Barcelona vs Lázaro Cárdenas

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Barcelona ( BAR-sə-LOH-nə, Catalan: [bəɾsəˈlonə], Spanish: [baɾθeˈlona] or Spanish: [baɾseˈlona]) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within city limits, its urban area extends to numerous neighbouring municipalities within the Province of Barcelona and is home to around 4.8 million people, making it the fifth most populous urban area in the European Union after Paris, the Ruhr area, Madrid, and Milan. It is one of the largest metropolises on the Mediterranean Sea, located on the coast between the mouths of the rivers Llobregat and Besòs, and bounded to the west by the Serra de Collserola mountain range, the tallest peak of which is 512 metres (1,680 feet) high. Founded as a Roman city, in the Middle Ages Barcelona became the capital of the County of Barcelona. After merging with the Kingdom of Aragon, Barcelona continued to be an important city in the Crown of Aragon as an economic and administrative centre of this Crown and the capital of the Principality of Catalonia. Barcelona has a rich cultural heritage and is today an important cultural centre and a major tourist destination.

Particularly renowned are the architectural works of Antoni Gaudí and Lluís Domènech i Montaner, which have been designated UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Since 1450, it is home to the University of Barcelona, widely considered the most prestigious university in Spain. The headquarters of the Union for the Mediterranean are located in Barcelona. The city is known for hosting the 1992 Summer Olympics as well as world-class conferences and expositions and also many international sport tournaments. Barcelona is a major cultural, economic, and financial centre in southwestern Europe, as well as the main biotech hub in Spain. As a leading world city, Barcelona's influence in global socio-economic affairs qualifies it for global city status (Beta +).Barcelona is a transport hub, with the Port of Barcelona being one of Europe's principal seaports and busiest European passenger port, an international airport, Barcelona–El Prat Airport, which handles over 50 million passengers per year, an extensive motorway network, and a high-speed rail line with a link to France and the rest of Europe.

Source: Wikipedia

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Lázaro Cárdenas del Río (Local Spanish pronunciation: [ˈlasaɾo ˈkaɾðenas] (listen); May 21, 1895 – October 19, 1970) was a general in the Constitutionalist Army during the Mexican Revolution and a statesman who served as President of Mexico between 1934 and 1940. He is best known for nationalization of the oil industry in 1938 and the creation of Pemex, the government oil company. He also revived agrarian reform in Mexico, expropriating large landed estates and distributing land to small holders in collective holdings (ejidos). Although he was not from the state of Sonora, whose generals had dominated Mexican politics in the 1920s, Cárdenas was loyal to Sonoran general and former president Plutarco Elías Calles (1924–28). Calles had founded the National Revolutionary Party (PNR) in the wake of the assassination of Sonoran general Alvaro Obregón, who served as president (1920–24) and was president-elect in 1928. Cárdenas was Calles's hand-picked candidate in 1934 to run for the presidency. While Calles did not hold the title of president, he had remained the power behind the presidency, and expected to maintain that role when Cárdenas took office. However, Cárdenas out-maneuvered him politically and eventually forced the former president into exile, establishing Cárdenas's legitimacy and power in his own right during his remaining time in office.

In 1938, Cárdenas transformed the structure of the party Calles founded, creating the Partido de la Revolución Mexicana (PRM), based on sectoral representation of peasants via peasant leagues, unionized workers, professionals, and the Mexican army. Cárdenas's incorporation of the army into the party structure was a deliberate move to diminish the power of the military and prevent their traditional intervention in politics through coups d'état. An important political achievement of Cárdenas was his complete surrender of power in December 1940 to his elected successor, Manuel Ávila Camacho, who was a political moderate without a distinguished military record. Cárdenas has been revered as "the greatest constructive radical of the Mexican Revolution," for reviving its ideals, but he has also been criticized as an "authoritarian populist." According to numerous opinion polls and analysts, Cárdenas is the most popular Mexican president of the 20th century.

Source: Wikipedia