Félix María Zuloaga Félix María Zuloaga Trillo ( 31 March 1813 – 11 February 1898 ) was a Mexican general and a Conservative leader in the War of Reform . In the late 1850s and early 1860s , Zuloaga served as unconstitutional interim conservative president of Mexico in opposition to the constitutional president Benito Juárez of the Liberal Party . Early years . Zuloaga was born in Álamos , Sonora . He attended primary school in Chihuahua before entering a seminary in Mexico City , which he left . He returned to Chihuahua , enlisting in the civil militia in 1834 . He participated in campaigns against the Apaches and Comanches . He returned to the capital in 1838 and entered the army as a second lieutenant of engineers . He took part in the Pastry War against the French ( 1838 ) and the War of Texas Independence . Initially a liberal in politics , in 1840 he defended the government of President Anastasio Bustamante ( who had both liberal and conservative connections ) . The following year he was allied with Antonio López de Santa Anna . He fought the separatists in Yucatán and directed the fortifications at Monterrey . During the Mexican – American War he was mayor of Chihuahua . He rejoined the army and in 1838 was named president of the Council of War of the garrison of Mexico City . In 1854 he fought against the liberals supporting the Plan de Ayutla and was taken prisoner . He was now a brigadier . In 1855 he was a representative of Chihuahua in the Junta of Representatives of the States that met in Cuernavaca . Conservative president of Mexico . Zuloaga fought against the conservatives in two campaigns in Puebla , but on 17 December 1857 he came out against the 1857 Constitution of Mexico and joined in a " coup d ' état " staged by a junta of generals and leading Catholic clergy . Two days later , the wavering moderate President Ignacio Comonfort accepted the reactionary Plan of Tacubaya , thus abandoning the Constitution of 1857 . Various liberals protested , including Benito Juárez , the president of the Supreme Court and constitutional vice - president , next in line to succeed to the presidency , but they were arrested and imprisoned . The leaders of the junta became uneasy after President Comonfort announced he was assuming extraordinary powers for himself . On 11 January 1858 , General Zuloaga demanded the president ' s resignation ( although Comonfort and Zuloaga had been friends ) . Comonfort resisted for ten days . During that time he freed Juárez and the other liberals who had been jailed . Upon Comonfort ' s ouster , Juárez assumed the presidency in accordance with the constitution , but Zuloaga was in military command of the capital , and Juárez had to establish his government in Guanajuato . This was the beginning of the War of the Reform . Comonfort left the country , repudiated by all parties . Zuloaga was selected by the backers of the anti - constitutional junta , conservative generals and Catholic clergy , to serve as interim president of Mexico on ( 21 January 1858 ) . He held this position until 24 December 1858 , when he was deposed by General Manuel Robles Pezuela ( as a substitute for General Miguel Miramón , who was on campaign ) , under the Plan de Navidad . Robles Pezuela held the presidency until 21 January 1859 , and , on 24 January , Zuloaga returned to office . ( José Mariano Salas also claimed the conservative presidency briefly . ) Zuloaga ' s second term lasted until 1 February 1859 , when he was replaced by Miramón . On 9 May 1860 , Zuloaga issued a proclamation reclaiming the presidency , but the following day Miramón had him arrested . Miramón was reported to have told Zuloaga upon his arrest , " I will teach you how to win the presidency . " Zuloaga escaped from León , Guanajuato , on 3 August 1860 and marched to Mexico City . However the Governing Council ( conservative junta ) there refused to recognize him as president . He was president again for two years ( from 28 December 1860 to 28 December 1862 ) , but in name only , because he spent this time on campaign . Later life . Upon the triumph of the liberals in the War of the Reform , Zuloaga was declared an outlaw because of his responsibility for the execution of Melchor Ocampo . Zuloaga tried to ally himself with the French during the period of the Second Empire ( 1864 - 1867 ) , but without success . In 1865 he was exiled to Cuba . He returned to Mexico years later , after the death of Juárez . He did not re - enter politics , but became a tobacco merchant . He died in Mexico City in 1898 .