In every Mexican town, many of the streets bear the names of national heroes. It is unlikely, that there is a town of any size, which has not honored Benito Juarez, Miguel Hidalgo y Castillo or Juan Morelos. The streets of Ajijic follow this national pattern. Generally, the names chosen reflect three significant periods of Mexican history: the War of Independence, the War of Reform, and the Revolution. In the village, only two of the streets named for actual people fall outside of these traditional parameters. The main street of the village honors Christopher Columbus, and another is named for Juan Manuel, a medieval Spanish writer.
In Ajijic, virtually every street has been christened with two names. The east/west streets change their names at Colon, where, for example, 16 de septiembre changes to Independencia. The north/south streets change their names at Constitución, and thus the other half of Juan Manuel is named after Juan Álvarez, who was briefly President of Mexico. The names of the honored national heroes reflect nearly 200 years of Mexican history. Many of their lives make for fascinating stories, like the quixotic Javier Mina, a Spanish soldier who led a rebel band in the fight for Mexican independence, or the remarkable Marcello Castellaños, a local priest who, well into his 60s, inspired the heroic resistance on the Island of Mezcala in Lake Chapala.
In the US, our honored heroes tend to be quite conventional: Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln. Here, there is much greater diversity, from Melchor Ocampo who was the intellectual spirit behind the Laws of Reform, which redefined the role of the Catholic Church, to Poncho Villa, a known outlaw who distinguished himself as a military leader during the Revolution, or Ricardo Magón, an anarchist labor leader who spent the years of the Revolution imprisoned in Leavenworth. To understand the history that these names represent is to understand something of the history of this proud country. To gain some insight into the lives of the honored men who is also, perhaps, to gain some insight into Mexican culture and values.
HEROES OF THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE
Mexico's struggle against Spanish rule, which eventually resulted in independence, lasted from 1810 to 1821. The "war" was an episodic one, fought by a series of guerilla movements around the country. Its course was as much influenced by Spanish politics, as that country fell into serious decline, as the battles on the ground. The long war's end was finally precipitated by the defection of one of the Spanish army's leading generals, who had decided that his future lay in becoming Emperor of Mexico. Liberal ideas of equality had found their way here. Bishop Manuel Abad y Queipo of Michoacan, who ironically became one of the insurgency's strongest enemies, had taxed the Spanish government with the need for greater equality for all the citizens of New Spain, and had even suggested a need for a more equitable, and economically beneficial distribution of land. Many of his views were reiterated and expanded upon by Juan Morelos, who perhaps the most impressive of all the insurgency leaders. Inextricably mixed with such beliefs, however, was also a strong interest in preserving the position and privileges of the Catholic Church, which Morelos and many others believed had been seriously threatened, by the post-Napoleonic, Bourbon government of Spain. As for the criollos, like Allende and Aldama, there was another interest, which was to redefine their role as Spaniards born in Mexico. Spaniards born in Spain held virtually all positions of power and authority, in the colonial era. It was those privileges to which the criollos aspired.
Las Calles M. Hidalgo and Juan Aldama
In 1810, a plan to challenge Spanish rule was formulated by three members of the Querétaro Literary Club: Miguel Hidalgo y Castillo, a well born Catholic priest, who had been exiled to the tiny Bajio community of Dolores, Ignacio Allende, a criollo from San Miguel (now San Miguel de Allende), and Juan Aldama, an officer in the Spanish army. When their plot was discovered prematurely, in September of 1810, Allende and Aldama fled to Dolores. They wanted to go into hiding, but Hidalgo insisted that they go forward with their plans. On the morning of September 16, he rang the bell of his tiny parish church and called together his congregation. He did not speak to them in the language of the Querétaro Literary Club or Allende and Aldama. Instead, he urged them to demand freedom from the oppression with which they were all too familiar. El Grito, read in every Mexico town on the evening of September 15, commemorates Hidalgo's call.
In response to his plea, Hidalgo suddenly found himself at the head of a large peasant mob, whose immediate objective was retribution. Hidalgo led them first to San Miguel, where they looted the city, much to the outrage of Allende. After dealing with Celaya in a similar fashion, they descended on Guanajuato, a wealthy Spanish mining town at the northern edge of the Bajio. Hidalgo's "army," which had grown quickly, ransacked the city, killing Spanish and criollo residents alike. Many of those residents sought refuge in the town's most secure building, the Alhóndiga de Granaditas. Hidalgo's mob set fire to the building, and then stormed the interior, killing those trapped inside.
Inevitably, what happened in Guanajuato cost Hidalgo the sympathy of his fellow criollos. Whatever interest they may have had in promoting liberal ideas or redefining their social and political role in Mexico, most did not support his peasant uprising. Only the poor continued to flock to his cause. By October, he and his supporters controlled Valladolid (Morelia), and ousted Spanish authorities in Guadalajara, San Luis Potosi, Saltillo and Zacatecas. Hidalgo then moved toward Mexico City, but here he hesitated and his hesitation led not to victory, but to rapid defeat. Instead of attacking the capital, Hidalgo retreated, and was soundly defeated by the royalist army at Aculco, near Toluca. Hidalgo fled to Guadalajara, but although the city was still in rebel hands, its conservative, Catholic criollos offered no support to his movement
In January 1811, Hidalgo faced the royalist army at the Bridge of Calderon, outside of Guadalajara. Hidalgo was defeated and Aldama, Allende and Hidalgo fled north. They were captured at the Wells of Bajan near Monclova and were then taken to Chihuahua. Aldama and Allende were convicted and executed. Later, Hidalgo, after trial by an ecclesiastical court, was executed. In a final admonitory act, the Spanish placed the heads of Hidalgo, Allende and Aldama in iron cages outside the Alhóndiga de Granaditas in Guanajuato. They remained there for 10 years.
Las Calles Jose Morelos, H. Galeana, Nicolás Bravo and Guadalupe Victoria
After the death of Hidalgo, the focus of the insurgency shifted to Michoacan and Guerrero. Jose Maria Morelos, who had been taught by Hidalgo, was a Catholic priest, but unlike Hidalgo, he was a mestizo from a poor family in Michoacán. In 1810, Hidalgo had asked him to lead the insurgency in the south. In support of this effort, he was given few men, and no arms. Undaunted, Morelos slowly built his own well-trained army and eventually his forces controlled much of south central Mexico. Perhaps Morelos' most trusted general was Hermenegildo Galeana, a fellow mestizo. Another of his officers was Guadalupe Victoria, which was the nom de guerre adopted by Félix Fernández in honor of the Virgin of Guadalupe. Fighting with Galeana, on behalf of Morelos, was Nicolas Bravo, a wealthy criollo.
Morelos sought to formalize the rebel effort, by drafting a constitution and, for the first time declaring independence from Spain. He brought together a group of lawyers in Chilipancingo in 1813. A declaration of independence was issued, and work begun on a constitution for the would-be new republic. When the Spanish forces regained control of Chilipancingo, Galeana was captured and beheaded. Morelos fled to Valladolid. The lawyers became camp followers, moving as the rebel army moved, debating under the trees, while Morelos fought the Spanish. In December 1815, when Morelos tried to move his disparate group to greater safety in Puebla, he was captured and executed. Nicolás Bravo was captured, and in 1816 and imprisoned, in shackles, for four years.
In 1824, Mexico finally adopted its first constitution. Guadalupe Victoria was elected its first president and Nicolas Bravo became his vice president. Although the two men later had a falling out, and Bravo was forced into exile, he returned to Mexico in 1829. During the war with the United States in 1846-48, Bravo commanded Mexican forces in Puebla and south of Mexico City. He died in 1854 at his home in Chilipancingo.
Las Calles M. Castellaños and J. Encarnación Rosas
While war waged in the south, local heroes from Lake Chapala waged an heroic four year struggle against the Spanish, from the Island of Mezcala. Between 1812 and 1816, insurgent forces, drawn from the communities around the lake, held the island and were able to effectively harass the resident Spanish army. Marcos Castellaños, a Catholic priest, was the inspirational force behind this disparate resistance effort; Juan Encarnación Rosas, who had successfully defeated Spanish forces at the town of Mezcala and Poncitlan, was one of its early organizers. In November 1816, after being ravaged by illness, the army of Mezcala was able to negotiate a unique peace agreement with the Spanish. In a struggle where every defeat was marked by fierce retaliation, the battle of Meszcala ended with a peaceful surrender. Perhaps in recognition of their heroic efforts, the Spanish allotted each of the insurgents, food and allowed them to return to their homes. Castellaños later served as parish priest in Ajijic. He died in Jocotepec in 1826.
Las Calles Javier Mina and Pedro Moreno
Javier Mina was one of the more intriguing participants in the War for Independence. He was neither mestizo nor criollo, but a Spaniard and a soldier in the Spanish army. He fought against Napoleon's army when it invaded Spain and in 1814, fearing the return of Ferdinand VII, an arch reactionary, to the Spanish throne, he fled Spain and eventually made his way to the United States. Mina was sympathetic to the Mexican independence effort and, somewhat improbably, he decided to organize his own invasion force, and sail to Mexico. He landed with his small band near Tampico in April 1817. Initially, he had some success against the Spanish and he made his way to Fort Sombrero, near Leon, where he joined forces with Pedro Moreno. Together they tried to capture Leon, but they were unsuccessful; however, for several months they were able to harass Spanish troops in the Leon-Silao area. In October 1817, he and Moreno were caught between two royalist armies at Hacienda de la Caja, between San Luis Potosi and Guanajuato. They escaped to a ranch called Venadito where Moreno was killed and Mina was captured. Mina was executed the next day. He was 29 years old. Although Mina received a skeptical reception in Mexico, because of his Spanish origin, his body was later buried, with those of other heroes, in Mexico City.
The War of Independence finally ended in 1821. Augustin de Iturbide, who had fought on the royalist side, decided to form an alliance with the rebel forces under Vincente Guerrero, as a first step toward his own personal aim, of becoming Emperor of Mexico. Wise to the weaknesses of the Spanish army, he subverted the officer corps by promising instant promotions to young criollo officers, and he entered into a pact with Guerrero called the Iguala Plan. Signed on February 24, 1821, the plan formally declared independence from Spain. Through Iturbide's efforts, the Spanish army began to desert en masse. The Spanish viceroy, Juan O'Donojú recognized Mexico as an independent country in the summer of 1821 and on September 27 Iturbide took control of Mexico City. There he issued a proclamation, which sadly presaged much of Mexico's future history. "Mexicans, now you have liberty and independence. It is for you to find happiness."
