Antonio Lopez of Santa Anna

The independence uprising seemed definitively quelled when the advent of the liberal triennium in Spain (1820-1823) changed the situation. In 1821 Agustín de Iturbide, who like Santa Anna had fought the insurrection from the royalist ranks, agreed with the last of the rebels on the so-called Plan of Iguala, an independence political program that quickly gained support and allowed him to form a powerful army.

Antonio López de Santa Anna was among the many who joined the Iguala Plan early. The support for Iturbide from former royalists should not be surprising, since not even the viceregal elites were completely reticent: in some of their circles the establishment of an independent monarchy was viewed favorably as a means of avoiding the implementation of a liberal regime and perpetuate absolutism.

From Empire to Republic

In September 1821, at the head of his Trigarante Army (so named because of his commitment to the three principles of the Plan of Iguala), Iturbide triumphantly entered the Mexican capital, declared independence and formed a provisional government. But in May of the following year, a Constituent Congress proclaimed Iturbide emperor of the new Mexican Empire, earning the animosity of both the monarchists (who wanted to crown a Spanish prince) and the republicans, unwilling to allow Mexico to become a hereditary monarchy. At the end of 1822, Antonio López de Santa Anna led the republican uprising that overthrew the autocratic regime of Iturbide and opened the process to convert Mexico into a federal Republic, a process that culminated in 1824 with the election of President Guadalupe Victoria.

Since then, Santa Anna became the "strong man" of the country for thirty years, although his formal presence at the head of political power was intermittent. His military prestige increased when he managed to repel an expedition.

When the war broke out between Mexico and the United States over the annexation to this country of the former Mexican province of Texas (independent since 1836), Antonio López de Santa Anna was called by President Valentín Gómez Farías and returned from his exile in Cuba to direct hostilities; During the Mexican-American War (1846-1848) he would hold the presidency again in 1847, in two brief periods.

Santa Anna, who saw himself as the Napoleon of America, refused from the beginning to negotiate with the United States despite its inferior situation; The means and organization of the Mexican army were obsolete compared to the American one. Unable to stop the North American advances, and losing one battle after another, he thus provoked the American invasion of Veracruz, Jalapa and Puebla (1846). In September 1847 he evacuated the capital and, completely defeated, had to accept the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo (1848), by which Mexico lost almost half of its territory: to the definitive loss of Texas we had to add that of California, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Colorado and Utah.

Santa Anna went into exile again, leaving behind a more impoverished country with the same political instability; The liberals gained positions, but their attempts at reform did not come to fruition; Political struggles and border conflicts worsened. Called by the conservatives to face the chaotic situation, in 1853 he returned to the country and began a last presidential term (1853-1855), which was in reality a personalist dictatorship without euphemisms: Santa Anna granted himself the treatment of His Serene Highness and He became president for life by decree. He imposed all kinds of taxes in a vain attempt to clean up public coffers, protected corruption and persecuted opponents.

Such a disastrous policy had the virtue of uniting the will of the liberals in the Ayutla Plan, who overthrew Santa Anna in 1855. Exiled in Colombia, Santa Anna definitively lost (although he was not aware of it) all his influence and political power. He still returned to Mexico on two occasions: the first during the French occupation and the Empire of Maximilian I of Mexico (1864-1867), which made him a marshal (he also then tried unsuccessfully to regain power); and the last in 1874, when, after the death of Benito Juárez, President Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada authorized his return to the homeland. He spent his last years poor, blind and forgotten by everyone.