Enrique Creel
| Enrique Creel | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Minister of Foreign Affairs | |
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In office April 1910 – March 1911 |
|
| President | Porfirio Díaz |
| Preceded by | Ignacio Mariscal |
| Succeeded by | Francisco León de la Barra |
| Governor of Chihuahua | |
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In office 4 October 1907 – April 1910 |
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| Preceded by | José María Sánchez |
| Succeeded by | José María Sánchez |
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In office 18 August 1904 – December 1906 |
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| Preceded by | Luis Terrazas |
| Succeeded by | José María Sánchez |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
30 August 1854 Chihuahua, Chihuahua |
| Died | 18 August 1931 (aged 76) Mexico City |
| Nationality | Mexican |
| Relations | Luis Terrazas (father-in-law) |
| Alma mater | University of Pennsylvania |
Enrique Clay Creel Cuilty, sometimes known as Henry Clay Creel (30 August 1854 – 18 August 1931) was a Mexican businessman and politician member of the powerful Creel-Terrazas family of Chihuahua. He is considered the foremost banker during the Porfirato (1876-1910) and was a wielded considerable political power, becoming "one of the most hated symbols of the Porfirian regime." He served as governor of Chihuahua on two occasions, ambassador of Mexico to the United States, and served in the cabinet of President Porfirio Díaz as his Minister of Foreign Affairs in the last years of his regime.
Creel was the son of Reuben Creel, a veteran of the Mexican American War from Greensburg, Kentucky, and Abraham Lincoln's US Consul in Chihuahua. He was born in Chihuahua, Chihuahua and became son-in-law of don Luis Terrazas by virtue of marriage to his daughter Angela (Reuben Creel and Luis Terrazas were married to sisters of the wealthy Cuilty family, whose ancestry was English and was related to Sir Thomas More).
After Porfirio Díaz became president of Mexico in 1876, he appointed Creel as a director of the National Board of Dynamite and Explosives. Mexico’s demand for explosives was high because of its mining and railroad industries and the army’s need for munitions. The board imposed an 80% import duty on dynamite, allowing its members to manufacture explosives without competition and reportedly enabling Creel to amass an even larger fortune in kickbacks.
Enrique Creel served as Mexico's Minister of Foreign Relations and as its Ambassador to the United States. The bilingual Creel 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, now the Chihuahua Pacific Railroad (Ferrocarril Chihuahua al Pacífico) and runs through the town of Creel, Chihuahua. He was a key intermediary between the Mexican government and foreign companies, serving on their boards, as well as helping arrange "government subsidies and tax abatements and financial support for foreign firms." His haciendas once totaled more than 1.7 million acres (6,900 km²). Creel was one of Díaz's advisers who had urged the president to be interviewed by James Creelman of Pearson's Magazine, in which Díaz declared he would not be a candidate for president in 1910.
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