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President Guerrero took power over a liberal government shrouded in
questionable legality and dependent upon the loyalty of the military.
Immediately upon assuming office, Guerrero experienced his first major crisis
when the Spanish attempted to retake Mexico. A Spanish force of 3,000 soldiers
under the command of General Isidro Barradas landed at Tampico in July 1829.
Guerrero sent Santa Anna to dislodge the Spanish force in August, but the
Mexican general could not launch an effective assault and instead dug in for a
siege. Cut off from supplies and weakened by disease, the Spanish surrendered to
the Mexicans in October. In the aftermath of the Spanish withdrawal, Santa Anna
was widely hailed as the savior of the republic.
With the Spanish threat gone, Guerrero enacted several liberal reforms,
including the abolition of slavery in September 1829. His forceful style of
governing, made possible by his retention of emergency presidential powers
obtained during the Spanish invasion, gave the conservatives renewed cause to
rebel.
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