Juan Álvarez
Encyclopedia
Juan Nepomuceno Álvarez Hurtado (27 January 1790 – 21 August 1867) was a general and interim president of Mexico
for a few months in 1855. He fought in all the major wars of Mexico, from the War of Independence
through the Pastry War
, the Mexican-American War, and the War of the Reform to the war against the French Intervention
. A liberal reformer, a republican and a federalist, he was the leader of a revolution in support of Benito Juárez
's Plan de Ayutla
in 1854, which led to the deposing of Antonio López de Santa Anna
from power and the beginning of the political era in Mexico's history known as La Reforma
.
descent. He studied in primary school in Mexico City, but returned to his native town at age 17 to receive his inheritance. He worked as a cowboy and in the fields.
, soon rising to the rank of captain. Before the year was out, he was wounded by a ball that pierced both legs, and he was given the command of the Guadalupe Regiment.
In the assault on Tixtla
on 15 May 1811, he was wounded again. He was now a colonel.
After the defeat of the insurgents, he continued to fight in the guerrilla campaign. When Morelos was executed in 1815, Álvarez joined the forces of Vicente Guerrero
in the mountains of the southern part of the Intendency of México. Under the Plan de Iguala he was entrusted with taking Acapulco
from the royalists, which he did on 15 October 1821. He was named commander of Acapulco. From that point he was one of the leaders of the insurgents, and chief in the southern region.
After independence, when Emperor Agustín de Iturbide
's politics became intolerable, he joined with Guerrero and Anastasio Bustamante
to fight against him. He supported Guerrero during the latter's presidency, fighting on his side in five battles. He was promoted to brigadier general in 1830. When Guerrero was overthrown by his vice-president, Bustamante, he joined Álvarez in the south, where they continued to resist. Álvarez tried to prevent Guerrero's execution in 1831, but was unable to do so.
He continued to oppose Bustamante's centralism in the 1830s.
. In 1841, he was promoted to general of division. In 1845, he was given the military command of Oaxaca and the Department of Acapulco. In 1847, as general in chief of the cavalry he fought at the head of a division in the defense of the capital against the invaders from the United States.
His stature and importance as a liberal leader with much regional power was one of the factors that led to the creation of the State of Guerrero in 1849. He was named its first (interim) governor, and after elections in 1850, he became its first constitutional governor. He served in that position until 1853.
On 1 March 1854 from Guerrero and seconded by Ignacio Comonfort
, he proclaimed the Plan de Ayutla, a revolt against the dictatorship of Antonio López de Santa Anna
. Santa Anna was forced into exile in August 1855, and on 4 October 1855 in Cuernavaca
, Morelos
, Álvarez was installed as interim president of the Republic.
was foreign minister; Guillermo Prieto
was Minister of the Treasury; and Benito Juárez
was Minister of Justice. In the 68 days that he governed, two measures were adopted that changed the destiny of Mexico: the convocation of a constituent congress that would write the Constitution of 1857, and the abolition of military and ecclesiastical fuero
s (privileges). The latter measure was the Ley Juárez.
One of his concerns throughout his career, both military and political, was the return of lands to the Indigenous.
Urban life was foreign to Álvarez, and he did not like Mexico City. Because of his mixed ancestry, his liberalism, and his leadership of Indigenous soldiers, Mexico City was not very hospitable to Álvarez. And there was conflict in his cabinet, between supporters of Comonfort and Manuel Doblado
. For those reasons, and for reasons of health, Álvarez soon turned over the presidency to Ignacio Comonfort, another supporter of liberal reforms. Álvarez returned to Guerrero. On his departure he said:
Álvarez continued to take an interest in politics, faithful to his liberal republican principles. He took an active part in the War of the Reform, in support of Juárez. In 1861, Congress declared him Benemérito de la Patria.
escaped from French captivity, he joined Álvarez in the mountains of Guerrero.
In 1867, Álvarez died on 21 August, a short time after the triumph of Mexican arms over the Empire, in his hacienda La Providencia, Guerrero, Mexico. On 25 December 1922, his remains were transferred with honors to the Rotonda de los Hombres Ilustres (Rotunda of Illustrious Men) in Mexico City.
The municipalities of Atoyac de Álvarez and Chilapa de Álvarez
in Guerrero
are named in his honor, as is the airport at Acapulco
, Juan N. Álvarez International Airport.
President of Mexico
The President of the United Mexican States is the head of state and government of Mexico. Under the Constitution, the president is also the Supreme Commander of the Mexican armed forces...
for a few months in 1855. He fought in all the major wars of Mexico, from the War of Independence
Mexican War of Independence
The Mexican War of Independence was an armed conflict between the people of Mexico and the Spanish colonial authorities which started on 16 September 1810. The movement, which became known as the Mexican War of Independence, was led by Mexican-born Spaniards, Mestizos and Amerindians who sought...
through the Pastry War
Pastry War
The Pastry War was an invasion of Mexico by French forces in 1838.-Background:The war arose from the widespread civil disorder that plagued the early years of the Mexican republic. In 1828, President Manuel Gómez Pedraza ejected Lorenzo de Zavala from the office of governor of the state of México...
, the Mexican-American War, and the War of the Reform to the war against the French Intervention
French intervention in Mexico
The French intervention in Mexico , also known as The Maximilian Affair, War of the French Intervention, and The Franco-Mexican War, was an invasion of Mexico by an expeditionary force sent by the Second French Empire, supported in the beginning by the United Kingdom and the Kingdom of Spain...
. A liberal reformer, a republican and a federalist, he was the leader of a revolution in support of Benito Juárez
Benito Juárez
Benito Juárez born Benito Pablo Juárez García, was a Mexican lawyer and politician of Zapotec origin from Oaxaca who served five terms as president of Mexico: 1858–1861 as interim, 1861–1865, 1865–1867, 1867–1871 and 1871–1872...
's Plan de Ayutla
Plan of Ayutla
The Plan of Ayutla was a plan aimed at removing Antonio López de Santa Anna as dictator of Mexico. Initially drafted on February 24, 1854, by Colonel Florencio Villarreal, it was proclaimed on March 1, 1854, in Ayutla, Guerrero...
in 1854, which led to the deposing of Antonio López de Santa Anna
Antonio López de Santa Anna
Antonio de Padua María Severino López de Santa Anna y Pérez de Lebrón , often known as Santa Anna or López de Santa Anna, known as "the Napoleon of the West," was a Mexican political leader, general, and president who greatly influenced early Mexican and Spanish politics and government...
from power and the beginning of the political era in Mexico's history known as La Reforma
La Reforma
La Reforma was a period halfway through the 19th century in the history of Mexico that was characterized by liberal reforms and the transformation of Mexico into a nation state...
.
Youth
Juan Álvarez was born on 27 January, at Santa María de la Concepción de Atoyac, Mexico. He was a criollo of Spanish heritage. His father was a wealthy ranchero of GalicianGalician people
The Galicians are an ethnic group, a nationality whose historical homeland is Galicia in north-western Spain. Most Galicians are bilingual, speaking both their historic language, Galician, and Castilian Spanish.-Political and administrative divisions:...
descent. He studied in primary school in Mexico City, but returned to his native town at age 17 to receive his inheritance. He worked as a cowboy and in the fields.
The War of Independence and the First Empire
In November 1810, at the age of 20, he joined the fight for Mexican independence as a private under the command of José María Morelos y Pavón. He fought in the battles of Aguacatillo, Tres Palos, Arroyo del Moledor, Tonaltepec and La SabanaLa Sabana
La Sabana is a village and municipality in Chaco Province in northern Argentina.-References:...
, soon rising to the rank of captain. Before the year was out, he was wounded by a ball that pierced both legs, and he was given the command of the Guadalupe Regiment.
In the assault on Tixtla
Tixtla
Tixtla is a town and seat of the municipality of Tixtla de Guerrero in the Mexican state of Guerrero.The name is Nahuatl, and means either "maize dough" from textli; "our valley" from to ixtla; or "temple by the water" from teoixtlen.The municipality stands between 17°20' & 17°43' N and 99°15'...
on 15 May 1811, he was wounded again. He was now a colonel.
After the defeat of the insurgents, he continued to fight in the guerrilla campaign. When Morelos was executed in 1815, Álvarez joined the forces of Vicente Guerrero
Vicente Guerrero
Vicente Ramón Guerrero Saldaña was one of the leading revolutionary generals of the Mexican War of Independence, who fought against Spain for independence in the early 19th century, and served briefly as President of Mexico...
in the mountains of the southern part of the Intendency of México. Under the Plan de Iguala he was entrusted with taking Acapulco
Acapulco
Acapulco is a city, municipality and major sea port in the state of Guerrero on the Pacific coast of Mexico, southwest from Mexico City. Acapulco is located on a deep, semi-circular bay and has been a port since the early colonial period of Mexico’s history...
from the royalists, which he did on 15 October 1821. He was named commander of Acapulco. From that point he was one of the leaders of the insurgents, and chief in the southern region.
After independence, when Emperor Agustín de Iturbide
Agustín de Iturbide
Agustín Cosme Damián de Iturbide y Aramburu , also known as Augustine I of Mexico, was a Mexican army general who built a successful political and military coalition that was able to march into Mexico City on 27 September 1821, decisively ending the Mexican War of Independence...
's politics became intolerable, he joined with Guerrero and Anastasio Bustamante
Anastasio Bustamante
Anastasio Bustamante y Oseguera was president of Mexico three times, from 1830 to 1832, from 1837 to 1839 and from 1839 to 1841. He was a Conservative. He first came to power by leading a coup against president Vicente Guerrero...
to fight against him. He supported Guerrero during the latter's presidency, fighting on his side in five battles. He was promoted to brigadier general in 1830. When Guerrero was overthrown by his vice-president, Bustamante, he joined Álvarez in the south, where they continued to resist. Álvarez tried to prevent Guerrero's execution in 1831, but was unable to do so.
He continued to oppose Bustamante's centralism in the 1830s.
The Pastry War and the Mexican-American War
In 1838, Álvarez fought the French invaders in the Pastry WarPastry War
The Pastry War was an invasion of Mexico by French forces in 1838.-Background:The war arose from the widespread civil disorder that plagued the early years of the Mexican republic. In 1828, President Manuel Gómez Pedraza ejected Lorenzo de Zavala from the office of governor of the state of México...
. In 1841, he was promoted to general of division. In 1845, he was given the military command of Oaxaca and the Department of Acapulco. In 1847, as general in chief of the cavalry he fought at the head of a division in the defense of the capital against the invaders from the United States.
His stature and importance as a liberal leader with much regional power was one of the factors that led to the creation of the State of Guerrero in 1849. He was named its first (interim) governor, and after elections in 1850, he became its first constitutional governor. He served in that position until 1853.
On 1 March 1854 from Guerrero and seconded by Ignacio Comonfort
Ignacio Comonfort
Ignacio Gregorio Comonfort de los Ríos was a Mexican politician and military officer who served as President of Mexico....
, he proclaimed the Plan de Ayutla, a revolt against the dictatorship of Antonio López de Santa Anna
Antonio López de Santa Anna
Antonio de Padua María Severino López de Santa Anna y Pérez de Lebrón , often known as Santa Anna or López de Santa Anna, known as "the Napoleon of the West," was a Mexican political leader, general, and president who greatly influenced early Mexican and Spanish politics and government...
. Santa Anna was forced into exile in August 1855, and on 4 October 1855 in Cuernavaca
Cuernavaca
Cuernavaca is the capital and largest city of the state of Morelos in Mexico. It was established at the archeological site of Gualupita I by the Olmec, "the mother culture" of Mesoamerica, approximately 3200 years ago...
, Morelos
Morelos
Morelos officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Morelos is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 33 municipalities and its capital city is Cuernavaca....
, Álvarez was installed as interim president of the Republic.
Presidency and reforms
On 14 November 1855, Álvarez rode into Mexico City in the company of a bodyguard of Indigenous fighters from the south. His administration was short but brilliant: Ignacio Comonfort was Minister of War; Melchor OcampoMelchor Ocampo
Melchor Ocampo was a Mexican lawyer, scientist, and liberal politician.His home state was renamed Michoacán de Ocampo in his honour.-Studies:...
was foreign minister; Guillermo Prieto
Guillermo Prieto
Guillermo Prieto Pradillo was a Mexican novelist, short-story writer, poet, chronicler, journalist, essayist, patriot and Liberal politician...
was Minister of the Treasury; and Benito Juárez
Benito Juárez
Benito Juárez born Benito Pablo Juárez García, was a Mexican lawyer and politician of Zapotec origin from Oaxaca who served five terms as president of Mexico: 1858–1861 as interim, 1861–1865, 1865–1867, 1867–1871 and 1871–1872...
was Minister of Justice. In the 68 days that he governed, two measures were adopted that changed the destiny of Mexico: the convocation of a constituent congress that would write the Constitution of 1857, and the abolition of military and ecclesiastical fuero
Fuero
Fuero , Furs , Foro and Foru is a Spanish legal term and concept.The word comes from Latin forum, an open space used as market, tribunal and meeting place...
s (privileges). The latter measure was the Ley Juárez.
One of his concerns throughout his career, both military and political, was the return of lands to the Indigenous.
Urban life was foreign to Álvarez, and he did not like Mexico City. Because of his mixed ancestry, his liberalism, and his leadership of Indigenous soldiers, Mexico City was not very hospitable to Álvarez. And there was conflict in his cabinet, between supporters of Comonfort and Manuel Doblado
Manuel Doblado
Manuel Doblado Partida was a prominent Mexican liberal politician and lawyer who served as congressman, Governor of Guanajuato, Minister of Foreign Affairs in the cabinet of President Juárez and fought in the War of Reform....
. For those reasons, and for reasons of health, Álvarez soon turned over the presidency to Ignacio Comonfort, another supporter of liberal reforms. Álvarez returned to Guerrero. On his departure he said:
Pobre entré a la Presidencia y pobre salgo de ella, pero con la satisfacción que no pesa sobre mí la censura pública, porque dedicado desde mi más tierna edad al trabajo personal, se manejar el arado para sostener a mi familia, sin necesidad de los puestos públicos donde otros se enriquecen con ultraje de la orfandad y la miseria.
I entered the presidency a poor man, and a poor man I leave it, with the satisfaction that I do not bear the censure of the public because I was dedicated from an early age to personal labor, to work the plow to maintain my family, without the need for public offices where others enrich themselves by outrages to those in misery.
Álvarez continued to take an interest in politics, faithful to his liberal republican principles. He took an active part in the War of the Reform, in support of Juárez. In 1861, Congress declared him Benemérito de la Patria.
The French intervention and the Second Empire
During the French intervention that led to the arrival of Maximilian to claim the throne of the Second Mexican Empire, Álvarez, now an old man, was in command of the División del Sur. However, his son Diego was a high representative of the Empire in the Department of Acapulco. In 1862, President Juárez, who remained in the country with his government during the entire time of the Empire, ordered the republican military commanders in the east, south and southwest to take orders from Álvarez if communications were broken with Juárez. When Porfirio DíazPorfirio Díaz
José de la Cruz Porfirio Díaz Mori was a Mexican-American War volunteer and French intervention hero, an accomplished general and the President of Mexico continuously from 1876 to 1911, with the exception of a brief term in 1876 when he left Juan N...
escaped from French captivity, he joined Álvarez in the mountains of Guerrero.
In 1867, Álvarez died on 21 August, a short time after the triumph of Mexican arms over the Empire, in his hacienda La Providencia, Guerrero, Mexico. On 25 December 1922, his remains were transferred with honors to the Rotonda de los Hombres Ilustres (Rotunda of Illustrious Men) in Mexico City.
The municipalities of Atoyac de Álvarez and Chilapa de Álvarez
Chilapa de Álvarez
Chilapa de Álvarez, informally known as Chilapa, is a municipality in the Mexican state of Guerrero, approximately 54 kilometers east of state capital Chilpancingo. It is a very old town, its first official charter was issued by the Aztec government in the 15th century, after the area's conquest by...
in Guerrero
Guerrero
Guerrero officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Guerrero is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 81 municipalities and its capital city is Chilpancingo....
are named in his honor, as is the airport at Acapulco
Acapulco
Acapulco is a city, municipality and major sea port in the state of Guerrero on the Pacific coast of Mexico, southwest from Mexico City. Acapulco is located on a deep, semi-circular bay and has been a port since the early colonial period of Mexico’s history...
, Juan N. Álvarez International Airport.