Juan Alvarez
Juan Álvarez Hurtado (Atoyac, Intendencia de México, January 27, 1790-La Providencia, Guerrero, August 21, 1867), was a Mexican soldier and politician, a key player during most of the armed conflicts of independent Mexico, from the war of independence to the overthrow of Emperor Maximilian during the Second French Intervention. He held various ranks during his service to the country, the most prominent being President of the Republic for a brief period in 1855, after overthrowing the dictator Antonio López de Santa Anna leading the Ayutla Revolution. He was the last president of Mexico to participate in the War of Independence.
Beginnings: War of Independence
Juan Álvarez Hurtado was born on January 27, 1790, in Santa María de la Concepción de Atoyac, today Atoyac de Álvarez, in what was then the Municipality of Mexico (present-day Guerrero). He was the son of Antonio Álvarez and Rafaela Hurtado. After having studied elementary school in Mexico City, Álvarez returned to Atoyac at the age of 17, to receive his inheritance, which was of considerable magnitude and of which he was stripped by his tutor who enslaved him in the work of his own farm., until, due to his passage through the coast, he joined Morelos. In 1810, when he was just 20 years old, he joined the fight for the Independence of Mexico, under the command of José María Morelos y Pavón. During this stage he was known as "El Gallego" because his father was from Santiago de Compostela.
He distinguished himself in many war actions, especially in El Aguatillo and La Sabana, in which he was wounded. In the assault on Tixtla and in the Battle of El Veladero. When Morelos was shot, he joined the forces of Vicente Guerrero, who was fighting the royalist troops in the mountains south of the Intendencia de México. Álvarez contributed to the insurgent cause with money, men and weapons from his ranches, for which the Viceregal Government deprived him of his lands and cattle, even declaring in his will:
“...although both my wife and I brought some short interests to our marriage, everything was absolutely over and disappeared with the war of our independence. ”Juan Alvarez. Testament
In the insurgent retreat, he fought the guerrilla war alongside Guerrero and before the Iguala Plan he was entrusted with taking Acapulco, which was in the hands of the royalists, which he successfully achieved. From there he became the leader of the southern region, being recognized for his victories such as those of El Aguacatillo, the San Diego fort, Tixtla, Cerro del Veladero and Tierra Caliente.
After independence was consummated, Álvarez held the military command of Acapulco from 1821 to 1823, after Vicente Guerrero recommended him to Iturbide as "the most prestigious chief on the South Coast." However, considering the attitude and political decisions of Emperor Iturbide intolerable, he fought the First Mexican Empire and supported the presidency of Vicente Guerrero, although he could not prevent his assassination.
Wars against France and the United States
He fought the French intervention in the War of the Pastries and the Americans in the war of 1847, in which his detractors, including Santa Anna, attribute a dubious role to him, specifically in the Battle of Molino del Rey. However, Álvarez's cavalry defended and recovered the mills from the North American forces, only ceasing their action because Santa Anna, in command of the defense and with whom he had a rivalry, ordered him not to intervene in the battle anymore. and to withdraw to Tacuba to organize a subsequent attack, even knowing that this would greatly weaken the defenders. Álvarez marched towards Tacuba, clearing the path of the American contingents he was with. Before the invasion, Álvarez always pointed out that legislators allowed the free settlement of Americans in Texas to be a mistake, pointing out that in the long run this would cause great discomfort to Mexico:
“The poor forecast of the legislators of 1824 brought us that great evil. These were proposed with the law of August 18, opening a large channel of wealth that came from Texas to Mexico and was vice versa, opened from Mexico to Texas. For him we have gone 8,000 soldiers more or less; with four thousand to the tomb for the difference of climates and another four thousand who have deserted from the ranks taking the most of them to the rifles. ”Letter from Juan Alvarez to Riva Palacio, 1845, on the situation in Texas
Álvarez was characterized as a liberal cacique with such important regional power that in 1849 he promoted the creation of the State of Guerrero, of which he was appointed interim governor, and in 1850 he triumphed in the first elections to become the first constitutional governor of said state..
At the beginning of 1854, in the territory of the current State of Guerrero, Florencio Villarreal gathered several soldiers to carry out an analysis of the political situation in the country, as a result the Plan of Ayutla was proclaimed, in which Juan Álvarez and Ignacio participated. comfort. A document was drafted with ten points, whose main objectives were:
- Cesar the presidency of Antonio López de Santa Anna.
- Form a board with representatives of state legislatures and choose an interim president.
- Grant broad powers to the Acting President to maintain national unity, the progress of the country and individual guarantees.
- To convene a Congress to constitute a representative and popular republic.
The plan was modified on March 1 in Acapulco, accepted by Álvarez and Comonfort —who obtained arms and ammunition in the United States— it was determined that anyone who opposed the proclamation would be considered an enemy of the independence of Mexico.
Santa Anna had tried to prevent the uprising by sending Commander Tomás Moreno, but he joined Álvarez's forces. In mid-March, with a force of five thousand men, Santa Anna headed for the port of Acapulco. He tried to storm the plaza on April 19 but was repulsed, in retaliation he set fire to the haciendas and surrounding towns and returned to Mexico City. Santa Anna called a plebiscite questioning the population's opinion about continuing in the presidency and, if not, to whom the position should be delivered. Most of the result of the plebiscite favored Juan Álvarez to take the presidency, however, Santa Anna ordered the arrest of those who had voted against him and declared that it was the will of the nation to continue leading the government.
In the first months of 1855, the Ayutla Revolution spread to Nuevo León, Tamaulipas, and Michoacán. Santa Anna organized various expeditions to put down the rebellions, but finally decided to abdicate. On August 8 he named a triumvirate formed by Ignacio Pavón, Mariano Salas and Martín Carrera, in the middle of the same month he left the country. The revolution continued with the pronouncements of Rómulo Díaz de la Vega in Mexico City, Antonio de Haro y Tamariz in San Luis Potosí and Manuel Doblado in Guanajuato; but Comonfort managed to agree to peace in a convention held during September in Lagos.
On October 1, 1855, Álvarez arrived in Cuernavaca, Morelos. He issued a manifesto addressed to the nation explaining the reasons for the revolution, and appointed a board of representatives to elect the interim president. Most of the votes went in his favor. On October 4, as president of the republic, he immediately appointed his cabinet.
Presidency of Mexico and Reform
His government was fleeting but brilliant, managing to bring together an exceptional generation: Ignacio Comonfort in the Ministry of War, Melchor Ocampo in Foreign Relations, Guillermo Prieto in the Treasury and Benito Juárez in Justice. With such backing, in the barely 2 months that he governed from Cuernavaca he took two measures, known as the Juárez Law, that would change the destiny of Mexico: the convocation of the Congress that would elaborate the Constitution of 1857, and the abolition of military and ecclesiastical jurisdiction.
"I want to testify that I am loyal to my homeland, for which I raised the banner that recognized freedom. I want the nation to know that by defending the institutions that will make it happy; I want the country in which I saw the first light to level in progress and civilization to the first powers of Europe..."Juan Álvarez, letter addressed to Ignacio Comonfort
Álvarez felt a deep natural rejection of the upper class of Mexico City due to its centralist ideology and the affiliation of many of its members to the conservative party, since many of them shared monarchical aspirations, oligarchic tendencies, snobbery, or, they had manifested express antipathy and contempt for the lower classes that contained the majority of the Mexican people. On the other hand, Álvarez was oblivious to urban life. For these and other personal health reasons, and after having instilled in Ignacio Comonfort the principles of the Reform Laws, he decided to hand over power to him and return to his domain in Guerrero. Upon leaving Mexico he said:
"I was able to enter the Presidency and poorly leave it, but with the satisfaction that public censorship does not weigh on me, because I am dedicated from my tenderest age to personal work, I know how to handle the plow to support my family, without the need for public posts where others are enriched with outrage of orphanage and misery."
Faithful to the republic, he lived to see its final triumph in 1867; but before he actively intervened in the Reform War supporting Juárez.
Second French Intervention
During the French Intervention, he took charge of the Southern Division, and came to replace Juárez[ appointment required] when he delegated responsibility for operations in his absences. He died shortly after the triumph of the national arms over the Maximilian Empire, at his hacienda in La Providencia, Acapulco municipality, within his native state of Guerrero, on August 21, 1867.
He was the last of the leaders of Independence to die. His contemporaries called him The Panther of the South . His remains were transferred with honors to the Rotunda of Illustrious Persons in Mexico City on December 27, 1922.