Valleto
Photographer
Julio, Ricardo, and Guillermo Valleto
This brief article uses the photographer Valleto as an example of the relationships among subjects and photographers in a historical context of what was occurring in Mexico at the time. Julio Valleto, along with his brothers Guillermo and Ricardo are considered the Three Kings of Mexican photography. Known for their famous salons and extensive foreign travel, the Valleto photography studios photographed some of the most famous and notable political figures in Mexico. Their waiting room was described as “the places of places” and on par with Maximilian’s castle of Chapultepec (p 35).
The Valleto photographystudio is one of the many studios in Mexico that demonstrated that photography was a family business. Since there were no formal school of apprenticeships, photographers often entered the profession through family connections. This was not exclusive to Mexico, but it was more prevalent due to close familial patterns in Mexican society.
As the following portraits illustrate, Valleto’s studio catered to anyone in the political sphere, not necessarily only liberals or only conservatives. Here is a selection of individuals that passed through the Valleto studio.
Emperatriz Carlota
Born: June 7, 1810
Died: January 19, 1927
The only daughter of Leopold I of Belgium who became Empress of Mexico in 1864 by marriage to Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico. The royal couple arrived in Veracruz, Mexico in late May of 1864. Empeatriz Carlota, as she would soon become called, was 24 years old. The couple was descended from Hapsburg and Bourbon lines and exemplified European life at its best. Both were educated, schooled in court life, and accustomed to the extravagances of Viennese aristocratic society. When they arrived in Veracruz by order of Napoleon III, the liberal Veracruzanos refused to greet them.
Unlike Mexico’s first emperor, Agustín I, Maximiliano and Carlota made themselves accessible to the people. Maximiliano opened the palace once a week to subjects, toured Mexico’s provinces, and from time to time wore the traditional local dress and tried local food. However, this did not please his conservative allies back in Mexico City. Conservatives such as Juan Almonte, expected him to immediately suspend the reform laws and return the Church properties seized by Benito Juárez. However, Maximilian questioned the relationship between Church and State and tried to appease to his liberal subjects. These anti-Church measures were not enough to gain liberal support for liberals desired a complete overthrow of the monarchy. By trying to appease to both liberals and conservatives, Maximiliano only alienated both.
In October, 1865 Maximiliano’s French advisors informed him incorrectly that Juárez had fled the country. Maximiliano then ordered his controversial and aggressive decree that any Juaristas still bearing arms will be executed within 24 hours. In fact, Juárez did not intend to give up the fight. With the assistance of US troops, the Juaristas began gaining ground and Napoleon III was forced to withdraw his troops in 1867, leaving Maximiliano at the devices of Juárez’s troops. Carlota traveled to Europe to appeal to Napoleon III and even Pope Pius IX to prevent Maximiliano’s execution. After both rejected her appeals, Carlota stayed in Europe and was so distraught that she soon lost her mind. Juárez decided Maximiliano would be tried in court and given the death penalty. After pleading with Latin American leaders and European monarchs, Maximiliano was executed in June of 1867.
Ramón Corona
Liberal General and Diplomat
Born: October 18, 1837
Died: November 11, 1889
Corona was a General in the liberal army fighting against Maximiliano. He was charge of 8,000 troops in the West and crossed the country, defeating French troops along the way. Corona and his troops reached Querétaro in 1867 and participated in the siege against Maximiliano I. After Maximiliano was removed from power, Benito Juárez rewarded Corona by appointing him with a high military office based in Guadalajara.
Later on in his life, he was appointed by Sebastian Lerdo de Tejada as the ambassador to Spain. In 1884 he returned to Mexico and was put in command of the Federal Army at Jalisco.
Benito Juárez
Lawyer, President of Mexico
Born: March 21, 1806
Died: July 18, 1872
Benito Juárez is considered to be the real leader of the young, socially motivated intellectuals and came to personify Mexican history in the 20 years following the middle of the 19th century. Juárez was a Zapotec Indian from the state of Oaxaca. Growing up an orphan in a rural town, Juárez worked hard for his education and graduated from law school in 1831. That year, he entered political life in Oaxaca by serving on the city council and then the state legislature. During this time he continued to defend without fee poor villagers and challenged the exorbitant rates the clergy were charging for sacraments.
When war broke out between Mexico and the United States, Juárez returned to Oaxaca as the provisional governor and in 1848 he was elected to serve as the full time Governor of Oaxaca. As governor, he opened fifty rural schools, encouraged female attendance, reopened the port of Huatulco and made regular payments on state debt. When Santa Anna took power for the final time, he exiled the liberal Juárez to New Orleans. While in New Orleans, he joined José Maria Mata, Ponciano Arriaga, Melchor Ocampo, and Juan Alvarez to write the Plan de Ayutla in 1854 which served as a long list of grievances against Santa Anna. Juårez returned to Mexico to join the liberal forces and in August 1853 Santa Anna was forced to resign and go into exile.
Benito Juárez is considered to be the real leader of the young, socially motivated intellectuals and came to personify Mexican history in the 20 years following the middle of the 19th century. Juárez was a Zapotec Indian from the state of Oaxaca. Growing up an orphan in a rural town, Juárez worked hard for his education and graduated from law school in 1831. That year, he entered political life in Oaxaca by serving on the city council and then the state legislature. During this time he continued to defend without fee poor villagers and challenged the exorbitant rates the clergy were charging for sacraments.
When war broke out between Mexico and the United States, Juárez returned to Oaxaca as the provisional governor and in 1848 he was elected to serve as the full time Governor of Oaxaca. As governor, he opened fifty rural schools, encouraged female attendance, reopened the port of Huatulco and made regular payments on state debt. When Santa Anna took power for the final time, he exiled the liberal Juárez to New Orleans. While in New Orleans, he joined José Maria Mata, Ponciano Arriaga, Melchor Ocampo, and Juan Alvarez to write the Plan de Ayutla in 1854 which served as a long list of grievances against Santa Anna. Juårez returned to Mexico to join the liberal forces and in August 1853 Santa Anna was forced to resign and go into exile.
In the new government Benito Juårez served as Secretary of Justice under President Juan Alvarez. This marks the beginning of the Reform era in Mexico during which Ley Juárez abolished the military and ecclesiastical fueros, the special dispensations exempting soldiers and clergy from from having to stand trial in court. This law brought the fury of the Church and conservatives but it also created a schism among liberals. Within a month, Juan Alvarez stepped down, the majority of the cabinet resigned, and Ignacio Comonfort became president and later resigned. During this time there were intense contentions of ideologies, shuffling of constitutions, and minor civil wars. The war began as a result of the Plan de Tacubaya, spearheaded by the conservative general Felix Zuloaga. Zuloaga promptly arrested Juárez who was the chief liberal spokesman of Comonfort’s presidency. Juárez escaped to Querétaro where liberals proclaimed him President. Civil war broke out once again. Juárez ordered even more liberal decrees such as making birth and marriages civil ceremonies, secularizing cemeteries, outlawing monastic orders, nationalizing all Church property, and limiting religious processions in the street. By the following year, Juárez and his army took Mexico City and Juárez was elected President in March 1861.
Juárez inherited a bankrupt government and soon Spanish, French, and English creditors were demanding their payments. France had a grander scheme of intervening in Mexico, thus in October 1862, the French Intervention in Mexico began. Napoleon III took over Mexico City, forcing Juárez to San Luis Potosi. Napoleon placed emperor Maximiliano on the throne in 1863. With the assistance of liberal Mexican and US troops, Juárez took power back in 1867 and began the process of modernizing Mexico. Juárez served three terms as President and was succeeded by Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada.
Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada
Secretary of Foreign Affairs, President of Mexico
Born: April 24, 1823
Died: April 21, 1889
The election of 1871 was a hotly contested one. While Juárez was seeking a fourth term, Porfirio Diaz and Sebastian Lerdo de Tejada also joined the contest splitting the liberal party into Juaristas, Porfiristas, and Lerdistas. After the ballots provided no clear winner, congress decided Juárez would begin a fourth term as President. Diaz launched a revolt against Juárez on November 8, 1871. However, the revolt quickly ended after Juárez died of a coronary seizure and died in office. Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada, chief Justice of the Supreme Court became acting president and scheduled a new election for October. Known for his intelligence, great oratorical and administrative abilities, and republican virtues he easily defeated Porfirio Diáz. Lerdo strongly believed in maintaining peace which entailed intervening in political disputes with federal force.
Lerdo had ambitious goals of connecting all 16 provinces and sharply increasing school construction. While he did add over sixteen hundred miles of telegraph lines, connection between all state capitals did not happen. While the number of schools doubled, enrollment remained steady and female enrollment remained low. Lerdo did have his accomplishments. His treasury worked on tariff revision and he added another house to the legislature. With a Senate and a Chamber of Deputies, Mexico now had a bicameral legislature which he believed would help him in his mission of centralization. In the election f 1876, Porfirio Diaz tried once again to take power by issuing the Plan of Tuxtepec which charged Lerdo with violating sovereignty of the states. Lerdo left the country to the United States and Diáz took power on November 21, 1876.
Ignacio Ramírez
Writer and Editor of Don Simplicio, Minister of Justice and Education
Born: June 22, 1818
Died: June 15, 1879
A Mexican poet, writer, staunch atheist and journalist who alongside Guillermo Prieto is considered a member of the generation of Mexican liberals. In writings, Ramírez used the pen name “El Nigromante” or the necromancer. He wrote in defense of Indians and strongly believed in liberal reform. Under Porfirio Diaz, Ramírez was tasked with expanding public education, notably education for women and indigenous populations.
Vicente Riva Palacio
Writer, Lawyer, Governor of Michoacán and Mexico
Born: October 16, 1832
Died: November 22, 1896
Son of Mariano Riva Palacio who was a moderate liberal who worked under Maximiliano I. Riva Palacio worked together with other liberals to write the Plan de Ayutla to oust Santa Anna. After being imprisoned for his liberal ideas, he wrote for the newspaper La Orquesta which allowed him to continue to speak out against the conservatives. In 1862 he became Governor of the State of Mexico and 1865 Governor of the State of Michoacán. Throughout his political career he wrote for and published liberal newspapers such as El Pito Real and El Ahuizote. He also wrote about the indians and mestizos and the intense level of poverty they were subjected to as well as abuse.
Manuel Robles Pezuela
Provisional President of Mexico
Born: May 23, 1817
Died: March 23, 1862
A member of the conservatives who was made provisional President of Mexico from December 1858- January 1859 by the Plan of Tacubaya. He was appointed by a military junta in opposition to Benito Juárez. During the War of the French Intervention, Robles Pezuela was captured and killed under orders of Benito Juárez in 1862.
Ignacio Zaragoza
Mexican General
Born: March 24, 1829
Died: September 8, 1862
Served under command of Benito Juárez in 1860 and defeated Miramón’s army at Silao. In 1862, he was asked to defend Puebla against the French army. Alongside Porfirio Díaz, Zaragoza’s army saw victory on May 5, 1862 which would become a national holiday in honor of the Mexican victory against the French.
Later served as Secretary of War under Benito Juárez but died in 1862 at the age of 33 from typhoid fever.