Juan Díaz Covarrubias (27 December 1837 – 11 April 1859) was a Mexican writer and poet of liberal ideology. He was one of the Martyrs of

Tacubaya Tacubaya is a working-class area of west-central Mexico City, in the borough of Miguel Hidalgo, consisting of the '' colonia'' Tacubaya proper and adjacent areas in other colonias, with San Miguel Chapultepec sección II, Observatorio, Daniel Ga ...

who were executed during the War of the Reform in Mexico.

Biography

Diaz Covarrubias was born in

Xalapa Xalapa or Jalapa (, ), officially Xalapa-Enríquez (), is the capital city of the Mexican state of Veracruz and the name of the surrounding municipality. In the 2005 census the city reported a population of 387,879 and the municipality of which ...

Veracruz Veracruz (), formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave), is one of the 31 states which, along with Me ...

on 27 December 1837. His father, poet José de Jesús Díaz, had an artistic influence on him, since it was customary to hold

tertulia A tertulia (, ; pt, tertúlia ; ca, tertúlia ) is a social gathering with literary or artistic overtones, especially in Iberian Peninsula, Iberia or in Spanish America. Tertulia also means an informal meeting of people to talk about current affa ...

at the home. In 1848 he moved with his family to

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital city, capital and primate city, largest city of Mexico, and the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North Amer ...

and enrolled in the to study philosophy and Latin. He became friends with law student Manuel Mateos —brother of — and

Ignacio Manuel Altamirano Ignacio Manuel Altamirano Basilio (; 13 November 1834 – 13 February 1893) was a Mexican radical liberal writer, journalist, teacher and politician. He wrote ''Clemencia'' (1869), which is often considered to be the first modern Mexican novel. ...

. He also was a pupil of Ignacio Ramírez. Despite his great interest in literature and poetry, in 1852 Diaz Covarrubias began to study for a career in medicine. He joined the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

and simultaneously published articles and poems in the newspapers ''El Monitor Republicano'', ''El Siglo Diez y Nueve'' and the ''Diario de Avisos''. Hearing rumours of the imminent clash between liberal and conservative troops in Tacubaya, he went there to offer his medical services to the troops of

Santos Degollado José Santos Degollado Sánchez (born November 1, 1811, in Hacienda de Robles, Guanajuato – died June 15, 1861, in Llanos de Salazar, State of Mexico) was a Mexican Liberal politician and military leader. He was raised by a priest in Michoac� ...

. The battle of Tacubaya resulted to be a victory for the conservative army commanded by Leonardo Márquez. After the battle General

Miguel Miramón Miguel Gregorio de la Luz Atenógenes Miramón y Tarelo, known as Miguel Miramón, (29 September 1831 – 19 June 1867) was a Mexican conservative general who became president of Mexico at the age of twenty seven during the Reform War, serving ...

ordered the Liberal officials who had been apprehended to be executed. In an excess committed by the soldiers of Márquez, in addition to officials and soldiers, doctors and civilians were executed. Covarrubias and his friend Mateos died at the ''paredón'' (execution wall) in

, Mexico City on 11 April 1859. The shooting of Díaz Covarrubias and the other Martyrs of Tacubaya was strongly criticized by in ''El Siglo Diez y Nueve''.

Manuel Acuña Manuel Acuña Navarro (27 August 1849 – 6 December 1873) was a 19th-century Mexican writer. He focused on poetry but also wrote some novels and plays. He committed suicide at age 24. It is not certain why he killed himself, but it is thought tha ...

called Diaz Covarrubias "the Poet Martyr". The town of San Juan Sugar in Hueyapan de Ocampo,

was named in his honour on 20 May 1938. Also

Chalco de Díaz Covarrubias Chalco de Díaz Covarrubias () is a city that is municipal seat of the surrounding municipality of Chalco. It lies in the eastern part of the State of Mexico just east of the Federal District of Mexico and is considered part of the Mexico City ...

, municipal seat of the surrounding municipality of Chalco, added the surname of the poet to its name, as a tribute to his work. Obras de Juan Díaz Covarrubias

Works

He belonged to the romanticism movement. and is considered one of the pioneers of the Mexican historical novel. In his short life, he wrote numerous poems, several tales and three novels: * ''Gil Gómez el insurgente'' (Gil Gómez the Insurgent) * ''La clase media'' (The Half Class) * ''El diablo en México'' (The Devil in Mexico) * ''La azucena y la violeta'' (The Lily and the Violet) * ''La sensitiva'' (The Sensitive Girl) * ''Episodio juvenil'' (Juvenile Episode) In 1959, on the centenary of his death, the historian Clementina Díaz y de Ovando compiled his ''Complete Works.''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Diaz Covarrubias, Juan 1859 deaths 1837 births Executed Mexican people Mexican male novelists Mexican male poets Mexican male writers 19th-century Mexican poets 19th-century Mexican novelists 19th-century male writers