MEXICO'S FIRST EMPEROR (AGUSTIN I) WAS EXECUTED IN TAMAULIPAS NEAR SOTO LA MARINA

By Juan Montoya
I was cleaning out my files the other day and ran across an interesting article in La Revista Justicia, published in 2007 in Matamoros.
I wondered why I had kept the copy and went to the dog-eared page and foudn an article by historian Oscar Rivera Saldaña in its inside pages.

It was an apologetic article written by the Matamoros cronista detailing the execution of Mexico's first (and only) emperor Don Agustin I which took place in Soto La Marina, about 150 miles south of Matamoros.

Iturbide, who started out as a military officer with the Spanish royalist army but later  formed a coalition with the anti-monarchy insurgents including Vicente Guerrero, Nicolas Bravo, Antonio Lopez de Santa Ana and others, was a product of his times. He fought against the monarchy in Spain after it was evident no one from the royal family or the extended monarchy in Europe would come to Mexico to head its government. Instead, he had himself installed as emperor of the new nation.

His coronation was held at the Mexico City Cathedral on 21 July 1822, with his wife, Ana María, crowned empress, in an elaborate ceremony.
He is credited with designing the Mexican flag with the elements that make up its present composition.  

On attendance were the bishops of Puebla, Guadalajara, Durango, and Oaxaca, and presided over by Archbishop of Mexico Pedro José de Fonte y Hernández Miravete. Just as Napoleon did, Iturbide placed the crown upon his own head.

Wikipedia records that the "new emperor had congress decree the crown to be hereditary with the title of 'Prince of the Union'. As emperor, Iturbide had sovereignty over lands bordered by Panama in the south and the Oregon Country in the north, including the current countries of Central America and the U.S. states of California, Texas, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, Colorado, and New Mexico.

The coronation did not sit well with the congress, which he had dissolved, and Iturbide was exiled after reports of his self-enrichment and heavy-handed governance became well known and a popular revolt topled his reign.

"On 11 May 1823, the ex-emperor boarded the English ship Rawlins en route to Livorno, Italy, (then part of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany) accompanied by his wife, children, and some servants. There he rented a small country house and began to write his memoirs.

However, Spain pressured Tuscany to expel Iturbide, and the Iturbide family moved to England. Here, he published his autobiography, Statement of Some of the Principal Events in the Public Life of Agustín de Iturbide. When he was exiled, Iturbide was given a government pension, but Congress also declared him a traitor and 'outside of the law,' to be killed if he ever returned to Mexico."

 However , after a time, sycophants in Mexico convinced Iturbide that the people clamored for his return. Reports of a probable Spanish attempt to retake Mexico reached Iturbide in England and he continued to receive reports that if he returned he would be hailed as a liberator and a potential leader against a Spanish invasion.

Foolishly, Iturbide returned to Mexico on 14 July 1824 accompanied by his wife, two children, and a chaplain.

"He landed at the port of Soto la Marina on the coast of Nuevo Santander (the modern-day state of Tamaulipas). They were initially greeted enthusiastically, but soon they were arrested and escorted by General Felipe de la Garza, the local military commander, to the nearby village of Padilla.

The local legislature held a trial and sentenced Iturbide to death. When a local priest administered last rites, Iturbide supposedly said, "Mexicans! I die with honor, not as a traitor; do not leave this stain on my children and my legacy. I am not a traitor, no!

 He was executed by firing squad on 19 July 1824. Three bullets hit him, one of which delivered the fatal blow."

Iturbide was buried in Padilla, Tamaulipas and his remains lasted there until 1833 when Presdent Anastasio Bustamante had his ashes carried to Mexico City with much pomp and ceremony. His remains were placed in an urn on 27 October 1839 in the Chapel of San Felipe de Jesús in the Mexico City Cathedral where they still are.