Juan Álvarez

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Juan Álvarez
President of Mexico
In office October 4, 1855 – December 11, 1855
Preceded by	Rómulo Díaz de la Vega
Succeeded by	Ignacio Comonfort
Born	January 27, 1790 Atoyac, Guerrero
Died	August 21, 1867 La Providencia, Guerrero
Political party	Liberal

Juan N. Álvarez Benítez (January 27, 1790, Atoyac, Guerrero, Mexico—August 21, 1867, La Providencia, Guerrero) 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 Juarez'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.

Contents 1 Youth 2 The War of Independence and the First Empire 3 The Pastry War and the Mexican-American War 4 His presidency and reforms 5 The French intervention and the Second Empire 6 References 7 See also 8 External links

[edit] Youth

Álvarez was born in 1790 at Santa María de la Concepción de Atoyac, now in the state of Guerrero, but then in the Intendency of Puebla. He was of mixed Indigenous and African heritage. His parents were rancheros of good economic standing. 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.

[edit] 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 Sabana, 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 May 15, 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 October 15, 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.

[edit] The Pastry War and the Mexican-American War

Álvarez fought the French invaders in the Pastry War in 1838. 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 March 1, 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 October 4, 1855 in Cuernavaca, Morelos, Álvarez was installed as interim president of the Republic.

[edit] His presidency and reforms

On November 14, 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 Ocampo 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 fueros (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:

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.

[edit] 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 Díaz escaped from French captivity, he joined Álvarez in the mountains of Guerrero.

Álvarez died in 1867, a short time after the triumph of Mexican arms over the Empire, in his hacienda La Providencia, in Guerrero. On December 25, 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.

[edit] References

• (Spanish) García Puron, Manuel, México y sus gobernantes, v. 2. Mexico City: Joaquín Porrúa, 1984.
• (Spanish) Orozco Linares, Fernando, Gobernantes de México. Mexico City: Panorama Editorial, 1985, ISBN 968-38-0260-5.

[edit] See also

• Reform War
• 1857 Constitution of Mexico

[edit] External links

• (Spanish) Some biographical details

Preceded by Rómulo Díaz de la Vega

Interim President of Mexico 1855

Succeeded by Ignacio Comonfort