| The Streets of Zihuatanejo |
by Michael Janicot
This study is concerned with the origin of the downtown (el centro) and La Madera streets of Zihuatanejo. Long ago when the fishing village began, fishermen congregated along Playa Principal and a beaten path, the Paseo del Pescador, was the hamlet’s first trail. It was later extended across the present canal—once a lagoon—to Playa Madera.
Cuauhtemoc was the second path. Much has been written about the last emperor of the Aztecs, whose name in Nahuatl means “setting sun” or “falling eagle.” Described as “more white than most Mexicans,” Cuauhtemoc grew up in Ixcateopan, state of Guerrero, nephew to both Moctezuma and his brother Cuitlahuac, who succeeded him. It was he who had thrown the fatal stone which had injured Moctezuma after Cuauhtemoc had criticized him for his policy of appeasement against Hernan Cortes. Captured at the siege of Tenochtitlan (Nahuatl for “place of the prickly pear”) in 1521 by the Spainards, Cuauhtemoc was tortured by Aldrete, the greedy royal treasurer, to make him reveal of a hidden gold treasure. The emperor was tied to a pole with his hands and feet dipped in oil, which were then set alight. In 1525, Cuauhtemoc was serving as an auxiliary on a Cortes-led expedition into Honduras where an Indian converted to Christianity convinced Cortes that Cuauhtemoc was conspiring against him. Cortes had him tried for treason and he was sentenced to hang.
Since the Mexican Revolution, Mexican history has been reinterpreted by nationalists, with Cuauhtemoc presented as a hero and Cortes as villian; and in Diego Rivera’s murals, Cuauhtemoc is shown as an idealized youth with Cortes portrayed as a “syphilitic hunchback.” The emperor’s bones were “discovered” in his birthplace enshrined in a glass case in a local church, although two scientific commissions could not verify their authenticity. Today Cuauhtemoc is venerated throughout Mexico. Streets, public buildings, parks, stadia—even a brewery—are named after him.
Zihuatanejo also honors Juan Alvarez, a native of Atoyac, Guerrero, who joined famed rebel leader Jose Maria Morelos at age 20. Born of a wealthy family, he chose to become a cowboy and used his own money to arm men fighting with Morelos. Known as a Revolutionary Liberal, he was injured in both legs at the battle of Acapulco in November 1811 where he rose to the rank of captain. Appointed commanding general of Acapulco in 1821, Alvarez was allied with Vicente Guererro against Agustin de Iturbide, when the latter proclaimed himself emperor in 1830. He opposed the expulsion of the Spaniards, fought in the revolt of 1833 against General Anastasio Bustamente, and took up arms against General Santa Ana in 1844. In 1847, Alvarez rushed to Mexico City to fight against the United States Army’s siege of the capital. From 1849 to 1853, he was Governor of Guerrero, and was appointed provisional president of the Republic by Benito Juarez the following year, a post he resigned from in 1856. He then fought against the French intervention in 1861 and died in August of 1867.
Pedro Ascencio is also remembered here. Born in Guerrero in 1778, the pure Indian was a miner before joining Los Insurgentes in 1810 and participating in the battle of del Monte de las Cruces. Appointed captain in the cavalry, he fought with Morelos in Michoacan, later joined Guerrero’s struggle in the War of Independence where his valor and courage began legendary. In 1819, he and Guerrero defeated Iturbide. Ascencio was killed in June 1821 at the Battle of las Milpillas, state of Moreloa, and his head was exhibited in Cuernavaca.
Another son of Guerrero, Ignacio Manual Altamirano, also has a street named after him here. Born in Tixtla in November 1834 of pure Indian parents, he didn’t learn Spanish until he was 14 years old. He was befriended and tutored by Ignacio Ramirez (“El Nigromante”), an intellectual freethinker who served as a minister under dictator Porfirio Diaz. Awarded a scholarship at the University of Toluca, Altamirano studied literature and poetry and learned French at a private school. He aligned himself with those supporting the Plan of Ayutla, fighting against the conservatives in the War of La Reforma and supporting Juarez. In 1861, Altamirano was elected a deputy to the Mexican congress where he made his famous speech against granting an amnesty to the enemies of La Reforma. When the French intervention began, he was appointed Colonel and saw action in the battles of Tierra Blanca, Cuernavaca and Queretaro where he was named “hero of the Republic.” In 1867, he embarked on a career as a professor of literature at the National Preparatory School (Teachers’ College); he also taught at the School of Business and Jurisprudence—as well as being mayor, magistrate, and president of the Supreme Court.
Altamirano founded El Correo de Mexico, an influential literary organ with his mentor Ramirez, and two years later, Renacimiento (Rebirth), another magazine that attracted all of the intellectuals of the time. Another publication, Clemencia, considered by many as the first Mexican novel, was published in 1868, and his first volume of poetry appeared in 1871. Subsequently, he wrote several novels, the last Episodes of Mexican Life in the Years 1861-1863, was published posthumously in 1901. In June 1889, he was appointed Consul general to Spain where he resided in Barcelona for almost a year before being transferred to another diplomatic post in France. He visited Switzerland and Italy, and became ill in San Remo, Italy, where he died in February 1893.
Hermenegildo Galeana is another downtown street named for another son of Guerrero born in Coyuca in 1762. Legend has it that he was the son of an English sailor who had been shipwrecked on the coast of Guerrero. Administrator of his older brother’s hacienda, he joined the forces of Morelos in 1810 as a staff officer and was responsible for bringing Nicolas Bravo to support Morelos. (All of his brothers also rallied to Morleos. He and his brother Jose Antonio supplied many men and arms, including a cannon affectionately known as “El Niño.”) With Bravo and sons, Galeana fought at the battle of Cuautla. He saw furher action in Oaxaca, Matamoros, and in the neighboring state of Morelos. He participated in the siege of Acapulco where he accepted the surrender of the Spanish army commander. For that victory, Morelos named him mariscal, the highest rank ever bestowed upon a military man. Galeana was killed at the battle of Coyuca, his birthplace, in June 1814, and his head displayed in the zocalo by the Spanish forces.
The fifth most illustrious hero of the Mexican Independence movement born in Guerrero is Nicolas Bravo for whom the city of Zihuatanejo dedicated one of its streets. He was born in 1786 on a hacienda owned by his family near Chilpancingo. Though of affluent Creole background, he did not sympathize with the Spanish regime. When the Independence movement began in 1810, he was “pressured” by the authorities to furnish men to put down the rebellion. He refused to do so, and in May 1811, joined General Galeana. He campaigned mainly in Guerrero and in the state of Morelos. He distinguished himself for his courage and was named military commander of the state of Veracruz. It is stated that he “gained a reputation for humane behavior in a savage brother vs. brother conflict where brutality was widely prevalent.” At Palmar, near the port of Veracruz, he defeated an army force that was guarding a large convoy of flour. About that time, Bravo learned that his father had been captured and sentenced to a long prison term. Bravo released all 300 soldiers captured during the Palmar engagement, showing the Royalists that he was a humane man. However, “his decency was not reciprocated.” In 1816, he was captured at his hacienda and imprisoned with shackles for four years until the Independence movement finally triumphed in 1820.
Iturbide, who had taken over the movement’s leadership, awarded Bravo the rank of Colonel, but “the vainglorious Iturbide’s self-promotion to emperor did not please Bravo.” Bravo then joined forces with Guerrero who represented the more liberal wing of the Independence movement, and both men led a successful revolt to depose Iturbide. “Then—and at Iturbide’s request—he commanded the detachment that assured safe exile from Mexico” for Iturbide and his family.
Bravo served as vice-president of Mexico under President Guadalupe Victoria. In 1827, he decided that Victoria was too liberal, and mounted a rebellion against him. The rebellion failed and Bravo fled to Ecuador, from where he returned under amnesty in 1829. The Liberal Guerrero became president in 1829 and Bravo found himself in opposition to his former ally. As a compromise between the factions, Conservative general Bustamente became vice-president and “pronounced” against Guerrero in 1830 and in the fighting that ensued, Bravo defeated Guerrero at Chilpancingo.
All during this period, the dominant political figure in Mexico was Antonio Lopez de Santa Ana, eleven times president and military dictator. During this age of santanismo, Bravo was appointed commander of the northern armies in 1836, interim president in 1839, deputy from the state of Mexico in 1841, and interim president again in 1842 and 1846. During the war with the United States, Bravo was commander of Mexican forces in Puebla and south of Mexico City. Captured at Chapultepec in September 1847, Bravo was accused by his enemies “of inept generalship.” He then retired to his estate in Chilpancingo.
In 1854, the Liberal general Juan Alvarez issued a manifesto against Santa Ana, called the Plan de Ayutla. The 68-year-old Bravo was asked to join the movement but declined on account of ill health “and because he did not share the political views” of the Ayutla conspirators. Shortly afterwards, Bravo died suddenly in 1854. Since his wife died the same day, there was strong suspicion that the couple had been poisoned. “The rumors may have had some foundation,” because a doctor named Aviles was found guilty of the deed and shot. ‘Whether Dr. Aviles was the poisoner or simply a convenient scapegoat has never been established.”
Vicente “El Caudillo” Guerreo (whom we have met several times in this study) was another insurgent leader who allied with Juan Alvarez against Iturbide. It is unclear whether the state of Guerrero is named after him or whether named after the word “guerrero” a warrior. Defeated by general Bravo at Chilpancingo, the former Mexican Liberal President lived in Acapulco where he was betrayed by a traitor when he attempted to board ship in Acapulco. Kidnapped by an Italian sea captain named Picaluga, he was sold to the government for 50,000 pesos in gold coins. Guerrero was executed by a firing squad in the village of Cuilapa in February 1831. (Picaluga, “the Judas of the tragedy, “ was executed as a bandit in Genoa, Italy in 1836.)
Many thanks are due to Gregg Thompson and Antonio Urquieta Lopez for their invaluable assistance in helping us translating Spanish information.
February 2003
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