Félix María Zuloaga Trillo (31 March 1813 – 11 February 1898) was a Mexican conservative general and politician who played a key role in the outbreak of the Reform War in early 1860, a war which would see him elevated to the presidency of the nation. President Zuloaga was unrecognized by, and fought against, the liberal supporters of President Benito Juárez.
Zuloaga's forces quickly gained control over the capital, and the central states of the nation, winning every major engagement during the first year of the war, and even temporarily capturing Juárez and his entire cabinet, but in the end, the liberals were not decisively defeated, still controlled large parts of the nation's periphery, and Juárez remained securely entrenched in the strategic port of Veracruz.
In December 1858, a moderate faction of the conservatives overthrew Zuloaga, hoping to come to a compromise with Juárez. Manuel Robles Pezuela then ascended to the presidency. The liberal government rejected all offers of compromise, and the conservatives then elected Miguel Miramón as president. The ousted Zuloaga, still clinging to his claims of the presidency, endorsed Miramon's election and officially passed the presidency on to him.
Zuloaga remained somewhat active in Miramón's government but eventually retired from the scene. He emerged after the war ended to claim the presidency while conservative guerillas were still active in the countryside, but this came to nothing, and Zuloaga subsequently left the country. He would return during the Second Mexican Empire, but unlike many of his conservative colleagues, Zuloaga played no political or military role within the Empire. After the fall of the Empire in 1867, Zuloaga was exiled to Cuba and returned to civilian life, eventually returning to Mexico, where he lived until his death in 1895.
Felix Zuloaga was born on 31 March 1813 in Álamos, Sonora. He was born to Manuel Jose De Zuloaga and María Anna Gertrudis Vitala Trillo.
On 8 October 1834, he received the rank of colonel of the national guard and was engaged in campaigns against Indians until 1837, when he left the department of Chihuahua, having previously been granted the rank of lieutenant of engineers.
He defended the government during the Federalist Revolt of 1840, during which a group of militants seized the National Palace and took President Anastasio Bustamante hostage in order to try and overthrow the government and restore the Constitution of 1824. The following year he joined the Bases of Tacubaya which intended to revise the then current constitution, the Siete Leyes. He was promoted to captain on 5 November 1841 and fought in Yucatán during the Caste War, after which he moved to Tabasco and was granted the rank of lieutenant colonel.
During the Mexican–American War, he was in charge of fortifications in Monterey and in Saltillo, and in 1847 contributed to setting up the defenses on the route from Veracruz to Mexico City.
In July 1848, he retired to Chihuahua where he was elected alderman in 1852 and remained in that post until March, 1853 when he returned to service in the military. In November he was promoted to colonel and was named president of the council of war for judging thieves at which post he remained for a few months. In the following two years he served the Santa Anna's campaign against the liberal revolutionaries of the south led by Juan Álvarez. He fell prisoner at the Hacienda de Nuzco, and the rebel commander Ignacio Comonfort protected him from being sent to a firing squad and actually recruited him to join the liberal cause. When the Plan of Ayutla triumphed, and Santa Anna's dictatorship was overthrown, Zuloaga was given command of Comonfort's forces and assigned to the campaign of Sierra de Querétaro.
Zuloaga's old commander Ignacio Comonfort ascended to the presidency in December, 1856, and proceeded to administer over one of the most eventful presidencies in 19th century Mexican history. A convention finished drafting a new constitution for the nation in early 1857, only to encounter extreme opposition from conservatives over its unprecedented reforms aimed against the army and the church. Most notable was the opposition to the constitutional codification of the Ley Lerdo, a law which forced collective entities to forcibly sell their properties, affecting both the Catholic Church in Mexico, and Mexico's Indigenous communities, who had a tradition of farming on communal lands. Further controversy was inflamed when the government mandated that all civil servants swear an oath to the constitution or lose their jobs. Many Catholics did refuse the oath, but those who did not were excommunicated.
Zuloaga was initially loyal to the moderate liberal government of Ignacio Comonfort. He helped command a government effort to put down a conservative rebellion in Puebla. As tensions over the constitution rose, Comonfort left the capital and temporarily resided in Tacubaya where his defenses were commanded by Zuloaga.
However, by December, Zuloaga was among those being suspected of plotting against the government, and he was even indicted.
The suspicion was well placed as Zuloaga was plotting with conservative conspirators. After coming to an arrangement with certain governors, the conspirators in a suburb of Mexico City declared the Plan of Tacubaya on the morning of 17 December to set aside the national constitution. The supreme control of the government was to be entrusted to Ignacio Comonfort who was to convoke within three months another constitutional congress for framing another constitution more in line with the national will, to be submitted to a national plebiscite and in the event of its non acceptance to be returned to the congress for an amendment. The president was tso rule with a consultative council composed of one representative from each state.
On 17 December, congress made a solemn protest against the Plan of Tacubaya, and declared the Comonfort's authority had now come to an end. Zuloaga's brigade occupied the capital and dissolved the congress. Benito Juarez, president of the Supreme Court and Isidoro Olvera, president of the congress were arrested. The ayuntamiento of Mexico City was also dissolved. On 19 December, Comonfort officially announced that he had accepted the Plan of Tacubaya. He released a manifesto explaining his motives, expounding that he viewed the Plan of Tacubaya as an opportunity for a moderate compromise and viewing the alternative as anarchy.
Seventy deputies reassembled in Querétaro and aired their protests. A council of state was installed on 25 December in which skeptical voices opined that it was impossible to bring about the reconciliating that Comonfort sought. On 30 December, the strategic state of Vera Cruz abandoned the Plan of Tacubaya, convincing Comonfor that his new government's position was precarious. Comonfort would resign, passing the presidency over to Benito Juarez whom Comonfort had also released. He gathered his loyal troops and engaged in skirmishes with the Zuloaga government, but most of the loyal garrison eventually abandoned Comonfort, leading him to flee the capital, and eventually the nation.
After triumphing in the minor skirmish with Comonfort, Zuloaga on 21 January, published a manifesto promising order in the capital. He then named the individuals who had been chosen to be a part of the junta that was meant to choose the new head of state according to the Plan of Tacubaya. On the 22nd the junta met in the senate chambers and Felix Zuloaga was chosen by twenty six votes, one vote going to Santa Anna, and one vote going to General Echeagaray. The junta then drafted an oath of office, which Zuloaga read the following day, promising to uphold and protect, independence, religion, and unity between all Mexicans, echoing the promises made in the Plan of Iguala.
The newly established conservative government was recognized by the foreign diplomatic corps at the capital with the exception of the United States.
On the 24th, Zuloaga named his ministers. Luis Gonazaga Cueva was made Minister of the Interior, Hilario Elguero was made Ministry of Government, Manuel Larrainzar was made Minister of Justice and Ecclesiastical Affairs, and Jose de la Parra was made Minister of War, and Jose Hierro Maldonado was made Minister of Development. Zuloaga then named a council of government made up of two representatives from each state.