Creel-Terrazas Family
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The Creel-Terrazas family is a powerful and wealthy family based in the state of Chihuahua, Mexico.
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During the Mexican Revolution of 1910 to 1917, this family was part of the científico faction. The cientificos were conservative civilian technocrats and advisors of President Porfirio Díaz. The family was poised to succeed Díaz in power, but it was largely discredited because of the economic decline at the time before the outbreak of the Revolution.
By the early 20th century, the family controlled 50 haciendas and ranches with a total extension of 7 million acres (28,000 km²). They owned 500,000 heads of cattle, 225,000 sheep, 25,000 horses and 5,000 mules. Encinillas was the largest hacienda occupying an area of 1,300,000 acres (5,300 km²). It employed 2,000 peons.
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A book by Mark Wasserman discusses the family's "efforts to maintain its power after the Revolution, including its use of economic resources and intermarriage to forge partnerships with the new, revolutionary elite."1
In the end, the Creel-Terrazas Family extended to join the Paredones and the Pavlovich Families that were coming from Chile, Argentina, and Poland.
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Some noteworthy members of the family are:
- Don Luis Terrazas (1829-1923), founder of the clan. Elected Governor of Chihuahua in 1860. His ranch once totaled more than 7 million acres.
- Enrique Creel (1854-1931): Porfirian Governor of Chihuahua from 1904 to 1906 and again from 1907 to 1911. He became son-in-law of Don Luis Terrazas by marriage to his daughter. He served as Mexico's Minister of Foreign Relations and as Mexico's Ambassador to the United States. He served as interpreter when Presidents Porfirio Díaz and William Howard Taft met in 1909 on the international bridge between Ciudad Juárez and El Paso. He became vice-president of the Kansas City, Mexico and Orient Railway, where he was responsible for the construction of part of the railroad west of Chihuahua. His haciendas totalled 1.7 million acres (6,900 km²).
- Francisco Javier Barrio Terrazas is Mexico's Comptroller General.
- Santiago Creel Miranda was the Minister of the Interior (Secretario de Gobernación) of Mexico from 2000 to 2005, representing the conservative PAN party. On June 1, 2005, he presented his resignation to President Vicente Fox.
- José Reyes Baeza Terrazas, current (PRI party) Governor of Chihuahua (2004 - 2010), president of the municipio of Chihuahua, (1998 - 2001).
- Adrian Terrazas-Gonzales, International Musician/Recording Artist/Reedsman for The Mars Volta.
Members of the Terrazas-Creel extended family have served for a total of 66 terms in Chihuahua's state legislature, and 22 terms in the Congress of Mexico.
[edit] Notes
- Note 1: Wassermann, Mark. Persistent Oligarchs Elites and Politics in Chihuahua, Mexico, Duke University Press, January 1993. ISBN 0-8223-1345-6. 174 pages.
