Agustín Vales Castillo

Born in Mérida, Yucatán in 1857, his parents were Agustín Vales, a businessman and landowner born in Galicia, Spain, and María Castillo, born in Mérida.

The Castillos, his maternal family, was a distinguished clan of landowners who had come to Yucatán since the viceregal period. During that time, they were repeatedly able to prove they descended from the Spanish nobility (hidalgura), then a requisite to holding public office. According to Valdés Acosta, "those of this lineage proved their descent from Cornelius the Centurion," the first gentile to convert to Christianity, and “their ancestral home (solar) in the Burgos Mountains is one of the most distinguished” in Spain.[3]

María del Carmen Vales Castillo, his sister, married Raymundo Cámara Luján, head of the Cámara family, one of the principal patrician families of Yucatán. Through this marriage, Agustín Vales was related to several prominent Maderista politicians in the Yucatán Peninsula. Two of his nephews supported the antireelectionist cause: Alfredo and Nicolás Cámara Vales served as governor of Quintana Roo and Yucatán, respectively. Meanwhile, María Cámara Vales, his niece, married José María Pino Suárez, who served as vice-president of Mexico

Together with the Ancona Cámara brothers, he was the owner of Hacienda Chenkú, one of the most important haciendas of Yucatán.[2] Chenkú became an important fiber producer in the context of the booming henequen industry.

The most profitable business, however, was not henequen production but its export to US and European markets. Associated with Olegario Molina, Vales held a minority share in the Molina trading house which effectively operated a monopoly over henequen exports. The firm had once faced strong competition from the trading houses headed by Eusebio Escalante, whose family had founded the modern henequen industry in the mid 19th century, and José María Ponce. After the Panic of 1907, however, the Escalante trading house was forced into bankruptcy. By then, Ponce had successfully divested most of his capital away from the export of henequen, focusing on other industries, including brewing. After cornering the market, the Molina trading house was able to dictate prices to producers.[4]

Vales also stood out as a financier. In 1890, he was a founding partner and member of the first board of directors of Banco de Yucatán, S.A. The bank was formed by a group of businessmen headed by Olegario Molina and underwrote much of the industrialization of Yucatan. The bank faced strong competition from Banco Mercantil de Yucatán, S.A., itself formed by a rival group of businessmen headed by Eusebio Escalante and Raymundo Cámara, his brother-in-law. In 1937, shortly before his death, he founded two further financial institutions: Banco Mercantil de Tampico, S.A. and Sociedad Financiera Mercantil, S.A.[5]

Since 1902, Olegario Molina had been selected by Porfirio Díaz, the dictator, to serve as governor of Yucatán. Molina, in turn, chose Vales to serve as prefect of Mérida (jefe político). Vales was chosen for the political position as he was considered a "man of energy, probity and talent, who was widely considered to be knowledgeable about the environment in which he would have to work."[6] Likewise, other sources refer to him as a "skillful and bold promoter of economic progress."[7]

Governor Molina (from the Liberal Party) chose Agustín Vales despite the fact that he had been a supporter of the Conservative Party in the previous administration:

“Taking advantage of the advantageous economic situation that Yucatán was going through, a group of conservative businessmen was formed, including members of the regional Porfirian oligarchy such as Eusebio Escalante, Raymundo Cámara and Agustín Vales, among others, who formed the so-called “Lonja Meridiana” and the clique related to the newly elected governor, General Francisco Cantón.”[8]

During his period as prefect, he promoted several public works including the paving and drainage of Mérida, the construction of a Lunatic asylum and the expansion of the Penitentiary. He also promoted the foundation of the General Agustín O'Harán Hospital which, to this date is recognized as one of the best hospitals in the country.[9] He donated a significant amount of his own fortune to achieve the foundation of the hospital; he also obtained generous donations from Leandro Ayala and the Molina family.[10]

It has been pointed out that, in good Porfirian fashion, Vales ruled over Mérida with an iron fist. For example, he suppressed the unionized workers to "prevent syndicalism from growing."[11] Other sources indicate that he supported hygienist policies including the prohibition of intoxicating drinks. He went to the extreme of ordering that all the canteens in the city be closed.[12]

Many expected Molina to chose Vales as his successor in the governorship. Molina, however, had no intention of laying down his power and sought reelection, achieving a second four-year term as governor of Yucatán. To celebrate his triumph, Molina invited Porfirio Díaz to visit Mérida in February 1906, the first time a Mexican president had been invited into the Yucatan Peninsula, a region with a long history of separatism. During the presidential visit, Vales entertained Porfirio Díaz in an elegant reception that was held in his private residence. Díaz was said to be favourably impressed with the success of Mérida under Vales, "a city which was spotless and modern, an appropriate seat for Yucatan's newly minted millionaires."[13]

During his visit to Mérida, the president had mentioned that, due to his success as govenor, Molina was being considered for a top position in the federal government. In light of this, Vales was hopeful that, once Molina left for Mexico City, he would be appointed interim governor and could eventually run for his own term in office. He was, however, disappointed to learn that Molina had already determined that Enrique Muñoz Arístegui, a virtually unknown shoemaker who was guaranteed to be more pliant to his wishes, would be his successor. Vales resigned to his post in protest. In his absence, Muñoz Arístegui was appointed as the new prefect. A few months later, Díaz formally invited Molina to serve in his Cabinet as secretary of commerce and industry. In his absence, as expected, Muñoz was appointed to serve as interim governor by the state legislature. Vales, meanwhile, returned to the private sector, never again serving in public office.

Although Vales was associated with Molina in various industries, oftentimes in rivalry against Escalante and Cámara, there were also a few businesses in which he collaborated with his brother in law, even competing against Molina. One example, was the minority interst which Vales held in Compañía Agrícola del Cuyo y Anexas, S.A. The company employed more than 1,500 employees and controlled a 2,627 km² large estate (roughly the size of Rhode Island) in the northwestern part of Yucatán. These lands were:

"rich in dyewood, optimal for growing sugarcane, vanilla, tobacco, maize and cereals, as well as suitable for harvesting sea salt […] Among the productive activities of the plantation we can highlight the exploitation of forest resources (dyes, fine wood for cabinet making and hard wood for construction), as well as the extraction of resins (chewing gum), the obtaining of sea salt, the cultivation of sugar cane, the development of crops of tobacco, cocoa, cotton, banana and vanilla, the latter brought from Papantla, Veracruz. Likewise, for the self-consumption of its inhabitants, corn, rice, beans and all other natural products available on the aforementioned farm were produced on the land […] The dyewood that the Company exported was in demand in the European markets of the textile manufactory of Hamburg, Le Havre and Liverpool. As for chewing gum, it was sent out to New York, carrying out the commercialization of an average of 400 thousand kg per year.” [8]

The company competed with Compañía Colonizadora de la Costa Oriental de Yucatán, S.A. which was headed by Molina and held neighbouring lands. During the Mexican Revolution, the Porfirio Díaz dictatorship collapsed and Olegario Molina had to flee to Havana, Cuba. From his exile, he continued to direct his businesses through a frontman. His political power, however, was broken. Vales quickly changed his political allegiance to support his nephew-in-law, José María Pino Suárez, a maderista who then served as governor of Yucatan, and successfully managed to:

"win over the vast majority of the families of the state's economic elite to the maderista cause. Those who were molinistas became maderistas, as did former “liberal” supporters of former governor Carlos Peón, politically inactive since the political crisis of 1897 [...] The Cámara, Medina, Vales, Espejo, Castellanos, Escalante, Manzanilla and Peniche families [all important landowners] became supporters of Pinismo."[14]

He maintained close business ties with the Madero Family, a powerful clan of industrialists from Coahuila, which became one of the wealthiest families in Mexico at the dawn of the 20th century and financed the Mexican Revolution against the dictator Porfirio Díaz. In 1912, Agustín Vales partnered with Ernesto Madero Farías, who served as secretary of the treasury under president Francisco I. Madero, to incorporate Compañía Harinera del Golfo, S.A., a flour milling company, which for many years was the main supplier of flour in the Yucatán Peninsula.[15][16]

Agustín Vales Millet, his son, inherited and expanded the business empire that his father had founded. In 1934, together with Alfonso Ponce Cámara, he founded Banco de Yucatán, S.A. (a successor of the former bank of the same name), acting as chairman of the board of directors on several occasions.

On July 24, 1879, he married María Cristina Millet Hübbe, daughter of José María Millet Aragón and María Cristina Hübbe García Rejón. The couple had the following offspring:

1. Maria Vales Millet married to Adolfo Casares
2. Agustín Vales Millet married to Mercedes Guerra
3. Carlos Vales Millet married to Rosa Cámara

He was the owner of Casa Vales, a neoclassical-style mansion on Paseo de Montejo that has been described as "one of the architectural treasures that bear witness to the economic splendor that the Yucatecan capital achieved in the early 20th century."[1] The mansion was built in 1908 and was acquired by Vales in 1914. Eventually, he bequeathed it to Carlos Vales Millet, his son, and Rosa Cámara, his daughter-in-law, as a wedding gift. The eldest son of the Vales Cámara marriage was the last descendant to enjoy the mansion before the family decided to sell it to Grupo Financiero Santander in 1995.