Belisario Domínguez: A life and death deserving of a medal

Early years

Belisario Domínguez Palencia (1863-1913) was a physician, ophthalmologist, and politician who was born in Comitán, Chiapas, Mexico.

Belisario studied in Comitán (renamed Comitán de Domínguez in his honor after his death) during his first years of school, and from an early age, he demonstrated his strength of character and kindness. Later, he traveled to San Cristóbal de las Casas to continue his studies at the Instituto de Artes y Ciencias del Estado. ¹ During his Mexican history lessons, he learned that the best men in the country were those who had hated slavery and the oppression of the people. ² His teachers, particularly Eduardo Labbé, who was French, considered Belisario Domínguez a student with exceptional intelligence and great qualities. ¹

As a child, Belisario professed to his father his desire to study to be a medical doctor. ² At the age of 16, he traveled to France to achieve his goal. ¹ Evaristo, his older brother, accompanied him on the journey. He stayed for several months preparing for Belisario's long stay, as he was in charge of placing him in the academy. While in France, Belisario studied for a year at the Springer Institution for his High School studies, but he finished at the Chavalére Institute. ¹

Belisario Domínguez's first letter was an emotional one. He wrote, “I am finally left alone in this city; but do not grieve at all about it, because I consider myself strong enough to handle it, so much because I always remain firm in observing good behavior” (B.D. April 5, 1880). ³

Medical trajectory and humanitarian life

In 1884, he entered the School of Medicine at Sorbonne University in Paris. ¹ At the request of his professor, Pierre Carl Ãdoaurd Potain, Belisario did his internship at the Broussais La Charité Hospital, where he treated patients with a disease named after Maurice Raynaud, the first one to describe the condition which he extensively he investigated. ¹ After five years, he obtained the titles of surgeon, obstetrician, and ophthalmologist after the presentation of his thesis, “The mildest forms of Maurice de Raynaud's disease.” ³ (Figure 1A) After 10 years of studying in France, he returned to Mexico.

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Figure 1.

The mildest forms of Maurice de Raynaud's disease, Belisario Dominguez Thesis (A). Dr Belisario Domínguez pharmacy (B). El VATE Newspaper (C).Belisario Domínguez Medal (D).

Back in Comitán and now installed in his own doctoŕs office, his first surgical intervention was required: the surgical removal of a gallstone from his father, Don Cleófas. His surgery was a success; the news spread quickly, and many patients came to see him. ¹

When Belisario set up a medical office in his house, Comitán gained the services of a high-level doctor, something rare in the rural region of Chiapas. Belisario Domínguez was recognized for his philanthropic attitude as he provided his medical services indifferent to social, cultural, or economic status of his patients. He even established specific days of the week on which he did not charge for medical consultations; furthermore, he gave away medicines. ³ His entire practice of medicine was inspired by two concepts that he frequently repeated: “Do charity and conquer yourself.” ³

Dr Belisario installed a pharmacy in his home, which comprised various products that he sent to important national and international pharmaceutical chains, and which he also used to create specific formulas for his patients. Among the most common products were pills, tinctures, extracts, wafers, serums, ointments, and syrups. ³ (Figure 1B)

Belisario quickly warned that the peoplés health problems were due to the precarious living conditions, poor diet, unsanitary conditions, lack of education, poverty, and lack of basic services in the region, among other factors that influenced diseases, epidemics, and other aspects that affect human health. ³

The diseases were not only and concentrated in Comitán, they were also found in nearby rural and areas, where the indigenous Mayan communities lived, where living conditions were far more difficult. Belisario had a very complicated job, the medical care of all, who were in the most forgotten and neglected confines by a Porfirian dictatorship, which was not interested in the living conditions of an exploited people. ³

Dr Belisario Dominguez frequently left Comitán for those towns to attend to serious patients, women, and children, even helping them with money to buy food. ³

Juan Sánchez Azcona, who knew Belisario personally (1876-1938) said:

“The doctor was extremely humanitarian. Sometimes he was seen in the outskirts of the city, in humble shacks, personally making food for a sick person over the fire, even helping them build their beds and houses. ³

In 1903, Belisario wrote a document entitled “Chiapas,” which he penned when he realized that the prevailing situation in the state of Chiapas was one of the worst in the country. ² In it, he made known the degree of poverty in which the people lived:

Chiapanecos: the first measure that each of your governors takes upon arriving in Chiapas is to make you believe that he is a favorite of Porfirio Diaz and that he has the faculties to manage and exploit the state at will. Are you that naive to believe it? Do you do any due diligence to correct it? Lost time… ²

He made a list of the natural riches of Chiapas and asked for the help of many newspapers to reproduce what was written, but time passed, and there was no response. Then, he wrote another letter to the journalists in which he criticized their lack of interest in the face of the suffering of the people of Mexico. There was no response. ²

In 1904, he decided to create a newspaper, El VATE (meaning The Poet), (Figure 1C) which in Spanish had the first letter of what Dr Belisario Domínguez considered necessary for the well-being of Chiapas: virtue, joy, work, and stoicism. In it, he published articles criticizing President Porfirio Diaz and the governor of his state. He faced Governor Rafael Pimentel before the seizure of the capital of the Civil Hospital of Comitán, which had been operating successfully, and within days, the governor was forced to return hospital funds. ²

Political background

The Mexican Revolution began on November 20th, 1910, during the “Porfiriato” the (government ruled by Porfirio Díaz for 30 years). The people of Comitán asked Dr Belisario Domínguez on multiple occasions to be their municipal president, but he refused to accept the position until Porfirio Diaz was overthrown. In 1911, he won the election and accepted the mayoral office. ²

During his time as municipal president, a group in San Cristóbal headed by Juan Espinoza Torres invited all municipal presidents to an uprising against Francisco I. Madero, to which Belisario replied: “That proposes a betrayal of the constituted government that is fulfilling its duty.” ²

Later, in 1912, he was elected alternate senator for Leopold Gout, and a year later, he traveled to Mexico City to enroll his son Ricardo in high school. ⁴ From the balconies of the Hotel Jardín where Belisario Domínguez lived, they witnessed the Ten Tragic Days that began on February 9, 1913, a coup against Francisco I. Madero that ended in a national tragedy with his assassination. ⁴

General Lauro Villar was the military commander of the square, but when he was wounded during the attack on the National Palace, President Madero ordered General Victoriano Huerta to replace him. However, General Huerta betrayed him and took President Madero and Vice President José María Pino Suárez prisoner and demanded that they signed their resignation. They accepted, thinking that this would prevent more deaths. ⁴

On the night of February 22, 1913, Madero and Pino Suárez were awakened by several officers, who were to take them to the penitentiary. However, along the way, they were murderer.

Leopoldo Gout died a few days after the assassination; for this reason, Belisario Domínguez took the position of senator on September 16, 1913. In the Senate, during a speech by Victoriano Huerta, Dr Belisario Dominguez realized the extent of Huerta's falsehoods, so he wrote a discourse that he intended to deliver on September 23, 1913:

During the government of Don Victoriano Huerta, not only has nothing been done to pacify the country, but the current situation of the Republic is infinitely worse than before. Will you let him continue in power for fear of death? The Mexican people cannot resign themselves to having Victoriano Huerta as President of the Republic, a soldier who seized power through treason and whose first act upon rising to the presidency was too cowardly to assassinate the president and vice president legally anointed by the popular vote. Think to yourselves, gentlemen, and resolve this question: What would be said to the crew of a great ship, that in the most violent storm and in a stormy sea appointed as pilot a butcher who, without any nautical knowledge, would sail for the first time and had no recommendation other than to have betrayed and murdered the captain of the ship? Your duty is essential, gentlemen, and the country expects you to know how to fulfill it.^2,5

It ended with an appeal to the members of Congress to honor Mexico before the world, opposing the shame of having a traitor and murderer as its first president. However, the president of the Chamber did not accept it, so it was decided to print on the appeal flyers and distribute them with the help of María Hernández Zarco (who, many years later, would be honored with the Belisario Domínguez medal).^2,5

Although Belisario Domínguez could not read his parley in the Senate Chamber and the police collected many copies, the speech provoked the anger of Victoriano Huerta. Even so, Belisario Domínguez did not give up, and, in another Chamber session, he made an address in which he pointed out the difficult situation the country was going through, the injustices committed, and the misery of the people, and affirmed that Victoriano Huerta's mental faculties had been affected, as he claimed to see imaginary armies and was causing an international conflict with the United States of America. ²

Belisario Domínguez proposed the following:

Grant me the honor of being commissioned by this assembly to ask Don Victoriano Huerta to sign his resignation from the Presidency of the Republic. I believe that success is very possible. Here is my plan: I will present myself to Mr Victoriano with the request signed by all senators, and also with a copy of this speech and another that I had the honor to present to the President of the Senate in the session of September 23. When reading these documents, it is most probable that when halfway through the reading, Victoriano Huerta loses his patience and attacks me by an act of anger and kills me… ²

Nevertheless, Belisario also thought it possible that Huerta might repent in a patriotic act and resign from office. However, on October 7, 1913 in the evening, General Huerta's henchmen mobilized and searched for Dr Domínguez. They took him out of the Hotel Jardín, where he lived, and transferred him to the Coyoacán cementery, where they murdered and buried him. A surgeon, under threat, cut out Belisario's tongue and sent it to Victoriano Huerta. ⁶

The inculpated surgeon was Aureliano Urrutia, he was an excellent surgeon and one of the attendants of Domínguez wife in 1903. He negated this imputation all his life, and one year later, Belisario Dominguez's cadaver was exhumated, and in the forensic report of his necropsy there is nothing about the tongue extirpation. Nevertheless, in a biographical book: “Aureliano Urrutia: del crimen politico al exilio”, written by Cristina Urrutia Martínez, appears a brief relation of the construction of the excised tongue’s myth. ⁷

The's most relevant publication is Luciano Alexanderson Joublanc's: “Belisario Domínguez, Héroe civil de México”. Which contained many details of the murder of Belisario Domínguez and assertion of the tongue excision as a reality, not as a myth, ⁸ In most of the works relating to the Belisario Domínguez murder the facts and the places where the crime was realized change, and in the trial of the murderers, they did not accept anything about the tongue excision.

The Chamber heard of the crime the next day, and a popular outrage was incited. Huerta's council of ministers demanded that the deputies withdraw their petition, and when they refused, the Chamber was dissolved by means of public force. As a result, 110 deputies were imprisoned. The Senate resolved its self-dissolution. Huerta accused both Chambers of becoming the President's worst enemy because due to the assassination of Belisario Domínguez, the apparent legality on which the dictatorship was based, fell apart. ⁵ Belisario's speeches and death caused many politicians who considered Huerta a better option than revolution to break with the dictator and further damage the international reputation of Huerta's government. ⁵

Medal

Silvia González Marín wrote, “Belisario Domínguez, with his heroic sacrifice, won the moral conscience of the Mexican people for the Revolution.” ⁵ One of Belisario Dominguez's most famous quotes is: “If each of the Mexicans do our duty, our Homeland would be saved.” ³

By a decree published on January 28, 1953, Belisario's civic value was honored with a medal that bears his name and is awarded every October 7 to Mexican men and women who have distinguished themselves to an eminent degree as servants of our homeland or of humanity via their science or virtue. ⁵ The Belisario Dominguez Medal is the greatest recognition that can be obtained by a Mexican. (Figure 1D)

Some of the Mexicans who have been honored with this award are Dr Salvador Zubirán Anchondo, former Rector of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), who gave his life to cultivating science and caring for the health of his peers, a life dedicated to the service of Mexico (received 1986); Dr Ignacio Chávez Sánchez, for great humanism and the creation of the first Institute of Cardiology in the world, which bears his name (received 1975), he also was Rector of the UNAM; Dr Jesús Kumate Rodríguez, former Minister for Health of Mexico, with more than 360 articles in popular science magazines and books (received 2006); and Rosario Ibarra de Piedra, the founder of the National Front Against Repression and the only woman nominated twice for the Presidency of the Republic in 1982 and 1988 (received 2019). ⁹

In 2020, the Senate of the Republic unanimously conferred the Belisario Domínguez 2020 medal to the personnel of the National Health System for its tireless fight against COVID-19 in Mexico. ¹⁰

Doctor Belisario Domínguez's history is well recognized in Mexico. Nevertheless, there is scant evidence in scientific or medical literature about his life and legacy though life and death of Belisario Dominguez is truly inspiring.