Plan of Veracruz (1832)

The 1832 Plan of Veracruz was a statement made on January 2 of that year by Mexican military commander Ciriaco Vazquez. His goal was to remove ministers from the cabinet of Anastasio Bustamante, acting president of the United Mexican States, and remove Bustamante from office. Antonio López de Santa Anna, the plan's instigator and spokesman for the protesters, led an armed uprising five days later. Although the plan and uprising were initially opposed by most of the garrisons and state legislatures, the political and military forces gradually joined the fight against Bustamante's conservative regime.

Historical context
Although Manuel Gómez Pedraza won the 1828 presidential election, he did not take office because the Congress of the Union declared Vicente Guerrero president and Bustamante vice president in April 1829. On December 4 of that year, the Plan of Xalapa replaced Guerrero with Bustamante as president with congressional approval. In March 1830, a war was started by supporters of Guerrero; it ended several months later in victory for Bustamante's faction.

The Bustamante regime implemented a policy orchestrated primarily by Minister of Interior and Exterior Relations Lucas Alaman. War Minister Jose Antonio Facio began persecuting opponents, apprehending and exiling those who were considered enemies of the party. Bustamante's finance minister was Rafael Mangino.

Declaration
Officers of the Veracruz garrison and the San Juan de Ulua fortress complex gathered at the home of Colonel Pedro Landero, where they agreed to the following:
 * Support for the 1824 constitution of the United Mexican States, including the Plan of Xalapa
 * That Vice President Bustamante remove all ministers who had implemented an autocratic regime and attack freedom
 * Two garrison leaders would ask General Antonio López de Santa Anna to command the weaponry.
 * Santa Anna would oversee Bustamante and other authorities.

Santa Anna, the hidden instigator, accepted the requests and began communications with Bustamante. He proposed a new cabinet of Sebastian Camacho as Minister of Foreign Affairs, Melchor Muzquiz as Minister of War, Francisco Garcia Salinas as Minister of Finance and Valentin Gomez Farias as Minister of Grace and Justice. The press severely criticized Santa Anna, comparing him to the Roman politician Catiline. Bustamante negotiated with Santa Anna, buying time to delay a civil war while ordering Facio to move a contingent of 4,000 men to Xalapa to halt the rebel advance.

On February 24, the rebels seized a convoy with ammunition, money and supplies near the National Bridge. They were defeated on March 3 by the forces of general Jose Maria Calderon and Jose Antonio Facio. Santa Anna escaped to Veracruz' Fort San Juan de Ulua; his strategy worked until mid-May, when Calderon lifted the siege of Veracruz because his army was decimated by rain, heat, mosquitoes and disease.

Reaction and aftermath
Although the plan was initially opposed by the garrisons of Toluca, Tejupilco, Puebla, Guanajuato, Querétaro, Michoacán, Tlaxcala, Jalisco, Acapulco, Oaxaca and Aguascalientes, the garrisons' support gradually grew. On March 10, the garrison of Pueblo Viejo supported the plan and imprisoned commander Ignacio Mora. On the 19th, General Jose Esteban Moctezuma (who had been sent to pacify Tamaulipas) joined the plan. General Manuel Mier y Teran and San Luis Potosí governor Zenon Fernandez began preparing troops to face Moctezuma after engaging in dialogue with the rebels.

The state governments of Zacatecas and Jalisco decided to join the Plan of Veracruz, with the options to summon Manuel Gómez Pedraza for the presidency and reverse unconstitutional acts. Farias and Garcia Salinas convinced General Ignacio Inclan to act in Lerma, but his movement was suppressed by Mariano Arista. On May 17, the ministers (except for Finance Minister Mangino) resigned; the press and public opinion felt that this was a political maneuver, since it was believed that former ministers could continue to exercise their duties.

General Mariano Martinez de Lejarza took up arms in Tabasco in support of the plan in June, commanding the state capital and repelling an attack by the bustamantista governors of Yucatán and Chiapas. On June 12, shortly before a confrontation between Santa Anna and Calderon's forces, a cease-fire was brokered in Corral Falso by Juan Francisco Bautista Caraza. Government forces returned to Encero and rebel forces to Paso de Ovejas, with the National Bridge neutral territory.

The government appointed Sebastian Camacho and Guadalupe Victoria as mediators. Manuel Mier y Teran faced Texas settlers who supported the Plan of Veracruz and tried to extend the armistice with Esteban Moctezuma, but the latter refused. Mier y Teran, considered a strong candidate for the presidency, committed suicide on July 3. Six days later, Colonel Antonio Barragan joined the uprising in Valle del Maiz. With negotiations at the National Bridge at an impasse, Moctezuma defeated government forces at Carmelos Well in San Luis Potosí (where General Pedro Otero died). Governor Zenon Fernandez was forced to flee to Querétaro.

On August 6, Bustamante asked Congress for command of the army to confront the rebellion. The following day, Melchor Muzquiz was named interim president and formally took office on August 14. A few days later, the state of Guanajuato was declared neutral. Manuel Prieto in Morelia joined the Plan; Sebastian Camacho distanced himself from Santa Anna, declaring his loyalty to the Bustamante government. The first company of Chihuahua and the colony of Austin in Texas supported the rebellion. On August 12, General Juan Alvarez supported the plan at Fort San Diego in Acapulco.

In the Tulancingo and Zacatlán area, General Gabriel Valencia deserted Bustamante and joined the rebellion. On September 8, commander Cirilo Gomez Anaya left the capital to fight him. On September 10, Nicolas Bravo forged an armistice with Juan Alvarez on September 10, six days later the governments of Yucatán, Campeche and Tabasco delivered Zacatecas to the plan. Bustamante defeated Moctezuma in the September 18 Battle of the Roost, inflicting a total of 2,800 casualties (dead, wounded and prisoners). He sent a letter of resignation to the Chamber of Deputies the following day to end the war, and later went to San Luis Potosí.

Santa Anna defeated Jose Antonio Facio in the September 29 Battle of San Agustin del Palmar and seized weapons and ammunition. A few days later he defeated Juan José Andrade, who had tried to stop the entry of rebel forces into the capital. After Andrade's surrender, interim president Melchor Muzquiz held talks with Santa Anna to avoid war in Mexico's capital. On November 7, Gomez Pedraza arrived at the port of Veracruz to mediate. After a few skirmishes, Bustamante and Santa Anna signed an armistice on December 11 as the civil war in the rest of the country was concluding. The December 24 Zavaleta Convention established that Gomez Pedraza would be recognized as president and until April 1, 1833.