Elvia Carrillo Puerto

Template:Short description Template:Family name hatnote Template:Wikidata image Elvia Carrillo Puerto (30 January 1881 – 18 April 1965) was a Mexican socialist politician and feminist activist. She is known for founding the and for helping to organize the , both significant feminist organizations. She is also known for her attempts to run for office in Yucatán and San Luis Potosí. Some refer to her as "" (Template:Translation 'the Red Nun of the Mayab').Template:RefnTemplate:Sfn

Carrillo was born to a middle-class family in Motul, Yucatán. She became politically active by 1910, when she served as a courier and spy in the Template:Ill against dictator Porfirio Díaz and his favored candidate in the 1909 Yucatán gubernatorial election, Enrique Muñoz Arístegui. She founded the in 1919, which advocated for various reforms, including birth control and literacy for rural women. In 1923, she was elected to the Yucatán legislature but fled during political unrest following the assassination of her brother, Yucatán Governor Felipe Carrillo Puerto. She also campaigned to become a deputy in San Luis Potosí's fourth district. Despite winning the popular vote, her victory was overturned on the grounds that women were ineligible for office.

In the late 1920s and 1930s, Elvia Carrillo Puerto advocated for women's suffrage and labor rights by organizing national conferences and working with feminist organizations such as the (FUPDM. Template:Translation 'Sole Front for Women's Rights'). However, she experienced financial hardship later in life, ultimately dying of bronchopneumonia in Mexico City in 1965. The Mexican Senate established the Elvia Carrillo Puerto medal in 2013 to honor women advocating for gender equality and women's rights, and she has been commemorated with several statues. She is recognized for her pivotal role in advancing women's rights and women's suffrage in Mexico.

Early life

Elvia Carrillo Puerto was born in Motul, Yucatán, on 30 January 1881, to Justiniano Carrillo and Adela Puerto.Template:RefnTemplate:Sfnm She was the sixth of 14 children.Template:Sfn Her family was middle class, with her father working as the owner of a hardware store and as a political operative for Francisco Cantón, a politician who had served as a commander in the Caste War of Yucatán. Both Justiniano and Adela spoke a Mayan language, which Elvia learned to speak as well.Template:Sfn While little is known about Elvia's education, she did complete elementary school, and some sources claim that she was educated by a Catalan anarchist priest named Serafín García.Template:Sfnm She allegedly learned to play violin at García's home, and was also introduced to works by feminist and socialist authors in his library.Template:Sfn SomeTemplate:Refn also claim that she was a student of Mexican educator Rita Cetina Gutiérrez, co-founder of the (Template:Translation 'Liveforever') school and literary society.Template:Sfnm In 1900, at the age of 19, Carrillo married Vicente Pérez Mendiburu, a 28-year-old merchant.Template:RefnTemplate:Sfnm The couple had two children: Marcial and Gloria, who died shortly after being born.Template:Sfn

Between 1909 and 1910, Carrillo became involved in opposition to dictator Porfirio Díaz's regime.Template:Sfn Díaz's regime, which lasted for over three decades, was marked by industrialization and modernization, as well as economic inequality, intensified policing, increased government surveillance, and an enlarged prison system. Throughout the 1900s, political reformer Francisco I. Madero opposed the Díaz regime.Template:Sfn In Yucatán, Madero's adherents, the Maderistas, and an anti-Díaz faction called the (CEI, Template:Translation 'Independent Electoral Center') challenged Díaz's candidate, Enrique Muñoz Arístegui, in the 1909 gubernatorial elections, leading to the arrest of many opposition leaders. As a result, the opposition devised the Plan of Dzelkoop, which called for an uprising in Valladolid, Yucatán.Template:Sfn Carrillo participated in this uprising, called the Template:Ill, acting as a courier and spy for the insurrectionists. All of their correspondences in the leadup to the uprising were routed through her father's hardware store under her name and distributed to their intended recipients.Template:Sfn The uprising ultimately took place on 4 June 1910, with 1,500 participating in total.Template:Sfnm It was suppressed by a federal battalion from Veracruz.Template:Sfn

Early feminist activism

File:Primer Congreso Feminista de Yucatán en 1916.jpg

First Feminist Congress of Yucatán, January 1916

Some sources claim that Carrillo organized the first (Template:Translation 'Peasant Feminist League') in 1912.Template:Sfnm However, biographer Dulce María Sauri Riancho argues that this is "premature" and that the claim lacks documentary evidence.Template:Sfn Her husband also initiated divorce proceedings against her in 1912, allegedly due to "long-standing differences".Template:RefnTemplate:Sfnm Reformer Salvador Alvarado became governor of Yucatán in 1915, introducing several reforms aimed at increasing women's social autonomy.Template:Sfnm In January 1916, it is likely that Carrillo attended the Alvarado-sponsored (Template:Translation 'First Feminist Congress of Yucatán') alongside Hermila Galindo, Raquel Dzib Cicero, and Rosa Torre González.Template:RefnTemplate:Sfnm In total, over 600 women attended the congress, discussing various topics including women's education, labor, and leadership.Template:Sfn She also attended the second in December 1916, where she advocated for women's suffrage.Template:Sfn Later, in 1917, she married Francisco Barroso, a public servant from Motul.Template:Sfn In 1919, she established the (Template:Translation 'Rita Cetina Gutiérrez Feminist League'), which advocated for various reforms, including birth control, drawing the antipathy of the Catholic Church.Template:Sfn She also faced persecution under the presidency of Venustiano Carranza due to her socialist political views, prompting her to temporarily relocate to Mexico City for over a year beginning in November 1919.Template:Sfn

Throughout the early 1920s, (Template:Translation 'feminist leagues') spread throughout Yucatán, with most being dominated by the .Template:Sfnm At the same time, Carrillo's brother, Felipe Carrillo Puerto, who was the president of the (PSS, Template:Translation 'Socialist Party of the Southeast'), gained political influence through the establishment of his own (Template:Translation 'resistance leagues'), eventually becoming the governor of Yucatán in 1922.Template:Sfnm As part of her work with the , Carrillo coordinated a literacy drive for rural women, offering a $50 reward to educators who successfully taught twenty or more girls to read within three months. She also established a library for the league's women, securing over 150 books from Mexican Secretary of Public Education José Vasconcelos during a May 1922 visit to Mexico City.Template:Sfn She divorced Barroso in 1922, but she remarried him six months later.Template:Sfn

Political career

In 1923, Carrillo was nominated as the PSS candidate for Yucatán's fifth district. In the November elections, Elvia Carrillo Puerto won by 5,115 votes, a significant majority, making her one of the two women to be elected to the Yucatán state legislature that year alongside Raquel Dzib Cicero and Beatriz Peniche Barrera. However, after her brother Felipe endorsed Plutarco Elías Calles—viewed by some as being too left-leaning—for president, he was targeted by supporters of Adolfo de la Huerta, Calles's rival. De la Huerta's supporters, who called themselves the (Template:Translation 'anti-impositionists'), initiated an armed rebellion in December 1923, prompting Felipe to attempt to flee the state. He was captured on 21 December and executed by an contingent on 3 January 1924.Template:Sfn Elvia also fled Yucatán during this period, disguised as a man.Template:Sfn The PSS regained control of the province in April 1924, but the elected female legislators were not reinstated.Template:Sfn The were also dissolved.Template:Sfn In 1925, Carrillo's marriage to Barroso ended in a second divorce.Template:Sfn Subsequently, she relocated to the state of San Luis Potosí.Template:Sfn

In 1925 Carrillo began her campaign to become a deputy in San Luis Potosí's fourth district.Template:Sfnm Her campaign was supported by the state's governor, Aurelio Manrique, as well as Calles, who had become president in 1924, and Adalberto Tejeda Olivares, Calles's Secretary of the Interior.Template:Sfnm She selected a woman, Hermila Zamarrón, as her alternateTemplate:Refn against the advice of local liberal politicians, who believed that it would be "impossible" to find a woman in the state who was neither a Catholic nor a "reactionary".Template:Sfn However, Manrique was removed from office in November 1925. According to academic Graciela Yolanda Estrada Alcorta, this was because of "radical socialist reforms" he pursued, which she alleges led to labor unrest, unemployment, and opposition from the ASARCO mining company, which had significant investments in the state.Template:Sfn His replacement, Abel Cano, was strongly opposed to Carrillo's candidacy. He took various measures to obstruct her campaign, and near its end, her opponent's alternate attempted to assassinate her. Despite this, she won the popular vote by 4,576. However, the Template:Ill ruled that Carrillo's candidacy was invalid because women were ineligible for office, thereby officially confirming her opponent's election. With no legal recourse to challenge the college's decision, she abandoned her candidacy and moved to Mexico City.Template:Sfnm In 1926, Carrillo presented a petition to the Congress of the Union to amend Article 34 of the Constitution of Mexico.Template:Sfn Article 34 was written using the grammatical masculine gender, which meant that only men explicitly had a right to participate in the electoral process.Template:Sfn The petition received thousands of signatures.Template:Sfn

As of 1931, Carrillo was an employee of the Secretariat of Agriculture and Development.Template:Sfn Politically, she aligned herself with the (PNR, Template:Translation 'National Revolutionary Party') and was a member of the party's (Template:Translation 'Women's Action Guiding League'), which advocated for women's labor rights and suffrage.Template:Sfnm She also helped to organize three national congresses of working-class and peasant women: one in 1931, one in 1933, and one in 1934.Template:Sfn The 1934 congress, with guidance from Carrillo and María del Refugio García, led to the establishment of the (FUPDM. Template:Translation 'Sole Front for Women's Rights'), which united numerous women's groupsTemplate:Refn into a single organization with over 50,000 members.Template:Sfnm

The FUPDM was the dominant feminist organization during the late 1930s in Mexico, and its platform called for wage increases for women, the establishment of maternity homes, and women's suffrage. Furthermore, beyond gender-specific reforms, the FUPDM also called for agrarian redistribution, the implementation of an eight-hour workday, price reductions for essential goods, and increased welfare spending.Template:Sfnm Some sectors of the FUDPM such as the (Template:Translation 'Women's Revolutionary Institute'), where Carrillo served as secretary as of 1938, differentiated themselves by distinguishing gender- from class-based oppression.Template:Sfnm The relationship between class- and gender-based oppression had been a topic of considerable debate at the three national congresses.Template:Sfn

In January 1938, Carrillo was terminated from her position as a statistician at the Secretariat of Economy, and her son was also dismissed from his position as a stamp inspector in Sonora.Template:Sfn That February, President Lázaro Cárdenas proposed that the women of the FUPDM be integrated into the newly renamed (PRM, 'Party of the Mexican Revolution', formerly the PNR) as a "vital sector". Carrillo signed a document agreeing to this proposal in her capacity as the secretary of the .Template:Sfnm This led to the fragmentation of the FUPDM into smaller interest groups for workers, peasants, the military, and other sectors. Some FUPDM members criticized the move, with Adelina Zendejas arguing that "the way to control women was to incorporate them into each sector", with women's leaders advocating "only for those in their little chapel".Template:Sfnm

Later life

File:Yucatan Burial Letter, Elvia Carrillo Puerto.png

Letter written by Adelina Carrillo, Elvia's sister, requesting the support of President Gustavo Díaz Ordaz in transferring her remains to Yucatán, her place of birth

After being terminated from her position at the Secretariat of Economy, Carrillo struggled financially.Template:Sfn In both 1938 and 1939, she wrote to Cárdenas describing her financial difficulties. At a subsequent audience, Cárdenas agreed to restore her and her son to their previous positions but failed to actually do so.Template:Sfn To support herself during this time, she provided music lessons and other private classes, supplementing her income with financial assistance from friends. However, her financial difficulties were further exacerbated by a traffic collision in 1941, which left her nearly blind.Template:Sfn After the accident, she asked for and received financial assistance from Manuel Ávila Camacho, who had become president in 1940.Template:Sfnm

In 1952, the Mexican government accorded Carrillo a "Revolutionary Merit" award in recognition of her work with working-class and peasant women.Template:Sfn In 1953, under the administration of Adolfo Ruiz Cortines, Mexico's constitution was amended to give women the right to vote and run for office.Template:Sfn Carrillo gave a speech before the Chamber of Deputies celebrating the amendment.Template:Sfn However, she continued to struggle financially for the remainder of her life, sustaining herself by giving music lessons. According to her niece, she lived in a small apartment in the center of Mexico City.Template:Sfnm She died on 18 April 1965Template:Refn in Mexico City of bronchopneumonia. Her remains were interred at the (Template:Translation 'Rotunda of the Illustrious Socialists') in the General Cemetery of Mérida, Yucatán, alongside those of her brother Felipe.Template:Sfn

Legacy

File:ENCUENTRO CON MUJERES YUCATECAS Y ASAMBLEA INFORMATIVA EN MÉRIDA, YUCATÁN - 53067955966.jpg

Claudia Sheinbaum, Mexico's first female president, visiting a statue of Carrillo in Motul, Yucatán

The Senate of the Republic of Mexico established the Elvia Carrillo Puerto medal in 2013 in Carrillo's honor. The medal is awarded every 8 March to women who have distinguished themselves for their work in the "defense, protection, exercise, and/or investigation of women's human rights and gender equality in [Mexico]".Template:Sfn In 2017, she was the subject of a Google Doodle. A statue of Carrillo was erected in Motul in 2020. She was also one of twelve women to be honored with a sculpture at the in Mexico City. In 2021, her name was inscribed on the Wall of Honor at the Legislative Palace of San Lázaro.Template:Sfn

Several scholars, including Juan Ricardo Cuéllar Montero, have noted Carrillo's contributions to women's rights in Mexico, with historian Piedad Peniche Rivero arguing that Carrillo was one of the "most consistent" advocates for women's suffrage after the Mexican Revolution because of her belief that women's participation in electoral processes would lead to "the socialization of marriage", as well as "the end of double standards and the male monopoly on political and economic power".Template:Sfnm Meanwhile, Sauri argues that Carrillo faced various forms of political violence but was able to transcend the "social and familial forces" affecting contemporary women through personal resilience.Template:Sfn

Sources

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