| Belisario Domínguez Medal of Honor Spanish; Castilian: Medalla de Honor "Belisario Domínguez" del Senado<br /> de la República | |
| Eligibility: | Mexican entities representing "the cultural spirit of the time" |
| Awarded For: | contribution "toward the welfare of the Nation and mankind" |
| Status: | currently constituted |
| Image2 Size: | 100px |
The Belisario Domínguez Medal of Honor (Spanish; Castilian: Medalla de Honor "Belisario Domínguez" del Senado de la República) is the highest award bestowed by the Mexican Senate.
It forms part of the Mexican Honors System and is currently Mexico's highest active award since there are no records of the Condecoración "Miguel Hidalgo" being presented since 1979.[1] 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 Mexican entities representing "the cultural spirit of the time" are allowed to submit nominations for this award. This provision typically allows universities, newspapers, learned societies, non-governmental organizations and government entities to nominate candidates.
The award is named after 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'état, which ousted President Francisco I. Madero, Domínguez circulated a speech as a letter to fellow members of congress 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 Ruiz 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.
The medal 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 the Republic and the leader of the Senate.
The medal has the national coat of arms on one side together with the inscription Spanish; Castilian: "Estados Unidos Mexicanos, H. Cámara de Senadores 1952-1958" ("United Mexican States, Honourable Chamber of Senators 1952-1958"). The reverse side of the medal has an image of Domínguez' bust together with the inscription Spanish; Castilian: "Ennobleció a la Patria, 7 de octubre de 1913" ("Ennobled the Nation, October 7, 1913").
The following is a complete list of people who have been recipients of the Belisario Domínguez Medal. Only in 1954 and 2012 the medal has been awarded twice.