Ramón Méndez
{{Short description|19th-Century Imperial Mexican general}}
{{Infobox military person
|honorific_prefix =
|name = Ramón Méndez
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|image = General_Ramon_Mendez.jpg
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|birth_date = 1829
|birth_place = Ario Municipality, Michoacán, Mexico
|death_date = {{dda|1867|6|19|1829|df=y}}
|death_place = Querétaro City, Querétaro, Mexico
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|allegiance = {{flag|Second Federal Republic of Mexico}}
{{flag|Second Mexican Empire|name=Mexican Empire}}
|branch = {{army|Mexico}}
{{army|Second Mexican Empire}}
|branch_label = Branch
|serviceyears = 1840 – 1867
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|rank = General
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- Ayutla Revolution
- Reform War
- Second Franco-Mexican War
- Siege of Querétaro{{Executed|firing squad}}
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Ramón Méndez (1829 – 19 June 1867) was a Mexican Imperial general who was best known for ordering the executions of Carlos Salazar Ruiz and José María Arteaga on October 21, 1865, as part of Maximilian's new Black Decree that was signed that year.
Second French Intervention in Mexico
Méndez was a conservative and like many Conservative military personnel, he sided with the new Second Mexican Empire. He was promoted to General and would go on to participate in several battles in the war.
On October 13, he won a key victory over the Republicans at Santa Ana Amatlán in Michoacán, capturing both Carlos Salazar Ruiz and José María Arteaga. Eleven days earlier Maximilian I of Mexico had ratified the "Black Decree" which would execute anyone committing guerrilla warfare against the Mexican Empire.{{cite book |last=Bancroft|first=Hubert Howe|date=|title=History of Mexico VI:1861-1887|location=New York|publisher=The Bancroft Company|pages=183}} Since Méndez deemed Ruiz and Arteaga to be leaders of the republican guerrilla forces, he ordered their executions by firing squad, along with other officers tried for the same reason.{{Cite book|author=David R. Stevens|title=Sin Perdón: Acquiescence With Murder|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bpq-zsLq7k4C&dq=%22General+Ram%C3%B3n+M%C3%A9ndez%22+-wikipedia&pg=PA348|volume=1|date=2008|publisher=AuthorHouse|pages=348|access-date=March 2, 2022|isbn=9781434380944}}
After the executions, Méndez would go on to participate in the Siege of Querétaro as he brought around 4,000 infantry as reinforcements.{{Cite book|author=Percy Falcke Martin|title=Maximilian in Mexico: The Story of the French Intervention (1861-1867)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VZECAAAAMAAJ&dq=%22General+Ram%C3%B3n+M%C3%A9ndez%22+-wikipedia&pg=PA304|date=1914|publisher=C. Scribner's sons|pages=306|access-date=March 2, 2022|isbn=9780722294772}} Méndez himself was captured during the siege and was executed on June 19, 1867, as retaliation for his executions of Republican prisoners.{{Cite book|language=fr|author=Paul Gaulot|title=L'empire de Maximilien|editor=Paul Ollendorff|location=Paris|date=1890|page=529}}{{Cite book|author=Bertita Harding|title=Phantom Crown: The Story of Maximilian & Carlota of Mexico|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C4i58V4V2qAC&dq=%22General+Ram%C3%B3n+M%C3%A9ndez%22+-wikipedia&pg=PA300|date=April 2008|publisher=Wildside Press|pages=348|access-date=March 2, 2022|isbn=9781434468932}}
References
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Category:Executed Mexican people
Category:Executed military leaders
Category:People executed for treason against Mexico
Category:People executed by Mexico by firing squad
Category:People executed for war crimes
Category:People of the Second French intervention in Mexico
Category:Conservatism in Mexico