Iguala, Birthplace of the Mexican Flag

by Eleanor S. Morris

Like Betsy Ross in Philadelphia, USA, who supposedly made the first American flag in 1776, a tailor of Iguala, Jose Magdeleno Ocampo, made the first Mexican flag, in the small town of Iguala, recognizing the independence of Mexico from Spain. Like the triumph of America over England, the Mexicans fought valiantly to claim their country from centuries of Spanish rule.

Ocampo made the flag after the Treaty of Iguala, on February 24, 1821, recognized the hard-won independence of Mexico and established the "Three Warrenties": religion, independence, and union. Each panel of the tri- color flag represents something. Green stands for independence, white symbolizes religion, and red symbolizes the union of Spanish and Mexican peoples. And in the center, on the white, is the Aztec symbol, now of Mexico, of an eagle perched on cactus, with a green snake in its mouth.

Today you can visit the flag in all its glory at Iguala's Sanctuario of the Bandera, where a very large one is draped on a stand behind glass in the museum.

And you can stand on the very spot where the flag was first unfurled. There, a plaque on the wall proclaims, in Spanish, of course: "En este lugar Don Jose Magdaleno Ocampo Confecciono la primera Bandera Oficial de Mexico, consecuencia del Plan de Iguala, firmado por Don Agustin de Iturbide y Don Vicente Guerrero, Jefes del Ejercilo Trigarante y consumadores de la Independencia." For more flag enjoyment, take a drive to the edge of town where, on the Monumento a la Bandera (Monument to the Flag), the green, white and red flies on a tall flagpole on a high hill. From there you can get a great view of the city.

Another interesting attraction in Iguala is the Museo de la Resistencia Indigena, the Indigena being the native peoples who lived in the area, and according to the colorful, well-done exhibits, they put up a pretty good fight, too.

Iguala has another romantic claim to fame: the final resting place of Cuauhtemoc, the last great emperor of the Aztecs. Nephew of the great Montezuma, it was he who, in 1521, led the final desperate resistance of Mexico City against Hernan Cortes and his Spanish conquistadores. His was the last stand of the Aztec Empire against Spanish dominion in Mexico. A large statue of him stands tall on a rock monument, holding that Aztec symbol, an eagle on cactus with a snake in its mouth, just as on the Mexican flag.

A beautiful nearby museum is believed to contain the tomb of emperor, complete with his remains, and there's a romantic story about them. In 1525 Cortes compelled his Aztec prisoners, including Cuauhtemoc, to walk through the jungle toward what is now Honduras. During the trek Cortes became convinced of a rebellion among them, and he executed Cuauhtemoc by hanging.

Then the Spanish marched on, but according to the story thirty of the Aztecs wanted their ruler to have a proper funeral and they somehow hid from the Spaniards. They managed to take Cuauhtemoc's remains to the place where he was born, Ixcateopan, near what is now Iguala. There, a priest named Toribio de Benavente buried Cuauhtemoc's remains under the altar of his church.

This had to be kept secret because the Inquisition, going on at that time, would surely punish the priest severely, perhaps kill him. So in 1529 Benevides wrote a letter to his family, telling them what he had done.

Amazingly, the letter, and the secret, was handed down and guarded by a single member of the family, through the generations since that time. But finally, in 1951, the last keeper of the secret through nine generations, Dr. Salvador Rodriguez, decided it was time to reveal it. Then Mexican President Miguel Aleman ordered archaeological studies that did in fact determine that the bones under the alter were those of Cuauhtemoc, and the church has become a public sanctuary. The bones are now exhibited on top of the tomb, and anyone can come and honor the remains of the last great emperor of the Aztecs, Cuauhtemoc.