Tejeda Olivares, Adalberto (1883–1960)

Adalberto Tejeda Olivares (b. 28 March 1883; d. 8 September 1960), military figure and governor of the state of Veracruz (1920–1924 and 1928–1932). Adalberto Tejeda Olivares was a well-known Mexican statesman of the 1920s who strove to implement the Constitution of 1917 through radical political, economic, social, and anticlerical reforms.

Tejeda grew up in the predominantly Indian canton of Chicontepec, Veracruz, and attended engineering school in Mexico City. With the outbreak of the Mexican Revolution in 1910, he enlisted in the forces of Venustiano Carranza (1859–1920) and rose to the rank of colonel. While serving as state delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1916–1917, he advocated strong anticlerical measures and stringent limits on foreign ownership of subsoil rights. The two-time governor of Veracruz championed the rights of the urban and rural lower classes by supporting their efforts to organize, strike, obtain land, and enter into politics. President Plutarco E. Calles (1877–1945) appointed him to serve as minister of government from 1925–1928, during which time he pursued an active anticlerical policy against the Catholic rebels, the cristeros. In 1934 the ex-governor ran for the presidency as an independent socialist, defying the official revolutionary party. He was subsequently politically ostracized by his assignment to diplomatic posts in France (1935–1937), Spain (1937–1939), and Peru. In 1948 he became a brigadier general. He died in Mexico City.

See alsoCalles, Plutarco Elías; Carranza, Venustiano; Mexico, Constitutions: Constitution of 1917; Veracruz (City).

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Heather Fowler Salamini, Agrarian Radicalism in Veracruz, 1920–1938 (1978).

Romana Falcón and Soledad García Morales, La semilla en el surco, Adalberto Tejeda y el radicalismo en Veracruz, 1883–1960 (1986).

Olivia Domínguez Pérez, Política y movimientos sociales en el tejedismo (1986).

Additional Bibliography

Ginzberg, Eitan. "Formación de la infraestructura política para una reforma agraria radical: Adalberto Tejeda y la cuestión municipal en Veracruz, 1928–1932." Historia Mexicana 49:4 (Apr.-June 2000): 673-727.

Hermida Ruíz, Angel J. El atentado al gobernador Adalberto Tejeda. Mexico: s.n., 1994.

                           Heather Fowler Salamini