Antonio López de Santa Anna: Encyclopedia - Antonio López de Santa Anna

Antonio López de Santa Anna

Antonio de Padua María Severino López de Santa Anna y Pérez de Lebrón (21 February 1794 – 21 June 1876) was a 19th century Mexican general and dictator. He was president of Mexico seven times between 1833 and 1855.

Antonio López de Santa Anna - Early years

Antonio López de Santa Anna was born in Xalapa to lower-middle class parents. His father (from Spain) was a minor official in the Spanish colonial bureaucracy; his mother came from France. He is called Santa Anna by many people. In his time, he was nicknamed the "Eagle".

Antonio López de Santa Anna - Military career

In 1810, the same year that Mexico declared its independence from Spain, the sixteen-year-old joined the Spanish military to the dismay of his father. His commanding officer, Jose Joaquín de Arredondo, taught him much about dealing with rebels. In 1811, Santa Anna was wounded in the arm by a Chichimeca arrow. By 1813, 18-year-old Santa Anna had risen to the rank of first lieutenant. In 1821, he switched sides and declared his loyalty to insurgent leader "El Liberator": Agustín de Iturbide. He rose to prominence by driving the Spanish forces out of the supposedly impenetrable port city of Veracruz in 1821. Iturbide rewarded him with the rank of General and appointed him Governor of Veracruz. While serving in the military under José Arredondo, Santa Anna learned how to deal brutally with enemies. In 1823, however, Santa Anna was among the military leaders supporting the Plan de Casa Mata to overthrow Iturbide and declare Mexico a Republic. Santa Anna played important roles in replacing presidents Manuel Gómez Pedraza and Vicente Guerrero as he betrayed his leader for the second time in his politically charged yet young life.

In 1829, Spain made its final attempt to retake Mexico in Tampico with a force of 2600 soldiers. Santa Anna marched against them with a much smaller force and defeated the Spaniards, many of whom were suffering from yellow fever. Santa Anna was declared a hero, which he much relished, and from then on he styled himself "The Victor of Tampico" and "The Savior of the Fatherland".

Antonio López de Santa Anna - Politics

Santa Anna declared himself retired, "unless my country needs me". He decided he was needed when Anastasio Bustamante led a coup overthrowing and killing President Vicente Guerrero. Santa Anna seized power in the confusion and then was elected President by a easily manipulated public in 1833. At first he had little interest in actually running the country, giving a free hand to his vice-president Valentín Gómez Farías, a liberal reformer.

Gómez Farías worked hard to root out corruption, which stepped on some powerful toes among the military and wealthy landowners and Catholic church. When these voiced their displeasure, Santa Anna dismissed Gómez Farías, declared the Constitution suspended, disbanded the Congress, and worked to concentrate power in the central government. This was applauded by some conservatives but met with considerable disapproval from other sectors. Several states went into open rebellion; San Luis Potosí, Querétaro, Durango, Guanajuato, Michoacán, Yucatán, Jalisco and Zacatecas. The Zacatecan militia, led by Francisco Garcia, was armed with .753 caliber British 'Brown Bess' muskets and Baker .61 rifles. After two hours of combat, on 12 May 1835, the "Army of Operations" defeated the Zacatecan militia and took almost 3,000 prisoners. Santa Anna allowed his army to ransack the city for forty-eight hours. He planned on putting down the rebellion first in Zacatecas before moving on to Coahuila y Tejas, which proved to be the worst mistake of his life.

Antonio López de Santa Anna - Texas

The Texas department of the Mexican state of Coahuila y Tejas went into rebellion in late 1835 and declared itself independent on 2 March 1836 (see Texas Revolution and Republic of Texas); Santa Anna marched north to bring the rebellious province back under his control. His forces killed all 187 Texan defenders at the Battle of the Alamo (February 23 - March 6, 1836) and executed 342 captured Texans at Goliad Massacre (March 27, 1836). Santa Anna was soon defeated by Sam Houston's soldiers at the Battle of San Jacinto (April 21, 1836) with the Texan army shouting "Remember Goliad, Remember the Alamo!" A small band of Texas forces captured Santa Anna the day after the battle on 22 April. Acting Texas president David G. Burnet and Santa Anna signed the Treaties of Velasco .."in his official character as chief of the Mexican nation, acknowledged the full, entire, and perfect Independence of the Republic of Texas." In exchange, Burnet and the Texas government guaranteed Santa Anna's life and transport to Veracruz. Before Santa Anna could leave Texas, 200 angry volunteer soldiers from the United States threatened to remove him from his boat and kill him as it was leaving the port of Velasco. Back in Mexico City, a new government declared that Santa Anna was no longer president and the treaty thus null and void.

Antonio López de Santa Anna - Later years

After some time in exile in the United States, and after meeting with US president Andrew Jackson in 1837, he was allowed to return to Mexico to retire to his hacienda.

In 1838, Santa Anna saw a chance to redeem himself when French forces invaded Mexico in the Pastry War. He engaged the French at Veracruz and was hit in the leg by a cannon ball during the skirmish. His ankle was shattered and resulted in the amputation of his leg. He ordered the limb buried with full military honors, and from then on at public events he would ride on horseback holding his wooden leg over his head as a symbol of his sacrifices for his country. Santa Anna held on to control of his troops after the French had left. He initially supported Bustamante, but then declared himself president.

Santa Anna's second rule was even more dictatorial than the first. His demands for ever greater taxes aroused ire, and several Mexican states simply stopped dealing with the central government, Yucatán and Laredo going so far as to declare themselves independent republics by 1840. In December 1844, opposition had reached the point where Santa Anna decided it was wise to accept an offer (in the interests of avoiding a civil war) to renounce all claims to the Presidency and go into exile in exchange for a generous pension. In mid-January 1845 he was captured by a group of Indians near Xico, Veracruz, and turned over to the authorities and imprisoned at Perote prison. He sailed for Venezuela on 3 June, then later Santa Anna moved to Cuba.

In 1846, the United States declared war on Mexico. Santa Anna wrote to Mexico City saying he no longer had aspirations to the presidency, but would eagerly use his military experience to fight off the foreign invasion of Mexico as he had in the past. President Gómez Farías was desperate enough to accept the offer and allowed Santa Anna to return. Meanwhile, Santa Anna had secretly been dealing with representatives of the USA, pledging that if he were allowed back in Mexico through the blockades, he would work to sell all contested territory to the United States at a reasonable price. Once back in Mexico at the head of an army, Santa Anna reneged on both of these agreements. Santa Anna declared himself president again and unsuccessfully tried to fight off the United States invasion (see Mexican-American War).

In 1851, Santa Anna went into exile in Kingston, Jamaica, and two years after moved to Turbaco, Colombia. In April 1853, he was invited back by rebellious conservatives, with whom he succeeded in retaking the government. This reign was no better than his earlier ones. He funneled government funds to his own pockets, sold more territory to the United States (see Gadsden Purchase), and declared himself dictator for life with the title "Most Serene Highness". The Ayutla Rebellion of 1854 once again removed Santa Anna from power.

Despite his generous pay-offs to the military for loyalty, by 1855 even his conservative allies had had enough of Santa Anna. That year a group of liberals led by Benito Juárez and Ignacio Comonfort overthrew Santa Anna, and he fled back to Cuba. As the extent of his corruption became known he was tried in absentia for treason and all his estates confiscated. He then lived in exile in Cuba, the United States, Colombia, and St. Thomas. During his time in New York City he is credited as bringing the first shipments of chicle, the base of chewing gum, to the United States, but he failed to profit from this since his plan was to use the chicle to replace rubber in carriage tires, which was tried without success. The American assigned to aid Santa Anna while he was in the US, James Adams, conducted experiments with the chicle and called it "Chiclets," which helped found the chewing gum industry. Santa Anna was a passionate fan of the sport of cockfighting. He would invite breeders from all over the world for matches and is known to have spent tens of thousands of dollars on prize roosters.

In 1874 he took advantage of a general amnesty and returned to Mexico. Santa Anna died two years later, on 21 June 1876, in poverty and obscurity in Mexico City. His last years were lonely and unhappy. Crippled and almost blind from cataracts, he was ignored by the Mexican government when the anniversary of the Battle of Churubusco occurred.

Antonio López de Santa Anna - Personal life

Santa Anna married Inés García and fathered five children. She died in 1844. After a month of mourning, the 50-year-old Santa Anna married 15-year-old María Dolores de Tosta and fathered several more children by her. Santa Anna is rumored to have wed the very young Melchora Barrera during his occupation of San Antonio de Béjar in 1836. He sent her back to Mexico City where he provided for her and their child.

In 1897, Santa Anna's grandson by his second marriage, Santa Anna III (1881–1965) entered the Jesuit order.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Antonio López de Santa Anna", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki