Nicolás Cámara Vales
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Nicolás Cámara Vales (1875 — 1956) was a Mexican liberal politician, diplomat and physician who served as governor of Yucatán on two occasions between 1911 and 1913 during the early stages of the Mexican Revolution. He was also the brother-in-law of José María Pino Suárez, who held the position of vice president of Mexico during the same period.
Nicolás Cámara Vales | |
---|---|
Governor of Yucatán | |
In office 1912–1913 | |
Preceded by | Agustín Patrón Correa |
Succeeded by | Fernando Solís León |
Governor of Yucatán | |
In office 1911–1911 | |
Preceded by | José María Pino Suárez |
Succeeded by | Agustín Patrón Correa |
Personal details | |
Born | 1875 Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico |
Died | 1956 (aged 81) Mexico City, Mexico |
Political party | Progressive Constitutionalist Party |
Spouse | Joaquina Millet Heredia |
Children | Berta Nicolás Jorge |
Parent(s) | María del Carmen Vales Castillo (mother) Raymundo Cámara Luján (father) |
Relatives | Pino- Cámara family María Cámara Vales (sister) José María Pino Suárez (brother-in-law) Alfredo Cámara Vales (brother) Agustín Vales Castillo (uncle) Pablo Castellanos León (brother-in-law) Pablo Castellanos Cámara (nephew) Fernando Cámara Barbachano (nephew) Ismael Moreno Pino (grandnephew) |
Residence | Mérida, Yucatán |
Alma mater | University of Berlin (M.D) |
Occupation | Pediatrician, politician and diplomat |
Profession | Doctor of Medicine |
He was born in Mérida, Yucatán, into the Cámara family, which had a prominent social position in Yucatán since colonial times. He was the son of Raymundo Cámara Luján, a wealthy landowner and businessman. He studied medicine at the University of Berlin, graduating in 1896. During his career, he specialized in pediatrics and returned to Mérida, where he opened the first children's clinic on the Yucatán Peninsula. In 1909, together with Gonzalo Cámara Zavala, his cousin, he founded the Social Action League (Acción de Liga Social), a group of progressive landowners committed to improving the conditions of laborers on henequen haciendas in Yucatán and establishing rural schools for the Maya indigenous people. The League, influenced by the liberal and egalitarian principles of Rousseau and Pestalozzi, two Swiss intellectuals, founded the Model School (Escuela Modelo), which operates to this day in Mérida, Chetumal and Valladolid.[1]
Cámara's liberal and democratic ideals aligned him with Francisco I. Madero, and he played a significant role in convincing the Yucatecan oligarchy, known as the divine caste, to support José María Pino Suárez during the 1911 gubernatorial election. Subsequently, when Pino Suárez assumed the vicepresidency of Mexico, Cámara succeeded him as governor of Yucatán before being elected to his own term. During his tenure, he faced challenges such as the Morenista rebellion and the dominance of the henequen industry by American capitalists. Cámara's efforts to regulate the henequen market through the Regulatory Commission were instrumental in protecting Mexican interests against foreign monopolies.
In February 1913, amidst the political turmoil in Mexico, Cámara was caught up in the Ten Tragic Days, a military coup d'état which toppled the Madero administration, the country's first democratically elected government. As the political persecution against the Madero, Pino, and Cámara families worsened under the Huerta military dictatorship, Cámara and his family decided to exile themselves abroad, eventually settling in Europe. Nevertheless, Nicolas continued to finance the armed rebellion against the dictatorship which was led in the Southeast of Mexico by his brother, Alfredo, the former governor of Quintana Roo, along with Manuel Castillo Brito, the former governor of Campeche. In July 1914, the Huerta régime collapsed.
He later also served as a diplomat, representing Mexico as consul-general in Berlin and Vienna during the interwar period. After many years abroad, he returned to Yucatán and played a key role as the chairman of the Henequen Regulatory Commission.[2]