“Entre dos Fuegos”: Agustín Iturbide and the Calleja-De la Cruz Conflict

Abstract

The political play that the New Spain authorities deployed once the revolutionary movement originated in the Bajío took a wide variety of channels and they provoked most of the occasions ignited arguments between the political and military high commanders, causing strong controversies that would undermine the unit between the viceregal authorities. One of the most outstanding antagonisms was that lived the generals Félix María Calleja and José de la Cruz, who had their first contact in Guadalajara in 1811 after the insurgent defeat at Puente de Calderón, after which they lived repeated disagreement especially the one approved once that Calleja, like viceroy, appointed commander of Guanajuato to Agustín de Iturbide up to then subordinate to De la Cruz in 1813. In this article I will dedicate to analyze the way in which this vallisoloetano official raffled this struggle between high authorities managing to maintain a very close proximity between both characters.