Ruíz de Apodaca, Juan, Conde de Venadito (1754–1835)

Juan Ruíz de Apodaca, Conde de Venadito, (b. 3 February 1754; d. 11 January 1835), viceroy of New Spain (1816–1821). Born in Cádiz, Apodaca joined the Spanish navy in 1767 and distinguished himself during wartime service against Great Britain and France. When France invaded Spain in 1808, Apodaca commanded a squadron of five warships. During the government of the Junta Central, he served in London as the Spanish plenipotentiary until 1811, then returned to Cádiz. In 1812, he was appointed captain-general of Cuba, a post he held with success until 1816.

Named viceroy of New Spain in 1816, Apodaca renewed and expanded amnesty programs, granting insurgent leaders and their followers resettlement and entry into royalist military forces. Although these policies restored the appearance of peace in some Mexican regions and the invasion of Javier Mina was crushed in 1817, Apodaca understood that victory against the dispersed guerrilla forces was not complete. By 1820, burdensome wartime taxation and the exhaustion of the Mexican royalists made the war impossible to sustain. The restoration of the Spanish constitution and Apodaca's appointment of Agustín de Iturbide to quell the guerrilla activities of Vicente Guerrero and other insurgents destroyed the will of the royalists. Iturbide's rebellion and Plan of Iguala attracted many royalist army officers, and Mexicans invoked the constitution to suspend onerous taxes that supported the counterinsurgency system. During 1821, loyalist officers in Mexico City deposed the viceroy.

King Ferdinand VII granted Apodaca recognition, honors, and high offices. He was named viceroy of Navarre and later was appointed to the Council of State and as captain-general of the Spanish navy. Under Queen Isabel II, Apodaca served as the senior member of the Council of War.

See alsoNew Spain, Viceroyalty of .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Lucas Alamán, Historia de México desde los primeros movimientos que prepararon su independencia en el año de 1808 hasta la época presente, 5 vols. (1849–1852; repr. 1942).

William S. Robertson, Iturbide of Mexico (1952).

Carlos María De Bustamante, Cuadro histórico de la Revolución Mexicana, 3 vols. (1961).

Timothy E. Anna, The Fall of the Royal Government in Mexico City (1978).

Additional Bibliography

Archer, Christon, ed. The Wars of Independence in Spanish America. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources Inc., 2000.

                                    Christon I. Archer