PRESIDENTE
DESCONOCIDO: MEXICO'S UNKNOWN FIRST PRESIDENT
GUADALUPE VICTORIA
(1786-1843) By
Jim Tuck
History has rarely furnished a more striking example of
high-profile-low-profile than that of the first presidents of the United States
and Mexico. George Washington was and is the quintessential household word --
Father of his Country, leader of the Continental armies during the Revolutionary
War and two-time president whose name is every bit as much a legend today as it
was in his lifetime.
And Guadalupe Victoria? In the first place, it wasn't even his name.
Christened Manuel Felix Fernández, he took the name Guadalupe Victoria for its
symbolic value -- "Victoria" for "victory" and "Guadalupe" from the name of
Mexico's patron saint.
Guadalupe Victoria -- and we'll call him that from now on -- was born in 1786
in Tamazula, Durango. Though little is known about his origins and early life,
he was teaching school at the time the Independence War began. Serving under
José Maria Morelos, he took part in the attack on Oaxaca on November 25, 1812.
In 1814, on orders from the Chilpancingo Congress that declared Mexico's
independence, heassumed the leadership of the rebel movement in Veracruz. He
seized several royalist convoys but after being defeated at Palmillas in 1817 he
was forced to go into hiding. His hiding place was the Paseo de Ovejas hacienda
in the state of Veracruz.
Victoria reappeared in April 1821, two months after Agustin de Iturbide and
Vicente Guerrero had issued the Plan de Iguala that called for Mexico to become
an independent constitutional monarchy. Expressing republican views, he urged
that Mexico be led by a revolutionary leader who would serve as president rather
than by a king or emperor. This greatly displeased Iturbide, who stripped
Victoria of his command and put him in prison. Victoria escaped and took command
of the forces in Veracruz rebelling against Iturbide's imperial rule.
When Iturbide was forced to abdicate, Victoria arranged his passage into
exile on the British frigate H.M.S. Rowlins. Though Mexico was now independent,
a Spanish garrison remained at the Fort of San Juan de Ulua in Veracruz harbor.
When the garrison opened fire on the port, Victoria organized resistance and
then negotiated an armistice so that the soldiers in the garrison could be sent
back to Spain.
After Iturbide's fall, Victoria, Nicolás Bravo and Pedro Celestino Negrete
formed a triumvirate that held temporary executive power until October 1824,
when Victoria took office as Mexico's first president.
Victoria's main distinction as president was that of being the only chief
executive in the first fifty years of Mexico's history to serve out his full
term. But he was hampered by severe financial problems. His expenses averaged
eighteen million pesos annually but he was only collecting half that amount in
revenues.
So Victoria was forced to seek foreign aid -- in this case from Britain. The
19th century was a high noon of British imperialism, both military and economic.
While British troops were marching through China and India, diplomatic envoys in
Latin America were instructed to seek favorable trade pacts backed by loans.
The key figure in these negotiations was H. G. Hart, a competent diplomat who
served as British chargé d'affaires in Mexico. Knowing how hard-pressed Victoria
was (the Army alone accounted for twelve million pesos of the budget), Hart
persuaded him to accept two loans, each of over three million pounds. These
loans, negotiated through such banking houses as Barclay and Goldschmidt,
averted bankruptcy and contributed toward social peace, factors that undoubtedly
enabled Victoria to serve out his full term. At the same time, they turned
Mexico into an economic satellite of the British empire.
Despite these financial problems, there were some highly positive aspects to
Victoria's administration. Two of the first president's most positive
achievements were establishment of the National Treasury and abolition of
slavery. In addition, he improved education, accorded amnesty to political
prisoners, laid plans for a canal in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, opened new
ports for shipping, began construction on the National Museum, garrisoned
Yucatan to thwart a contemplated Cuba-based Spanish invasion and unmasked a
conspiracy led by a monk named Joaquin Arenas to restore Spanish rule.
During Victoria's reign there was a political struggle that was remarkably
similar to that waged in the American colonies between supporters of
independence and Tories, or, as they preferred to be called, Loyalists. Such
large cities as New York and Philadelphia were hotbeds of Tory intrigue and it
will be recalled that Benedict Arnold's treason was partly fueled by his
marriage to Peggy Shippen, a beautiful young girl from a Loyalist family. The
same situation prevailed in Mexico and independence-minded Mexicans were
continually accusing rightists of subversive activity aimed toward restoration
of Spanish rule. In some cases (notably that of the Arenas conspiracy) these
suspicions were justified but in other cases they were not. The able
conservative
Lucas
Alamán was forced out of Victoria's cabinet in 1825 because he was
considered too friendly toward Spain. Though Alamán did not favor a return to
Spanish rule, he was friendly to the idea of a Mexican monarchy ruled by a
European prince. Stung by suggestions that they were disloyal, the conservatives
shot back that Victoria and other liberals were under the thumb of the American
minister Joel Poinsett, a Protestant and York rite Mason.
Victoria was only forty-two when he finished his term of office. But years of
strenuous military campaigning and political activity had taken their toll.
Withdrawing from public life, he retired to his estate at El Jobo, on the coast
of Veracruz. There he died in 1843, at the age of fifty-seven.