José María Bocanegra

José María Bocanegra
Portrait of José María Bocanegra
3rd President of Mexico
In office 18 December 1829 – 23 December 1829
Preceded by	Vicente Guerrero
Succeeded by	Pedro Vélez
Personal details
Born	25 May 1787 Labor de la Troje, Aguascalientes
Died	23 July 1862 (aged 75) Mexico City
Political party	Popular

José María Bocanegra (Spanish pronunciation: [xosemaˈɾia bokaˈneɣɾa]; 25 May 1787 – 23 July 1862) was a Mexican lawyer and politician who was briefly interim president of Mexico in 1829.

Bocanegra graduated from the Colegio de San Ildefonso in Mexico City, becoming a lawyer. During the colonial period he was a lawyer for the Audiencia and a member of the College of Attorneys. He was vice-president of the Committee of Charity of the Hospice for the Poor. He became a deputy to the first Mexican Constituent Congress in 1824. He supported Agustín de Iturbide's ascent to the imperial throne (Plan de Iguala), but opposed his exercise of arbitrary power.

Bocanegra entered the Chamber of Deputies in 1827, and on 26 January 1829, President Guadalupe Victoria named him Minister of Internal and External Relations. He continued to hold this position with the change of administration to Vicente Guerrero, until 1 April 1829.

On 4 December 1829, Vice-President Anastasio Bustamante rose in revolt against Guerrero (). Guerrero received permission from Congress to take the field to combat the rebels. On 16 December 1829, Bocanegra was appointed interim president by Congress during Guerrero's absence, by virtue of his position as president of the Supreme Court. He took office on December 18 and served from that date to 23 December 1829, only six days. On the latter date, the military garrison of Mexico City joined the Plan de Jalapa and withdrew recognition of Bocanegra. They installed an executive triumvirate of Pedro Vélez, Lucas Alamán and Luis de Quintanar. Bocanegra returned to his professional duties as a lawyer.