Vicente Guerrero
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| Image:Guerrero vicente.jpg Gen. Vicente Guerrero President of Mexico | |
| Term of office | 1829 |
| – Preceded by | Guadalupe Victoria |
| – Succeeded by | José María Bocanegra |
| Date of birth | 10 August 1782 |
| Place of birth | Tixtla, Guerrero |
| Date of death | 14 February 1831 |
| Place of death | Cuilapam, Oaxaca |
| First Lady | Guadalupe Hernández de Guerrero |
| Occupation | Army General |
| Party | Popular (Yorkino) |
Vicente Ramón Guerrero Saldaña (10 August 1782 – 14 February 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 Occidental. He was from a poor Afro-mestizo (a mixture African, Spanish, & Amerindian descent) family.
He joined in the early revolt against Spain in 1810, first fighting alongside José María Morelos and 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 made him a hero among the Mexicans who would rather deposit their trust to a fellow of the same race than to any other of the Criollos supporters of the revolution like Agustín de Iturbide in the central New Spain or Simón Bolívar at the south.
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). However, soon after Iturbide proclaimed himself Emperor of Mexico and gave away most of the nation's wealth to the leaving Spaniards, Guerrero naturally turned against this treason and came out in favor of a Republic with the Plan of Casa Mata.
When the conservative Manuel Gómez Pedraza seemed set 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 counter-coup on 4 December 1829. He hoped to come back to power, but conservative General Anastasio Bustamante captured him through bribery and had him killed.
The state of Guerrero is named after him, and his birthplace was renamed Tixtla de Guerrero in his honor.
See also
External links
- Vicente Guerrero: An Inventory of His Collection at the Benson Latin American Collection
- Alfredo Ávila: Vicente Guerrero, un presidente republicano (PDF document in Spanish)
- Vicente Guerrero on Mexconnect.com
- Guerrero on gob.mex/kids
- Guerrero on Creole Culture site
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