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LATIN AMERICA after INDEPENDENCE (5 of 5)

In the presidential contest of 1829, Vicente Guerrero (the former revolutionary then military general and vice president under Victoria) ran against Manuel Gómez Pedraza, a conservative scholar who had been Foreign Minister and Minister of War under President Victoria. Guerrero won the most votes cast by eligible voters, but Mexico's House of Representatives elected Pedraza. Guerrero claimed that he had been cheated, and rather than letting Mexico's judiciary decide the issue in accordance with the Constitution, Santa Anna intervened on the side of Guerrero, while cries of "Viva Guerrero" were frightening property owners. Armies fought skirmishes. Santa Anna and Guerrero won. Pedraza withdrew, Guerrero was elected president, and Santa Anna was rewarded. He became both a general and the governor of Veracruz, a warlord of sorts, demanding contributions from men of wealth and demanding a list of those who had not contributed -- which increased contributions dramatically. And Santa Anna's estate in Veracruz grew to thirty-five miles along the gulf coast.

Since 1823 Ferdinand VII had been back in power in Spain again, and his ministers were watching the instability in Mexico and believed that the time was ripe to reconquer Mexico. On July 6, 1829, a Spanish force sailed from what was still Spain's colony, Cuba -- during the yellow fever season on Mexico's gulf coast. A force of 2,600 landed on the gulf coast. President Guerrero gave Santa Anna the job of defending Mexico from the Spanish invasion, and, in August, Congress gave Guerrero emergency dictatorial powers. In September, Santa Anna, not a talented tactician, defeated the invaders. The Spaniards had lost 908 men, mostly to disease. The Mexicans lost 135 dead and 151 wounded. The invaders were permitted to sail back to Cuba. And Santa Anna was elevated higher in the eyes of the average Mexican. Like other peoples -- Germans, Russians and people in the United States -- Mexicans appreciated heroes. Congress bestowed upon Santa Anna the title of "Benefactor of the Nation" and in Veracruz were celebrations and church services of praise (Te Deums).

Liberals, meanwhile, had assuaged conservatives by giving the vice presidency to one of them: Anastasio Bustamante. Following the defeat of the Spanish, Guerrero refused to surrender his dictatorial powers. Conservatives moved against Guerrero. In December, Guerrero responded with a decree to put himself in command of an army to suppress the insurrection against him. The conservatives held that Guerrero was in violation of the constitution, and, in February, Congress declared President Guerrero unfit for office and voted for Bustamante to replace him. Guerrero, former popular revolutionary leader with a public following, took up arms against the Bustamante government. In January 1831, Guerrero was captured, and he was shot to death on February 14.