Last weeks: FBI Harassed
Mexico's First Black President
One of the most interesting ignored aspects of Texas history, and that specifically of San Antonio, is that the Alamo and Texas independence is directly linked to slavery. No greater misunderstanding and mischaracterization of history can be found than the fabricated history of Texas independence. Texas leadership at this time exploited the civil wars taking place in Mexico to free Texas from a country that opposed slavery.
Many Texas slavers, such as David Crockett and James Bowie, found free reign in the Mexican territory of Texas. They were aided by the descendents of “white” Canary Islanders who supported slavery. “White” descendents of the Canary Islanders, such as Juan Seguin and Antonio Navarro, supported the American slaver move into Texas. Texas independence is more about slavery than what historians and the Daughters of the Republic of Texas are willing to admit.
A review of Mexican history reveals that a “mixed race” Mexican president abolished slavery in Mexico in 1829, which presented a problem for Texas slavers who had migrated to Texas, in part, to avoid the anti-slavery efforts taking place in the United States. According to the Mexico Connect Website, Vicente Guerrero fought against slavery in Texas and Mexico and was hated by the white Texans and the elite Spanish rulers of Mexico. For one thing was clear, the abolition of slavery in Mexico (Texas) forced the Anglo Texans to go to war with Mexico, for their “slave property” and thus their economic prosperity was linked to the idea the Texas should be free from Mexico in order for it to later become admitted to the United States as a slave state.
Some historians will argue that the Texans were fighting against the dictatorship of Santa Anna. While it is true that Santa Anna was a dictator, it is equally true that the white Texan slave owners saw this as an opportunity to enrich their coffers. History tells use that when Steven F. Austin arrived in Texas to establish a colony he did so with a sizeable amount of slaves. This meant free labor for the Austin Colony and the ability to create wealth. This would directly come to annoy the Mexican government, which before Santa Anna’s rise to power, had elected a black president named Vincente Guerrero.
According to Mexico Connect’s Website, Vincente Guerrero was born on August 10, 1782 in a small village near Acapulco. This area has an Afro-Mexican population to this day. When the war for independence against Spain began Guerrero joined the battle against the Spaniards. The native Indian population, the Afro-Mexican population, but also the once removed “white” Mexican Spaniards known as Criollos, opposed the Spaniards. During the war with Spain Guerrero would become the only leader that the Spanish could not buy out or defeat. The Spanish sent Agustin Iturbide against the black leader, but he betrayed the Spanish and joined forces with Guerrero. Together they ironed out a plan called the “three guarantees,” which said, in part, “that Mexico should be an independent constitutional monarchy,” but more importantly that Mexico would abolish “distinctions between Spaniards, Creoles, mestizos, and Indians.”
The “white” Mexican elite would betray Guerrero later, but Santa Anna would first launch a war against Iturbide. Guerrero would link up with Santa Anna and in 1823 would defeat Iturbide. This would eventually result in Guerrero being elected president on April 1, 1829. However Santa Anna and others of the “white” Spaniard elite would topple Guerrero. Anastasio Bustamante, a conservative ally of Santa Anna, executed him on February 14, 1831. All of the other dissidents during this period were allowed to leave the country, except for the mixed-race president Guerrero.
According to Mexico Connect, Jan Bazant, a professor of history in Mexico said, “Guerrero was of mixed blood and the opposition to his presidency came from the
elites. . . these people (feared) racial and social subversion . . . Guerrero’s execution was perhaps a warning to men considered as socially and ethnically inferior not to dare dream of becoming president.” The Texans would feel the same way about Guerrero as the white elite Spaniards. Though the Texans fought against Santa Anna, they would do so with the banner of freedom in one hand and the whip of slavery in the other. This makes the hero worship of the Alamo defenders and the Texas slavers a historical farce as best.

Mario Marcel Salas was a City Councilman for the City of San Antonio from 1997-2001. Mario Salas was a member of SNCC in the late 1960s and was the leader of the last SNCC chapter in the country in 1976. He currently teaches American Government at Northwest Vista College and is an educator for SAISD. mariomsalas@cs.com