| Félix María Zuloaga. | |
|---|---|
| President of Mexico by the Plan de Tacubaya |
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| In office 11 January 1858 – 24 December 1858[1] |
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| Succeeded by | Manuel Robles Pezuela |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 31 March 1813 Álamos, Sonora[2] |
| Died | 11 February 1898 (aged 84) Mexico City[2] |
| Nationality | Mexican |
| Political party | Conservative |
Félix María Zuloaga Trillo (31 March 1813 – 11 February 1898) was a Mexican general and a Conservative leader in the War of Reform. In the late 1850s and early 1860s, Zuloaga served as unconstitutional interim conservative president of Mexico (in opposition to the constitutional president, Benito Juárez of the Liberal Party).
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Zuloaga was born in Álamos, Sonora. He attended primary school in Chihuahua before entering a seminary in Mexico City, which he left. He returned to Chihuahua, enlisting in the civil militia in 1834. He participated in campaigns against the Apaches and Comanches.
He returned to the capital in 1838 and entered the army as a second lieutenant of engineers. He took part in the Pastry War against the French (1838) and the War of Texas Independence. Initially a liberal in politics, in 1840 he defended the government of President Anastasio Bustamante (who had both liberal and conservative connections). The following year he was allied with Antonio López de Santa Anna. He fought the separatists in Yucatán and directed the fortifications at Monterrey. During the war with the United States he was mayor of Chihuahua.
He rejoined the army, and in 1838 was named president of the Council of War of the garrison of Mexico City. In 1854 he fought against the liberals supporting the Plan de Ayutla, and was taken prisoner. He was now a brigadier. In 1855 he was a representative of Chihuahua in the Junta of Representatives of the States that met in Cuernavaca.
Zuloaga fought against the conservatives in two campaigns in Puebla, but on December 17, 1857 he came out against the newly proclaimed constitution and joined in a coup d'état staged by a junta of generals and leading Catholic clergy. Two days later, the wavering moderate President Ignacio Comonfort accepted the reactionary Plan de Tacubaya, thus abandoning the Constitution of 1857. Various liberals protested, including Benito Juárez, the president of the Supreme Court and constitutional vice president, next in line to succeed to the presidency, but they were arrested and imprisoned.
The leaders of the junta became uneasy after President Comonfort announced he was assuming extraordinary powers for himself. On January 11, 1858, General Zuloaga demanded the president's resignation (although Comonfort and Zuloaga had been friends). Comonfort resisted for ten days, and during that time he freed Juárez and the other liberals who had been jailed. Upon Comonfort's ouster, Juárez assumed the presidency in accordance with the constitution, but Zuloaga was in military command of the capital, and Juárez left to establish his government in Guanajuato. This was the beginning of the War of the Reform. Comonfort left the country, repudiated by all parties.
Zuloaga was selected by the backers of the anti-constitutional junta, conservative generals and Catholic clergy, to serve as interim president of Mexico on (January 21, 1858). He held this position until December 24, 1858, when he was deposed by General Manuel Robles Pezuela (as a substitute for General Miguel Miramón, who was on campaign), under the Plan de Navidad. Robles Pezuela held the presidency until January 21, 1859, and, on January 24, Zuloaga returned to office. (José Mariano Salas also claimed the conservative presidency briefly.) Zuloaga's second term lasted until February 1, 1859, and he was replaced by Miramón.
On May 9, 1860, Zuloaga issued a proclamation reclaiming the presidency, but the following day Miramón had him arrested. Miramón was reported to have told Zuloaga upon his arrest, "I will teach you how to win the presidency." Zuloaga escaped from León, Guanajuato, on August 3, 1860, and marched to Mexico City. However the Governing Council (conservative junta) there refused to recognize him as president.
He was president again for two years (from December 28, 1860 to December 28, 1862), but in name only, because he spent this time on campaign.
Upon the triumph of the liberals in the War of the Reform, Zuloaga was declared an outlaw because of his responsibility for the execution of Melchor Ocampo. Zuloaga tried to ally himself with the French during the Second Empire, but without success. In 1865 he was exiled to Cuba. He returned to Mexico years later, after the death of Juárez. He did not reenter politics, but became a tobacco merchant. He died in Mexico City in 1898.