Vicente Guerrero

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Vicente Guerrero
2nd President of Mexico
In office April 1, 1829 – December 17, 1829
Vice President(s)	Anastasio Bustamante
Preceded by	Guadalupe Victoria
Succeeded by	José María Bocanegra
Born	August 10, 1782 Tixtla, Guerrero
Died	February 14, 1831 Cuilapam, Oaxaca
Political party	Popular
Spouse	Guadalupe Hernández

Vicente Ramón Guerrero Saldaña (August 10, 1782 – February 14, 1831) was one of the leaders of Mexico's struggle for independence from Spain and an early President of Mexico. He was born in the town of Tixtla, some 100 km inland from the port of Acapulco, in the Sierra Madre del Sur. He was from a poor zambo (mixed Amerindian, Spanish, and African descent) family. (See historian William Loren Katz.)

He joined in the early revolt against Spain in 1810, first fighting alongside José María Morelos and later with Isidoro Montes de Oca (a Mexican General of Filipino origin) then taking command over those troops after Morelos's death. The valiant resistance he displayed against the Spanish armies and the fact that he himself was a Mestizo of Indian, Spanish, and African descent made him a hero among Mexicans who would rather place their trust in a fellow of the same "race" than in other "white" Criollo revolutionaries such as Agustín de Iturbide or Simón Bolívar.

Once Mexico achieved independence, he at first collaborated with Agustín de Iturbide (he even accepted his Grand Cross of the Order of Guadalupe and the rank of General in his Imperial Army). After Iturbide was proclaimed Emperor of Mexico by the Congress, Guerrero later turned against him and came out in favor of a Republic with the Plan of Casa Mata.

When the conservative Manuel Gómez Pedraza won the election to succeed Guadalupe Victoria as president of Mexico, Guerrero, with the aid of General Antonio López de Santa Anna, staged a coup and took the presidency on 1 April 1829. (The violent nature of the coup displeased some Latin American liberals of the time who otherwise sympathised with Guerrero's goals, and his actions were condemned by Simón Bolívar.) The most notable achievement of Guerrero's short term as president was ordering an immediate abolition of slavery and emancipation of all slaves.

Guerrero was deposed in a rebellion under Vice-President Anastasio Bustamante that began on December 4, 1829. He left the capital to fight the rebels, but was deposed by the Mexico City garrison in his absence on December 17, 1829. He hoped to come back to power, but conservative General Bustamante captured him through bribery and had him executed.

The state of Guerrero is named after him, and his birthplace was renamed Tixtla de Guerrero in his honor.

[edit] See also

• History of Mexico
• List of Presidents of Mexico

[edit] External links

• Vicente Guerrero: An Inventory of His Collection at the Benson Latin American Collection
• (Spanish) Alfredo Ávila: Vicente Guerrero, un presidente republicano
• Vicente Guerrero on Mexconnect.com
• Guerrero on gob.mex/kids
• Guerrero on Creole Culture site
• Letters about Vicente Guerrero hosted by the Portal to Texas History.
• The Majestic Life of President Vicente Ramón Guerrero by William Loren Katz
• The Legacy of Vicente Guerrero, Mexico's First Black Indian President by Theodore G. Vincent

Preceded by Guadalupe Victoria

President of Mexico 1829

Succeeded by José María Bocanegra