Anastasio Bustamante

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Anastasio Bustamante y Oseguera

Anastasio Bustamante y Oseguera (born July 27, 1780 in Jiquilpan de Juárez , Michoacán , † February 6, 1853 in San Miguel de Allende , Querétaro ) was President of Mexico three times : from 1830 to 1832, from 1837 to 1839 and from 1839 to 1841 . He was a conservative. The first time he came to power through a coup d'état he led against President Vicente Guerrero . Bustamante was deposed twice and then went into exile in Europe.

Life

Youth and education

The work of his father, José María, was to move snow from the Colima volcanoes to Guadalajara . Nevertheless, he was able to give his son a good education. At the age of 15, Anastasio Bustamante entered the Guadalajara seminary. After completing his education, he went to Mexico City to study medicine. After passing his final exam, he moved to San Luis Potosí and worked there as director of the San Juán de Diós hospital.

In 1808 he joined the royal army as a cavalry officer and served under the command of Félix María Calleja . When General Calleja mobilized the army in 1810 to fight the rebels under Miguel Hidalgo , Bustamante was involved in all actions of the central army on the side of the royalists. During the War of Independence he was promoted to colonel.

The first empire

On March 19, 1821, Bustamante proclaimed independence from Spain in Pantoja, Guanajuato . With this he supported his friend Agustín de Iturbide . A few days later, he removed the severed heads of the leaders of the 1810 uprising from the corners of the Alhóndiga de Granaditas in Guanajuato and had them buried in the San Sebastián cemetery.

Iturbide appointed him commander of the cavalry, second in command of the Central Army and a member of the ruling junta. On September 28, 1821 he was appointed Field Marshal and General of the Provincias Internas de Oriente y Occidente. He fought and defeated a Spanish expeditionary force near Xichu .

When the empire established by Iturbide collapsed in 1823, he sided with the federalists, for which he was arrested and imprisoned in Acapulco. But President Guadalupe Victoria then returned him to command of the Provincias Internas.

President of the Republic

First term

Under the Plan de Perote , Bustamante was elected Vice President of the Republic under President Vicente Guerrero by the Congress in December 1828 . He took office on April 1, 1829, but quickly fell out with Guerrero. According to the Plan de Jalapa , he rose against the incumbent president on December 4, 1829 and expelled him from the capital. On January 1, 1830, he temporarily took over the presidency. The Congress then declared Guerrero "incapable of running the government".

As soon as he was in office, Bustamante fired all government employees who did not have the confidence of "public opinion". He set up a secret police and took steps to suppress the press. In this process he exiled some of his competitors and expelled the US ambassador Joel Poinsett from the country. He was also involved in the kidnapping and execution of his predecessor Guerrero. He also supported industry and the clergy.

These and other measures, however, aroused resistance, particularly in the states of Jalisco, Zacatecas and Texas. In 1832 a revolt broke out in Veracruz . The rebels asked Antonio López de Santa Anna to take command. When their first demands were met (the resignation of some Bustamante ministers), they also called for the president to resign. They intended to replace him with Manuel Gómez Pedraza , whose election was canceled in 1828.

Bustamante handed over the presidency to Melchor Múzquiz on August 14, 1832 and left the capital to fight the rebels. He beat her on August 14 at Gallinero, Dolores Hidalgo , Guanajuato, and returned to fight Santa Anna, who was nearing Puebla . After two more battles, the three candidates Bustamante, Santa Anna and Gómez Pedraza signed the Zavaleta Treaties (December 21-23), which said that Gómez Pedraza would become president and hold new elections. It was also agreed that Bustamante should go into exile, which he did in 1833.

Second term

During his exile in France, he attended military and medical institutions and continued his education. In December 1836 he was recalled by President José Justo Corro to fight in the Texan War of Independence . But as soon as he was back in the country, Congress proclaimed him president on April 17, 1837.

With the state treasury empty and the army exhausted after a series of uprisings, Bustamante's options for dealing with the crisis militarily were limited. France issued an ultimatum on March 21, 1838 and began to blockade the ports on the Gulf of Mexico on April 16. On November 27, France declared war (the Cake War ), bombed San Juan de Ulúa, and finally occupied Veracruz on December 5 .

At around the same time, Guatemalan General Miguel Gutiérrez occupied the Mexican state of Chiapas . Bustamante temporarily suspended his office as president (from March 20 to July 18, 1839) in order to fight the rebels around General José Urrea in Tamaulipas . In his absence, Santa Anna and Nicolás Bravo served as presidents.

Third term

Bustamante became president again on July 9, 1839 and remained in office until September 22, 1841. During this tenure, diplomatic relations were established with Spain, the border between Yucatán and Belize was established, treaties with Belgium and Bavaria were signed and diplomatic relations with the United States were resumed.

On July 15, 1840, General Urrea escaped from prison and led a force against Bustamante in the National Palace. At first Bustamante resisted, but on the 16th he had to flee, accompanied by 28 dragoons. During this siege, the southeast corner of the palace was destroyed by artillery. However, Bustamante did not give up his presidency.

At the same time, an uprising broke out in the Yucatan and Mexico recognized independence from Texas.

In August 1841, Santa Anna and Paredes, the military commanders of Veracruz and Jalisco, began a new rebellion against Bustamante. On September 2, he handed over the government to Francisco Javier Echeverría . But Echeverría only lasted until October 10, when Santa Anna took over the presidency again.

Next life

Bustamante went into exile in Europe again, this time in Italy. In 1845 he returned to Mexico to offer his assistance in the crisis with the United States. In 1846 he became President of Congress. In the same year he was appointed general of the expeditionary force that was supposed to defend California against the United States, but due to lack of resources he was unable to reach California. In 1848 he suppressed uprisings in Guanajuato and Aguascalientes.

He spent the rest of his life in San Miguel de Allende, where he died in 1853 at the age of 72. His heart was brought to the Chapel of San Felipe de Jesús in Mexico City, next to the ashes of Emperor Iturbide.

literature

• Bustamante, Anastasio. In: José Rogelio Alvarez (ed.): Enciclopedia de México. Volume 2: Arriaga - Campeche. 3a edición revisada. Enciclopedia de México, Mexico City 1996, ISBN 1-56409-016-7 .
• Manuel García Puron: México y sus gobernantes. Biographies. Volume 2: México independiente. Edición actualizada for Salvador Rivero y Martínez. Joaquín Porrua, Mexico City 1984.
• Fernando Orozco Linares: Gobernantes de México. Desde la época prehispánica hasta nuestros días. Panorama Editorial, Mexico City 1985, ISBN 968-38-0133-1 .

Web links

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