One morning in 1822, without anyone waiting for them, they arrived at the port of acapulco 25 Chilean ships loaded with 6,000 men willing to die in order to free Mexico from the Spanish yoke.
But great was the surprise of the sailors when, upon disembarking, they were informed that their presence was useless, since the Mexican nation had been a year after having achieved its independence.
Chile arrived a year late to the War of Independence
Why would they have arrived a year later? One of the versions is that, around 1820, a Mexican insurgent with an unknown name went to Chile to request help in the fight for Independence.
In this way, Chile, which had already achieved its emancipation from the Spanish monarchy in 1818, sent the British captain Thomas Alexander Cochrane to Mexico, commanding 25 ships with 6,014 men on board.
Thomas Alexander Cochrane
They helped to emancipate various regions of America
However, they also carried the task of, along the way, helping in the emancipation of different regions of South and Central America, something that would have left them behind.
That is why they came to the aid of the Mexican insurgents a year later, according to the historian Moisés Ochoa Campos in his book The Chilean Guerrero.
The Chileans were arrested in Acapulco
Once in Acapulco, the historian explains, the Chileans, who expected to find the Spanish frigates Test and Vengeance in the Mexican port, which did not happen, disembarked only to be apprehended by the locals after believing them to be pirates.
Agustín de Iturbide was notified of the arrival of Thomas Alexander Cochrane and his men in Acapulco. Shortly after, Iturbide recognized that they were not thugs from the seas, but authentic Chileans who came to the aid of the Mexican emancipators. So he ordered them released.
They functioned as messengers
But, since they were there, Iturbide took the opportunity to ask them for a favor: that before sailing towards their nation, they should go to the coasts of Baja California to inform the inhabitants of that region that Mexico had obtained its independence from Spain. And they do it like that.
This is how this almost unknown part of the common history of Mexico and Chile concludes. A story that shows how slow communication was and how late the news arrived, even the most important ones.
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