HIDALGO: THE FATHER OF MEXICAN INDEPENDENCE
By Earl Durham

At precisely midnight, as the calendar marks the first minute of September 16, 2003, Vicente Fox, President of Mexico will issue forth with the booming “El Grito” (the shout) from atop the Palacio Nacional in Mexico City to the throng below. The president’s shout of “MEXICANOS ! VIVA MEXICO ! VIVA MEXICO ! VIVA ME-XICO !” accompanied by pealing of the original “liberty bell” that was rung by Padre Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla as the calendar moved to September 16th 1810, initiates a national celebration of the 193rd anniversary of Mexico’s declaration of independence which followed almost 300 years of Spanish rule. Spanish dominance began in 1521 when Captain Hernan Cortes and 500 Spanish soldiers invaded Southern Mexico. Warriors of the mighty Aztec Empire encountered some fearsome sights — men whose heads and bodies shone like the sun, mounted on great fire breathing beasts, trees that spat fire and thunder — and most terrifying of all, savage, snarling animals that charged headlong, ripping the Aztecs with their teeth and claws. These were mastiffs, the Spanish dogs of war. Added to this, the indigenous people who suffered economic and physical hardships under the heel of the despotic Aztec Empire opted to help the Spanish invaders. A final raid against the Aztec capital on August 13, 1521 brought an end to Aztec rule, but the indigenous Indians had only traded one oppressor for another. The Spaniards brought new diseases of epidemic proportions to the new world Indians. Moreover, the Spaniards’ lust for silver and gold was boundless. They enslaved the Indians for work in the mines. During the first 100 years of Spanish occupation the indigenous population plummeted from 20 million to only one million, the consequence of disease and overwork. Fast forward to May 8, 1753. Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla was born in Corralejo, Guanajuato to middle class Creole (Spaniards raised in Mexico) parents. He later received a bachelor degree in theology from the College of San Nicolas in Valladolid (now Morelia), Michoacan, and was subsequently ordained a priest in the Roman Catholic Church. It was economic security and a regular income, rather than serious religious zeal, that prompted Miguel Hidalgo to enter the priesthood. Inspired by the works of French philosophers and the 1776 Declaration of Independence by the North American colonies, Padre Hidalgo dreamed of a Mexican democracy to include the lower class “Mestizos”, people of mixed European and Indian blood, and the downtrodden Indians. The economic and political power of Mexico was controlled by the aristocratic native born Spaniards, followed by the less distinguished class of “Criollos”, Spaniards born in Mexico, then the merchant class Mestizos, and finally the classless Indians, exploited by the Spaniards for ten generations. In 1803, at age 50, Padre Hidalgo was moved to a small parish in Dolores, Guanajuato, a “promotion” that increased his annual income toabout 9,000 pesos. He arrived with an entourage, including a

younger brother, a cousin, two half-sisters, and his two young daughters whom he loved dearly. Hidalgo immediately turned over clerical duties to one of his vicars, and set to work on improving the economic status of his parishioners. In 1808, Napoleon Bona-parte conquered Spain and immediately installed his brother Joseph Bonaparte as King of Spain, an act that deposed Ferdinand II. Mexico’s Criollos, who viewed Napoleon as a despot, saw an opportunity for a bloodless coup that could wrest power from Mexico’s Spanish rulers, and transfer that power into the hands of the Criollos who were loyal to the deposed Spanish King, Ferdinand II. Mexico’s royalist army was well staffed with Criollo officers. In the meantime, Padre Hidalgo established a night school for Dolores artisans, a pottery factory, leather curing factory, carpentry workshop, wool processing and weaving workshops. He planted Mulberry trees for silkworms, olive trees, and vineyards. The Spanish Viceroy responded by ordering the trees cut down, and the vineyards uprooted. Innovations that tended to improve the living conditions of the Indians, exploited since the Spanish conquest, were illegal under their law. Miguel Hidalgo was solicited to participate, and did join the Criollo conspiracy, but his vision for Mexico carried far beyond the simple class struggle of colonial Spaniard vs Spaniard (Criollo). Hidalgo dreamed of a true democracy, Mexico for the Mexican people, an end to a feudal Mexico ruled by any foreign dictator or class of aristocrats. When royalists learned of the conspiracy, orders were issued for the arrest of Padre Hidalgo and others. At 11:00 p.m., on the night of September 15, 1810, Padre Hidalgo rang the bell that summoned his Indian parishioners to mass. Acting alone, Hidalgo ignored the Criollo’s political plan in favor of his own famous “El Grito de Dolores”— “Mexicanos !!, Viva Mexico !!” The people responded with shouts of “Long live independence! Long live America!” and “Away with bad government!” Hidalgo ordered the arrest of the Spaniards, and a mob of several hundred grew to more than 100,000 as the revolutionary uprising moved from city to city (Celaya, Morelia, Guadalajara) stripping city coffers and taking revenge against the hated Spaniards. Mexico finally won her independence from Spain eleven bloody years later, on September 21, 1821, but Miguel Hidalgo did not live to see it. On March 21, 1811, General Hidalgo, the defrocked priest turned statesman-revolutionary general, was en route to Bejar (now San Antonio, Texas) to join a new rebellion. He was ambushed and captured by traitors who turned him over to the Bishop of Durango. Hidalgo was executed by firing squad in Chihuahua on July 30, 1811. September 16th is Mexico’s biggest holiday, celebrated with fireworks, fiestas, dancing, with “El Grito” ringing out once again, in even the smallest towns across the country. Miguel Hidalgo is remembered as the father of Independence, the man who proclaimed Mexico’s declaration of independence from Spain in his “El Grito de Dolores.”

 

 

 

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