Ángel Ortiz Monasterio

Monasterio was born in Mexico City, on January 15, 1849,^[1] during the Mexican-American War and his parents fled Mexico looking for a better life in Spain, where his mother was from, since at that time Mexico had lost more than half of its territory.^[2]

He studied as a military sailor in Spain, where he was an outstanding student and military man, serving the Spanish Navy in the military operations of the Glorious Revolution and in the assault on Cartagena, under the orders of General Juan Prim. During these years, the Third Carlist War and the Ten Years' War would plague Spain and events which Monasterio would participate in. For his actions, he received the Civil Order of Alfonso XII and the Medal of the Campaign of Cuba with pins from 1871, 1872 and 1873. He attended the various revolutionary movements of 1869 and 1870, later going on to direct the campaign on the island of Cuba in the fighting at Paso de San Fernando, Laguna de los Indios and the assault on the entrenched camp of Curaíto.^[2]

He was awarded the Iron Cross after making an assault on France and achieving victory; However, the military event that made him famous in the Spanish Navy was the capture of the American filibuster ship Virginius, in 1873, and that earned him the highest distinction awarded in those years by Spain: the Red Cross of Naval Merit .

Ortiz Monasterio was only 24 years old when he obtained this momentous victory for Spain, preventing the triumph of the insurgents of the Ten Years' War, hindering the arrival of an important shipment of arms, ammunition and men. From a tactical point of view, he prepared to board the Virginius Ship and with only 10 sailors under his command, he took 165 prisoners, including the President-elect of Cuba and the General-in-Chief of the Cuban Army and two Major Generals of the Cuban Army.

In 1878 after 13 years of service in the Spanish Navy, he decided to join the Mexican Navy, wanting to return to Mexico after having contributed to the Spanish Navy. After seven months of service in the Mexican Navy, he was appointed to the position of Chief of the Department of the Navy, a position he held for six years. Likewise, after having finished the position of Chief of the Department of the Navy between 1895 and 1905, he served as Chief of the Presidential General Staff. In 1902 he recovered the town of Bacalar that the Mayans had occupied, during the Caste War of Yucatán. He was, for all this, an important person in the naval field of the Navy and Merchant Navy in Mexico.