Francisco Leon de la Barra
Francisco León de la Barra y Quijano (Querétaro, June 16, 1863-Biarritz, France, September 23, 1939) was a Mexican politician, lawyer and diplomat. He was president of Mexico on an interim basis, after the resignation of Porfirio Díaz. His government marked the end of the Porfiriato.
Biography
Early Years
Son of Bernabé Antonio León de la Barra Demaría (born in Argentina)[citation required] and María Luisa Quijano Pérez-Palacios (from Queretaro). He obtained a law degree from the National School of Jurisprudence of the National University of Mexico.
Political career
He was a federal deputy to the Congress of the Union in 1891. He was a consultant lawyer at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 1896 he entered the diplomatic corps, serving as ambassador to Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay; as well as in Belgium and the Netherlands (1905), delegate to the Second Ibero-American Congress (1901-1902), representative of Mexico at the Peace Conference in The Hague in 1907, and Mexican ambassador to the United States (1909).
During this time, he earned a reputation as an authority on International Law. From March 25 to May 25, 1911, he held the position of Secretary of Foreign Affairs, for which reason, when Porfirio Díaz resigned from the presidency and Ramón Corral from the vice presidency by virtue of the Treaties of Ciudad Juárez.
Interim Presidency
His brief rule has been described as a Porfiriato without Porfirio. He was known as the white president because he was, according to the historian Alejandro Rosas: the prototype of decency: a man of refined education, reflective, elevated by reading and travel, a lover of good customs, with lineage in their surnames, belonging to the wealthy classes of the capital and member of the Catholic community.
On November 6, 1911, Francisco I. Madero became president, and Francisco León de la Barra ceded the position to him. After finishing his term he briefly emigrated to Italy, returning in 1912; at this time he participated in the creation of the Escuela Libre de Derecho.
Post-presidency
After being interim president between May and November 1911, he tried unsuccessfully to occupy the vice-presidency of the Republic through extraordinary elections; however, he was defeated by José María Pino Suárez. In 1913, after Madero's assassination, he was governor of the State of Mexico and senator of the Republic. During the presidency of Victoriano Huerta he was again Minister of Foreign Relations from February 21 to July 6, 1913, this without leaving the governorship. Subsequently he was appointed Minister of Mexico in France, where he established his residence. He never returned to the country.
He was president of the Permanent Court of Arbitration, located in The Hague and participated in several international positions and commissions after the First World War, such as president of the Mixed Courts of Arbitration, created by the Versailles Treaties and president of the Court Anglo-Franco-Bulgarian Arbitration.
He married María Elena Borneque in 1895, and when she died, he married her sister Refugio Borneque in 1911. He died on September 23, 1939, in Biarritz, France, where he was buried.