Mexico, Expulsion of the Spaniards

Between 1827 and 1835 Mexico's republican governments attempted to expel all males born in Spain. At least five national laws of expulsion were implemented, in varying degrees, and often counterpart laws were enforced in the states. To remain in Mexico, a Spaniard had to gain exceptions to both national and state laws. The nativist hatred of gachupines (Spaniards) originated in the colonial experience and in the Hidalgo and Morelos revolts. Ferdinand VII had threatened reconquest. The Spaniards retained control of the fortress of San Juan de Ulúa in Veracruz harbor, thereby threatening trade. With the restoration of absolutism in Spain, San Juan de Ulúa bombarded the city of Veracruz intermittently from September 1823 until the fortress's capitulation in November 1825, fueling anti-Spanish sentiment. Mexico was forced anew to declare war on Spain. Perhaps half the Spaniards still living in Mexico had been royalist soldiers in 1821. The pro-Spanish and monarchist Arenas Conspiracy of January 1827 was found to include a number of Spaniards, thus providing the cause célèbre the nativists needed to press for the expulsion of all Spanish males. The Spaniards General Gregorio Arana and five friars were among the fourteen men executed for treason. York-rite Masonic clubs led the persecution in 1827–1829, whereas Scottish-rite Masonic lodges defended the Spaniards' civil rights. First, the empleos (employees) law of 10 May 1827 removed Spaniards from government posts. Then the expulsion law of 20 December 1827 included single men, mainly capitulados (Spanish-born expeditionary troops who capitulated to Agustín de Iturbide's army) and clergy. Together, these two laws accounted for the departure of roughly 27 percent of Mexico's more than 6,600 Spaniards. Dissatisfaction with these piecemeal remedies led to demands for "total" expulsion, which resulted in the law of 20 March 1829, targeting married men and merchants. Only incapacitating illness could gain exception. In practice congress and medical juntas granted exceptions, but 29 percent of the remaining Spaniards were expelled. Many wives worked to place spouses' names on congress's lists of exceptions. In the summer of 1929, the vanguard of a Spanish army of reconquest, led by General Isidro Barradas, landed near Tampico. The invasion became a fiasco as Mexican forces, aided by an epidemic of malaria, forced Barradas's surrender. A larger invasion force failed to embark from Cuba in 1830, when Ferdinand VII grew timid in light of the social revolt in Paris.

In 1830, President Anastasio Bustamante began to allow expulsos to land, whereupon many claimed illness. The sight of prominent returnees led to demands for "reexpulsion." Tampico rebels commenced expulsions anew in 1832. In early 1833, President Manuel Gómez Pedraza attempted to identify Spaniards possessing legitimate exceptions. A 16 January 1833 law reviving the 1829 law was aimed at unmarried illegal returnees. Fathers of families were allowed to return. Few Spaniards were expelled. Vice President/Interim President Valentín Gómez Farías perpetuated Pedraza's exceptions. Expulsos were still permitted to land and claim medical exceptions. A 7 June 1833 law declared Spaniards "nonnaturalized foreigners" and permitted the expulsion of antifederalists. The ley del caso of 23 June 1833 ordered the expulsion of all remaining Spanish clergy.

Expulsion enforcement stagnated in 1834 for lack of funds. Between May 1834 and December 1836, when Spain recognized Mexican independence, the plight of Spanish residents eased considerably. In 1834, President Antonio López de Santa Anna revoked all remaining expulsion laws, and in 1835, President José Antonio Barragán attempted reconciliation. Ferdinand VII's death and Spain's abandonment of reconquest plans helped, as did the reversion of citizenship questions from the states to the national government. By 1836, expulsos returned at will, and Spanish survivors regained the right to their old government posts.

See alsoMexico, Wars and Revolutions: War of Independence; Spanish Empire.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Harold Dana Sims: La expulsión de los españoles de México (1821–1828) (1974), Descolonización en México: El conflicto entre mexicanos y españoles (1821–1831) (1982), La reconquísta de México: La historia de los atentados españoles, 1821–1830 (1984), and The Expulsion of Mexico's Spaniards, 1821–1836 (1990).

Additional Bibliography

Levinson, Irving W. Wars Within War: Mexican Guerillas, Domestic Elites and the United States of America, 1846–1848. Fort Worth: Texas Christian University Press, 2005.

Orozco, Victor. Hidalgo o Iturbide? Un viejo dilema y su significado en la construcción del nacionalismo mexicano (1821–1867.) Mexico: UACJ, Doble Helice, 2005.

Ruiz de Gordejuela Urquijo, Jesús. La expulsión de los españoles de Mexico y su destino incierto, 1821–1836. Madrid, Spain: CSIC, 2006.

                                    Harold Dana Sims