Sooner or later everyone spending any significant amount of time in this region will travel along Guadalajara’s Avenida Mariano Otero, the busy thoroughfare linking the towering Niños Heroes monument with the western beltway (periferico), passing important landmarks such as the bright yellow Millennium Arches, Expo Guadalajara and Plaza del Sol (the city’s first shopping mall).
The name spills off the tongue readily but how many people actually know who Mariano Otero was?
A brief survey taken this week of a handful Tapatios of various ages recorded a score of two out of five: the two knew he was a 19th-century politician from Jalisco of some renown but could not elaborate any further. The others had all heard of him (possibly thanks to the avenue) but could not recall his claim to fame.
A few more people may be educated about Mariano Otero following commemorations held this week to mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of this learned man who packed much weight and heft into his short political life before succumbing to cholera at the age of 33.
Born in Guadalajara on February 5, 1817, Mariano Otero Mestas studied at the Instituto del Estado de Jalisco, graduating at 18 with a degree in civil law, initiating his career almost immediately. His intellectual ability was soon recognized, and he became known as an accomplished orator, lacing his discourses with references from Rousseau, Burke, Bentham and other great minds of the age.
President Antonio López de Santa Anna had reduced the minimum age of becoming a federal deputy to 25 and the ambitious young man was duly elected to the Congreso Constituyente in 1842. A “moderate” representative on the Liberal side of the chamber, he lobbied for “noble” causes such as the representation of minorities, religious tolerance, legal reform and “responsible” government.
A fierce opponent of Santa Anna’s dictatorial pretensions, Mariano Otero fought for the defense of individual rights in the face of abusive authority. His input was key in the eventual creation of Mexico’s Amparo Law, incorporated into the Constitution after his death in 1857. The amparo is widely used as a fundamental means of protecting a person’s individual and constitutional rights. Amparos are often filed by citizens who fear they may be falsely accused of a crime, or seek protection from arbitrary decisions taken within the justice system.
Otero wrote about and lobbied extensively for the reform of the country’s judiciary and prison system, and was one of only four deputies to oppose the signing of the 1848 Guadalupe-Hidalgo Peace Treaty, which brought an end to the U.S.-Mexico War and saw this country cede large a chunk of its territory to its northern neighbor.
As well as writing many papers on multiple legal themes, Otero collaborated with the liberal El Siglo XIX newspaper, and served as Minister of Foreign Relations and as a senator before his premature demise.
In a belated tribute marking the anniversary of his birth, Jalisco Governor Aristoteles Sandoval and Luis María Aguilar, the president of Mexico’s Supreme Court, last week presided at a ceremony in the Teatro Degollado honoring Mariano Otero and his contribution to Mexico. The dignitaries later helped unveil a statue of Otero at the Rotunda of Illustrious Citizens, where his remains have lain for the past 35 years. The plaque on the statue refers to Otero as a “Jurist, Lawyer and Visionary of the Republic.”
Speaking at a ceremony this week at which he received an honorary degree (honoris causa ) from the University of Guadalajara, noted Mexican historian Enrique Krause paid this tribute to Otero: “He was the forerunner of an open and generous patriotism, not a vain and violent nationalism.”
An older statue of Mariano Otero can be viewed at the intersection of avenidas Lopez Mateos and Mariano Otero.