Order of the Aztec Eagle

The Mexican Order of the Aztec Eagle (Orden Mexicana del Águila Azteca) forms part of the Mexican Honors System and is the highest Mexican order awarded to foreigners.

History
It was created by decree on December 29, 1933, by President Abelardo L. Rodríguez as a reward to the services given to Mexico or humankind by foreigners. It corresponds to similar distinctions given to Mexican citizens such as the Condecoración Miguel Hidalgo or the Belisario Domínguez Medal of Honor. It is given by the office of the foreign minister on the instructions of a Council established for this purpose headed by the President. Its naming is partially taken from the Imperial Order of the Mexican Eagle, which was created by Maximilian I of Mexico on January 1, 1865.

Design
There is some design similarity of the order with the coat of arms of Mexico, particularly the golden eagle holding a rattlesnake, which is associated with the Aztec civilization.

Since 2011
Since the reform of March 2011, the classes are :
 * 1) MEX Orden del Aguila Azteca 2011 Collar BAR.svg Collar ("Collar"), awarded to heads of state;
 * 2) MEX Orden del Aguila Azteca 2011 Banda Especial BAR.svg Sash of Special Category ("Banda en Categoría Especial"), awarded to prime ministers and heads of government, hereditary princes(ses), consorts of heads of state, or to people whose category is tantamount to the previous;
 * 3) MEX Orden del Aguila Azteca 2011 Banda BAR.svg Sash ("Banda"), awarded to government ministers, secretaries, members of royal families, ambassadors, or individuals whose category is tantamount to the previous;
 * 4) MEX Orden del Aguila Azteca 2011 Placa BAR.svg Plaque ("Placa"), awarded to government undersecretaries, plenipotentiary ministers, consuls general, brigadier generals, rear admirals, as well to those whose category is tantamount to the previous;
 * 5) MEX Orden del Aguila Azteca 2011 Venera BAR.svg Venera (a type of insignia), awarded to ad hoc business representatives, colonels and lieutenant colonels, captains of a ship, equivalent servants of embassies in Mexico, as well to those whose category is tantamount to the previous;
 * 6) MEX Orden del Aguila Azteca 2011 Insignia BAR.svg Insignia, awarded to ad interim business representatives and other members of diplomatic missions; captain, navy lieutenant, as well to those whose category is tantamount to the previous and to those cases the Council considers pertinent.

All grades except the collar may be awarded, at the Council's discretion, to distinguished foreigners.

Before 2011
Prior to the 2011 reform, the classes were, in descending order:
 * 1) MEX Order of the Aztec Eagle 1Class BAR.png Collar ("Collar"), awarded to heads of state;
 * 2) MEX Order of the Aztec Eagle 1Class BAR.png Grand Cross ("Cruz"), awarded to prime ministers and heads of government
 * 3) MEX Order of the Aztec Eagle 1Class BAR.png Sash ("Banda"), awarded to government ministers, secretaries and ambassadors
 * 4) MEX Order of the Aztec Eagle 2Class BAR.png Medal ("Medalla"), awarded to government undersecretaries, plenipotentiary ministers, as well to those whose category is tantamount to the previous;
 * 5) MEX Order of the Aztec Eagle 3Class BAR.png Plaque ("Placa"), awarded to ad hoc business representatives, colonels and lieutenant colonels, captains of a ship, equivalent servants of embassies in Mexico), as well to those whose category is tantamount to the previous;
 * 6) MEX Order of the Aztec Eagle 4Class BAR.png Venera (a type of insignia), awarded to ad interim business representatives and other members of diplomatic missions;
 * 7) MEX Order of the Aztec Eagle 5Class BAR.png Insignia proper, awarded at the Council's discretion; and
 * 8) MEX Order of the Aztec Eagle 5Class BAR.png Honorable Mention ("Mención Honorífica").

Presidents

 * Edvard Beneš – Collar (1935)
 * 🇺🇸 Dwight David Eisenhower – Collar (1945)
 * Chiang Kai-shek – Collar (1945)
 * 🇧🇷 Juscelino Kubitschek – Collar
 * 🇩🇴 Rafael Trujillo – Collar
 * 🇫🇷 Charles de Gaulle – Collar
 * Josip Broz Tito – Collar (1963)
 * 🇹🇿 Julius Nyerere – Collar (1975)
 * 🇧🇬 Todor Zhivkov
 * 🇪🇪 Lennart Meri – Collar (1995)
 * 🇧🇷 Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva – Collar (2007)
 * 🇨🇱 Michelle Bachelet – Collar (2007)
 * 🇿🇦 Nelson Mandela – Sash (2010)
 * 🇬🇹 Álvaro Colom – Collar (2011)
 * 🇨🇴 Juan Manuel Santos – Collar (2011)
 * 🇺🇾 José Mujica – Collar (2014)
 * 🇧🇷 Dilma Rousseff – Collar (2015)
 * 🇬🇹 Otto Pérez Molina – Collar (2015)
 * 🇦🇷 Mauricio Macri – Collar (2016)
 * 🇮🇹 Sergio Mattarella – Collar (2016)
 * 🇵🇹 Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa – Collar (2017)
 * 🇮🇳 Pratibha Patil – Sash (2018)
 * 🇵🇭 Manuel Luis Quezon – Collar

Politicians

 * 🇧🇪 Edmond Leburton
 * Alexandra Kollontai – Sash (1944)
 * 🇺🇸 Henry Harley Arnold – Collar (1945)
 * Dr. Jože Brilej – Sash (1950s)
 * 🇯🇵 Takeo Miki – Sash (1967)
 * Sir Edward Heath (1994)
 * 🇬🇹 Bernardo Arévalo (1995)
 * 🇨🇦 Yves Ducharme – Venera (2006)
 * 🇺🇸 Mark Shurtleff, Utah Attorney General – Plaque (placa) (2006)
 * 🇧🇿 Lisa Shoman – Sash (2008)
 * 🇺🇸 Ted Kennedy – Sash (2008)
 * 🇪🇸 José Manuel García-Margallo (2015)
 * 🇫🇷 Benoît Hamon
 * 🇺🇸 David Dreier (2017)
 * 🇦🇷 Eva Perón (1951)

Other

 * 🇺🇸 Walt Disney (1943)
 * 🇺🇸 Spencer Atkinson (1946)
 * 🇺🇸 Norman Borlaug (1970)
 * 🇺🇸 Nettie Lee Benson (1979)
 * Nigel Davies (1980)
 * 🇺🇸 Edward Hidalgo (1980)
 * Diana Kennedy (1981)
 * 🇨🇴 Gabriel García Márquez (1982)
 * 🇨🇱 Claudio Arrau (1982)
 * 🇪🇸 Plácido Domingo – (1985)
 * 🇺🇸 W. Michael Mathes (1985)
 * 🇺🇸 Dr. Donald Winkelmann (1994)
 * Yuri Knorozov (1995)
 * 🇲🇽 Hector P. Garcia (1998)
 * 🇮🇳 Satish Gujral – Insignia proper
 * 🇺🇸 Charles Butt – (2001)
 * 🇺🇸 Melinda Gates – Insignia proper (2007)
 * 🇺🇸 Anne d'Harnoncourt – Insignia proper (2007)
 * 🇬🇹 Rigoberta Menchú – Insignia proper (2010)
 * 🇵🇪 Mario Vargas Llosa (2011)
 * 🇮🇳 Amartya Sen (2011)
 * 🇮🇪 Bono – Insignia proper (2012)
 * 🇯🇵 Takashi Yamanouchi (2013)
 * 🇺🇸 Cesar Chavez
 * 🇺🇸 Ralph Roeder
 * Susan Hussey, Baroness Hussey of North Bradley (2015)
 * Stuart Gulliver (2017)
 * 🇺🇸 Roderic Ai Camp (2017)
 * 🇺🇸 Rick Bayless (2017)
 * 🇺🇸 Jared Kushner – Sash (2018)


 * Collars
 * Akihito
 * Bhumibol Adulyadej
 * Michelle Bachelet
 * Beatrix of the Netherlands
 * Josip Broz Tito
 * Carl XVI Gustaf
 * Fidel Castro
 * Edvard Beneš
 * Dwight D. Eisenhower
 * Elizabeth II
 * Cristina Fernández de Kirchner
 * Mauricio Funes
 * Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester
 * Haile Selassie
 * Henryk Jabłoński
 * Juan Carlos I of Spain
 * Juscelino Kubitschek
 * Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
 * Mauricio Macri
 * Margrethe II of Denmark
 * Mohammed VI of Morocco
 * Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
 * Salman of Saudi Arabia
 * Grand Crosses
 * Henry H. Arnold
 * Princess Benedikte of Denmark
 * Jože Brilej
 * Maria Cavaco Silva
 * Armand De Decker
 * Guillermo Fernández de Soto
 * Jean Gol
 * Peter Hope (diplomat)
 * Thanat Khoman
 * Princess Lalla Hasna of Morocco
 * Edmond Leburton
 * Mahathir Mohamad
 * Princess Margriet of the Netherlands
 * Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark
 * Prince Moulay Rachid of Morocco
 * Charles-Ferdinand Nothomb
 * Olav V of Norway
 * Jacques van Ypersele de Strihou
 * Ra'ad bin Zeid
 * Suharto
 * Bands
 * Infante Carlos, Duke of Calabria
 * Charles, Prince of Wales
 * Infanta Cristina of Spain
 * Carlos Echeverri Cortés
 * Felipe VI of Spain
 * Henrik, Prince Consort of Denmark
 * Princess Irene of the Netherlands
 * Ted Kennedy
 * Alexandra Kollontai
 * Queen Letizia of Spain
 * Nelson Mandela
 * Queen Máxima of the Netherlands
 * Takeo Miki
 * Hirofumi Nakasone
 * Sadako Ogata
 * Pietro Parolin
 * Prince Sahle Selassie
 * Lisa Shoman
 * Queen Sofía of Spain
 * Placards
 * Bill Gates
 * Charles E. Wilhelm
 * Alan Yarrow
 * Insignia
 * David Brading
 * Melinda Gates
 * Satish Gujral
 * Anne d'Harnoncourt
 * Alan Knight (historian)
 * Other or Unknown Classes
 * Claudio Arrau
 * Jack Austin (politician)
 * Rick Bayless
 * Nettie Lee Benson
 * Elizabeth Hill Boone
 * David Brading
 * Jože Brilej
 * Charles Butt
 * David Carrasco
 * Maria Cavaco Silva
 * Alfredo Chiaradía
 * Francesco Cossiga
 * Nigel Davies (historian)
 * Michel Descombey
 * Plácido Domingo
 * Yves Ducharme
 * Elżbieta Dzikowska
 * Luis Echeverría
 * Trevor Eyton
 * Jean-Louis Georgelin
 * Nadine Gordimer
 * John Greenslade
 * António Guterres
 * Jan Hendrix
 * Edward Hidalgo
 * Carla Anderson Hills
 * Alfred Wilkinson Johnson
 * Michael Kaiser
 * Friedrich Katz
 * Diana Kennedy
 * Jean-Pierre Kingsley
 * Nobusuke Kishi
 * Yuri Knorozov
 * Thomas Krens
 * Ernest Krogh-Hansen
 * George Kubler
 * Jared Kushner
 * Luis Leal (writer)
 * Fred Martinez
 * W. Michael Mathes
 * Helmut Maucher
 * José Carlos Millás
 * Million Dollar Theater
 * Paula Marcela Moreno Zapata
 * Julius Nyerere
 * Óscar Osorio
 * Benoît Puga
 * Mariano Rajoy
 * Ann Richards
 * Nelson Rockefeller
 * Rodman Rockefeller
 * Albert Sabin
 * Eisaku Satō
 * Walter Schwimmer
 * Edward Seaga
 * David Shaltiel
 * Lemuel C. Shepherd Jr.
 * Innis P. Swift
 * Hugh Thomas, Baron Thomas of Swynnerton
 * J. Eric S. Thompson
 * Mario Vargas Llosa
 * Baldemar Velasquez
 * William Wasson
 * David J. Weber
 * Eliot Weinberger
 * Derry Weis
 * Raul Yzaguirre

Additional sources

 * Mexican Chamber of Deputies
 * Olvera Ayes, David A. "La Orden Mexicana del Aguila Azteca - Apuntes para su Historia". Cuadernos del Cronista. México, 2011