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Belisario Domínguez Medal of Honor

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The Order of the Medal of Honor "Belisario Domínguez" is the highest award bestowed by the Mexican government. The award has been given every year since 1954 by the Senate of Mexico to eminent Mexicans with a distinguished lifetime career who contributed most "toward the welfare of the Nation and mankind".

Only entities representing "the cultural spirit of the time" are allowed to submit nominations for this award. This provision typically allows Mexican Universities, newspapers, Learned societies, non-governmental organizations and government entities to nominate candidates.

Background

The award is named after the Mexican politician Belisario Domínguez (1863-1913). Domínguez was a Senator for the State of Chiapas at the time of the Mexican Revolution. After Victoriano Huerta's coup d'etat, which ousted President Francisco I. Madero, Domínguez circulated a speech as a letter to fellow congressmen in which he denounced Huerta's actions and encouraged Congress to depose him. At the end of his letter he also encouraged readers to make copies of it and distribute them around the country. The speech was not taken well in Huerta's circles and Domínguez was assassinated a few days later, on October 7, 1913.

In 1953 President Adolfo Ruíz Cortines signed the decree establishing the award in remembrance of this "martyr of democracy". That same year the Senate decided to bestow the first medal on the bust of Belisario Domínguez that already existed in the Senate Chamber as a symbolic act. It is for this reason that the medal was awarded twice in 1954.

Description

The Order consists of a single class and is awarded to a single recipient during a solemn ceremony in the Senate Chamber on October 7. A gold medal hanging from a silk ribbon with the colors of the Mexican flag is given together with a diploma signed by the President of Mexico and the leader of the Senate.

The medal is to have the national coat of arms on one side together with the inscription "Estados Unidos Mexicanos, H. Cámara de Senadores 1952-1958" ("United Mexican States, Honourable Chamber of Senators 1952-1958"). The reverse side of the medal is to have an image of Domínguez' bust together with the inscription "Ennobleció a la Patria, 7 de octubre de 1913" ("Ennobled the Nation, October 7, 1913").

Recipients

The following is a complete list of people who have been recipients of the Belisario Domínguez Medal. Note that 1954 was the only year the medal has been awarded twice.

See also

References

 


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