Vicente Guerrero
Vicente Guerrero (10 August 1782 – 14 February 1831) was one of the leaders of the struggle in Mexico for independence from Spain and an early President of Mexico.Vicente Ramón Guerrero Saldaña was born in the small village of Tixtla, not far from the city of Acapulco, now in the Mexican state of Guerrero, then part of New Spain. He was from a poor Mestizo family.
He joined in the early revolt against Spain in 1810, fighting with José María Morelos, and then taking over Morelos' command after Morelos' death. His valient resistance of the Spanish armies made him a hero among Mexicans.
Once Mexico achieved independence he first he collaborated with Agustín de Iturbide, but after Iturbide was declared Emperor came out in favor of a Republic with the Plan of Casa Mata.
When the conservative Manuel Gómez Pedraza seemed set to succeed Guadalupe Victoria as president of Mexico, Guerrero, with the aid of General Antonio López de Santa Anna, staged a coup and took the presidency on 1 April, 1829. (The violent nature of the coup displeased some Latin American liberals of the time who otherwise sympathised with Guerrero's goals, and his actions were condemned by Simón Bolívar.) The most notable achievement of Guerrero's short term as president was tordering an immediate abolition of slavery and emancipation of all slaves.
Guerrero was deposed in a counter coup on 4 December, 1829. He hoped to come back to power, but conservative General Anastasio Bustamente captured him through bribery and had him killed.
The Mexican state of Guerrero is named after Vicente Guerrero.
