Valentín Gómez Farías

Who was Valentín Gómez Farías?

Valentín Gómez Farías was several times President of Mexico in the 1830s and 1840s.

Gómez Farías was one of the more important political figures in early Mexico. The first presidency of Antonio López de Santa Anna from 1833 to 1836 was a temporary victory for the Mexican Liberals. In his first term, Santa Anna preferred simply holding the title of president rather than actually acting within the office. With President Santa Anna residing at his estate in Veracruz and uninterested in administering his government, the actual executive duties fell to Vice-President Gómez Farías, who used this power to sponsor Liberal Reforms, specifically targeting the army and the church. Santa Anna wrote to Mexico City saying that he no longer wanted to be president of Mexico, but to use his military experience to fight off the foreign invasion of Mexico. While he dealt with the issues of presidency, Santa Anna was also secretly dealing with representatives from the United States during the Mexican-American War. Goméz Farías stepped in to become president of Mexico during the war, but was overthrown in the midst of the fighting by Santa Anna.

Hoping to prevent future coups and to limit the political influence of the Mexican Army, the Gómez Farías administration reduced the size of the military and abolished the fueros that excluded military officers from civil trials and laws.