Martín Carrera

Who was Martín Carrera?

Martín Carrera Sabat was a Mexican general and interim president of the country for about a month in 1855. He was a moderate Liberal.

Carrera entered the military at the age of 9 as a cadet in the Expeditionary Regiment of King Ferdinand VII of Spain. By 1818 he was an instructor in New Spain. He joined the insurgent Army of the Three Guarantees after the Battle of Huerta. He was with the army when it triumphally entered Mexico City on 27 September 1821.

A lieutenant by the age of 16, he commanded a battery of artillery during the siege of the Spanish in San Juan de Ulúa in 1822. Later he was director of the arsenal and commander of artillery at San Luis Potosí. He defended the government of President Guadalupe Victoria at the time of the "Motín de la Acordada", an insurrection led by General José María Lobato and Lorenzo de Zavala in favor of Vicente Guerrero. In 1831 he was named commander of La Ciudadela in Mexico City.

Carrera was promoted to brigadier general in 1840 and to general of division in 1853. He was commander of the artillery of the Mexican Army for much of his career.