secretary and took up a seat in the Congress of Mexico as an independent politician.

#### Second Term: 1916 - 1919

During the 1916 constitutional crisis, prime minister Francisco León de la Barra was dismissed from office by Emperor Juan I for attempting to rein in the powers of the royal family. Subsequently, Enrique Creel was appointed as prime minister of a loyalist government selected by the emperor - as part of the new government, Plata was re-appointed to his former position of secretary of state for defence and remained in office after he was appointed as prime minister in 1917.

### Member of the Congress of Mexico

In July 1915, Manuel Plata was elected as an independent member of the Congress of Mexico and was sworn into office on August 15, 1915.

### Deputy Prime Minister

Amid the 1916 constitutional crisis, prime minister Francisco León de la Barra was dismissed from office by Emperor Juan I for attempting to rein in the powers of the royal family. Subsequently, Enrique Creel was appointed as prime minister of a loyalist government - alongside his position as defence secretary, Manuel Plata was also appointed as deputy prime minister by Emperor Juan I, with the responsibility for keeping an eye on the prime minister to ensure he enacted the policies that Juan I requested. After prime minister Enrique Creel became effectively sidelined within his own government, Manuel Plata became the *de-facto* prime minister and assumed the position de-jure in June 1917 after Creel resigned from office.

## Premiership

 Emperor
 Election

Following the resignation of prime minister Enrique Creel, Manuel Plata was appointed as prime minister of Mexico by Emperor Juan I at midday on June 19, 1917 at the Imperial Palace in Mexico City. Plata's appointment marked the first time that the emperor of Mexico appointed a prime minister without them being the head of the largest party in Congress - Plata was also the first prime minister since Valentín Gómez Farías to be appointed without party support, and the first military politician to head the government since Juan Almonte during the Republic of Mexico.

### Government

Upon assuming office as prime minister, Manuel Plata conducted a minor reshuffle of government but largely retained the composition that Emperor Juan I had appointed in September 1916. Plata's close military ally Victoriano Huerta was appointed as deputy prime minister and retained his position as secretary of the interior, whilst Manuel Garza Aldape and Eliseo Arredondo switched jobs to become treasury and justice secretary respectively.

### Internal policies

As prime minister, Manuel Plata presided over a largescale expansion of the coercive capabilities of the state and a crackdown against civil rights enjoyed by citizens. In September 1917, the government introduced the Army Regulations Act 1917, which sought to increase the role of the armed forces in day-to-day life by allowing military figures to be appointed at the head of government bodies - under the legislation, some 1,300 senior members of the armed forces took up government positions across the federal and state level government between 1917 and 1919.

In June 1918, Plata's government introduced a constitutional amendment which would prohibit criticism of the monarchy and criminalise scrutiny of the House of Iturbide - however, after the Restoration Party party leadership rejected the proposal, the amendment was reconstituted as a piece of basic legislation, and was passed through the Congress of Mexico in August 1918. The legislation was sufficiently vague that the government was able to use it to crack down on the opposition, most notably the Mexican Radical Party and the Progressive Party.

### Foreign Policy

The events of the 1916 constitutional crisis and Manuel Plata's appointment as prime minister faced considerable condemnation from foreign governments, most vocally the United States of America during the presidency of Woodrow Wilson. Wilson, having been elected in 1912 as a liberal supporter of democracy and self determination, was openly critical of both Emperor Juan I and prime minister Enrique Creel (and later Manuel Plata) during the crisis, and called for the restoration of democratic government under the leadership of Francisco León de la Barra.

Against the backdrop of increasing opposition from foreign powers, in August 1918 interior secretary Victoriano Huerta introduced legislation categorising diplomats who criticise the regime as 'foreign agents' and gave the Mexican police the powers to arrest diplomats, in violation of the Vienna Accords. One of the first diplomats to be targeted under this legislation was the American ambassador Henry P. Fletcher, who was arrested and detained in September 1918, sparking a diplomatic crisis with the United States.

### American intervention in Mexico

 Main article: Mexican Expedition
In September 1918, the Mexican government arrested and imprisoned US ambassador Henry P. Fletcher on charges of 'inciting rebellion' and 'conspiracy against the government'. In November 1918, Fletcher died during his imprisonment, sparking widespread fury in the American press and inspiring calls for the US government to take action against the regime of Manuel Plata. On January 3, 1919, the United States Army launched an intervention into Mexico under the command of General John J. Pershing with the intent of taking punitive action against the Mexican government, whilst also working with some of the Mexican states to further their aims. After hearing of the conflict, Plata appointed himself as the commander of the Imperial Mexican Army and led the army to San Luis Potosi in a bid to intercept the American armed forces - however, upon arriving in San Luis Potosi in mid January 1919, Plata's army discovered that General Pershing held control of the city and were forced into a long retreat with the American forces pursuing. On February 10, 1919, General Plata and his forces returned to Mexico City, shortly followed by the American army on February 13, 1919. After briefly attempting to hold out a siege, Emperor Juan I formally issued a surrender on February 19, 1919 and invited the American forces into Mexico City, where they became the occupying force.

### Removal from power

Under the American occupation of Mexico City, Manuel Plata briefly remained as prime minister of Mexico until February 21, 1919, when he was forced to resign at the separate requests of Emperor Juan I and the American occupation administrator General John J. Pershing. Upon resigning as prime minister, Plata remained as defence secretary for approximately forty minutes until his successor as prime minister, Francisco Carvajal, conducted a government reshuffle.

## Service Summary

* 1895 - 1901: Deputy Director of the Imperial Military College
* 1901 - 1915: Chief of Staff of the Mexican Army
* 1916 - 1919: Chief of Staff of the Mexican Army
 September 19, 1886