Unfortunately become the narco-mafias in quadrilateral, painful stigma that should not obscure the undoubted attractions of the state of Veracruz, land of hospitality and full of history and natural beauty. I traveled there to step on the stage of the conquest of Mexico, to follow the steps of Hernán Cortés on his way to the ancient Tenochtitlan, the city-fortress of the mysterious Moctezuma. Veracruz is the beginning and end. Landed on its shores Extremadura conqueror's ships, and there remains the last Spanish stronghold, the fort of San Juan de Ulua, which last lowered the Spanish flag after Mexican independence almost two centuries. By then I go on a very marked, Scream Day, when the entire Aztec nation celebrates the emancipation of the Spanish Crown. They are hours of patriotic exaltation in Mexico to live with real passion, probably the least likely day to visit the last icon of Spanish rule, but travel, sometimes, give us these coincidences capricious.
The fort stands on an island off the port of Veracruz. The approach is somewhat disappointing, as we approach the swarm of cranes for cargo from the docks. Its walls are ashen, corroded by moisture that turned this place into one of the most terrible prisons of Mexico. Conspired with the sad aspect of the walls of San Juan de Ulua, in permanent rehabilitation, the day looks leaden and threatening.
Seeking a board that I remember the overwhelming history of this place. I speak of the beginning of its construction shortly after the arrival of the Spanish, of the heroic defense against the attacks of corsairs and pirates, the time that became the most formidable fortress of Hispanic America, of the illustrious prisoners who passed through its cells fearsome. Something, in the end, to rehabilitate my eyes the magnificence of a fortress come down. Nothing at all. There is only written record of the expulsion of the Spanish a 18 November 1825, ago 186 years.
The final chapter of the Spanish presence in the former New Spain fell short of the epic of Cortez, one of the most formidable adventure of all time. Mexico had gained independence four years ago, in 1821, but a small contingent of Spanish remained barricaded in the fort of Veracruz under the command of Brigadier simple, Coppinger, who bombarded the city with a bang, the desperate dying lion paw. The situation was surreal, almost comical, if it were not for the testimonial Spanish presence betrayed the reluctance of the Crown to definitely lose your most valuable possession. While waiting for reinforcements that never arrived from Cuba, Coppinger was forced to negotiate the final surrender to the Mexican offensive, headed by General Miguel Barragan, Governor of Veracruz. The hundred or so members of the garrison was shipped to Havana. The document in which the surrender was expressed recorded that, morning 21 November 1825, "The Spanish flag was lowered it was in the castle of San Juan de Ulua, all military ceremonial honors, and the 11:00 hours was hoisted the tricolor flag of Mexico, which was greeted with salvos of artillery, louder music and enthusiasm of the population of the port of Veracruz ". But Spain did not relent in its efforts and, four years later, starred in a delusional attempt to reconquer the land to 3.500 soldiers in the Veracruz coast. It was the sad, shameful and undeserved epilogue to three centuries of Spanish presence in Mexico.
I climb the tower of the fort haunted by the feeling of regret, of fatalism, breathed in San Juan de Ulua, especially in its narrow corridors, prelude to the dreaded "jars", moisture impregnated cells, tides that flooded at will, where prisoners languished when this site was the most feared prison in Mexico. If this was a posh hotel, walls could boast of illustrious guests as revolutionary Benito Juarez, who passes through these dungeons had to bring luck: four years later, in 1857, became the first elected indigenous president of Mexico. The old General Porfirio Diaz also used San Juan de Ulua to soften the opposition of his critics. Or, can not be otherwise, figure captions, as that of the Sorceress known as "the mulata de Córdoba", who has escaped from his cell on board a ship that had drawn with charcoal on the wall. Pure poetry from such darkness.
