Gabriel J. de Yermo

Gabriel J. de Yermo (1757 Sodupe, near Bilbao, Spain—1813, Mexico City) was a wealthy landowner in New Spain, leader of the anti-independence party, and leader of the coup that overthrew Viceroy José de Iturrigaray in 1808.

His life before the coup

When Gabriel de Yermo moved from Spain to New Spain, he married María Josefa de Yermo, the heiress of the haciendas of Temixco and San Gabriel, in the current state of Morelos. Later he came to control the monopoly on aguardiente and the sale of meat in Mexico City.

In 1790 Yermo celebrated the birth of his first child by freeing all of his more than 400 slaves. In 1797, acquired the hacienda of Jalmolonga, which belonged to the jesuits and did the same with the slaves that worked there. In 1808, to celebrate the saint day of Doña Josefa Yermo, 200 black slaves belonging to the Hacienda de Temixco were freed. This being one of the reasons why not one of these men did not contribute to the Independence movement, but were instead on the Spanish side, helped to defeat Viceroy Iturrigaray and remained loyal to the King of Spain many years after many Spanish-born generals and civil servants had betrayed their loyalty.

Viceroy Félix Berenguer de Marquina, shortly after his arrival in Mexico in 1800, ordered the suppression of bullfights, citing their negative moral and political effects. This interruption lasted only a short time, however, because when José de Iturrigaray took over as viceroy in 1803 he revived the spectacles. He reopened the Volador, where the fights had been held, and made it a gathering place for the high society of Mexico City.

It was in the inaugural corrida under Iturrigaray, at the end of the first fight, when the enmity between Yermo and Iturrigaray developed. The bullfighters were the owners of the bulls they killed, and could sell the meat. Prices had fluctuated between 8 and 10 pesos. Yermo had a monopoly on the sale of beef in the capital. He forced the bullfighters to sell for 4 pesos. In the bull ring, Iturrigaray was informed of the situation. He ordered that the toreros be allowed to freely sell the "spoils of their valor or skill".

Yermo provided a great service to Spain by ensuring generous supplies of money, cereal and men to King Fernando VII's royalist troops.

Discontent and the movement for independence of New Spain

News of the abdication of the Spanish king in favor of Napoleon was received in Mexico on July 14, 1808. It produced immediate discontent among the Criollos (Spaniards born in New Spain). On July 19, 1808, members of the Cabildo (city council) of Mexico City Juan Francisco Azcárate y Ledesma and Francisco Primo de Verdad y Ramos presented a plan to form a provisional, autonomous government of New Spain, with Viceroy Iturrigaray at its head. The plan was accepted by the viceroy and the Cabildo, but not by the Audiencia. It was also vehemently opposed by the Peninsulares (Spaniards resident in New Spain, but born in the mother country).

On September 1, 1808, Melchor de Talamantes, a Peruvian priest and the intellectual leader of the Criollo party, delivered two tracts to the Cabildo, in favor of separation from Spain and of the convoking of a Mexican congress. His premises were that all ties to Spain had now been broken; that regional laws had to be made, independently of the mother country; that the Audiencia could not speak in behalf of the king; and that the king having disappeared, sovereignty was now vested in the people.

It looked as if open fighting would break out between the partisans of the Audiencia (the Peninsulares) and those of the Cabildo (the Criollos).

The coup and the deposition of the viceroy

Iturrigaray, because of his sympathy with the independence party, was held in great suspicion by the Spanish party. The latter chose Yermo as its head.

Iturrigaray was on the point of resigning when, on September 15, 1808 Yermo and his partisans arrested him. Yermo was supported by the rich Spanish merchants, by the oidores Aguirre and Bataller, by the archbishop, and by the judges of the Inquisition. Five hundred well-armed conspirators attacked the viceregal palace at 2 in the morning. One soldier was killed. The members of the Cabildo were also arrested. Marshall Pedro de Garibay, a puppet of the Spanish party, was installed as the new viceroy.

Yermo was created marquis, by king Fernando VII. He died in 1813, during the course of Mexico's war of independence.

References

*es icon "Iturrigaray y Aróstegui, José de," "Enciclopedia de México", v. 8. Mexico City: 1987.
*es icon "Toros," "Enciclopedia de México", v. 14. Mexico City: 1987.
*es icon "Yermo, Gabriel de," "Enciclopedia de México", v. 13. Mexico City: 1987.
*es icon Orozco Linares, Fernando, "Gobernantes de México". Mexico City: Panorama Editorial, 1985, ISBN 968-38-0260-5.
*es icon Alaman, Lucas, "Historia de Méjico desde los primeros movimientos que prepararon su independencia en el año 1808 hasta la época presente", Parte Primera, tomo IV. México: 1851