{"record":{"aliases":["José Manuel Zozaya y Bermúdez"],"appointmentIds":["mexico-43cece62e93d90"],"appointmentsDataset":"https://chanceries.org/diplomats.json","archivalSources":[],"canonicalUrl":"https://chanceries.org/diplopedia/people/mx-jose-manuel-zozaya-bermudez-60e8c62fa0/","countrySlug":"mexico","entityId":"https://chanceries.org/diplopedia/people/mx-jose-manuel-zozaya-bermudez-60e8c62fa0/#person","eventIds":[],"expandedParagraphs":["José Manuel Zozaya Bermúdez was a lawyer from Guanajuato who studied at San Ildefonso and held offices in Mexico's legal institutions. A supporter and legal representative of Agustín de Iturbide, he became an honorary councillor of the new empire. In September 1822 he received appointment as Mexico's first minister to the United States, with instructions to obtain recognition, explore treaties, and seek financial support.","President James Monroe received his credentials on 12 December 1822. Zozaya reported that he had been admitted on the same ceremonial footing as other foreign ministers. The reception did not remove his distrust of American policy. His December letters warned of ambitions toward Texas and argued that Mexico should retain the 1819 boundary settlement. He considered the countries too unequal for an advantageous commercial treaty and doubted that the United States could supply the large loan he had been instructed to seek.","He reported extensively but held back from opening the proposed treaty and loan negotiations. When news of Iturbide's fall reached him in May 1823, he withdrew and left his secretary, José Anastasio Torrens, in charge.","After returning, Zozaya invested in papermaking at Loreto near Mexico City, using machinery and skilled workers brought from the United States. His enterprise helped introduce mechanized production into the independent country's paper industry. He later represented Guanajuato in the Third General Congress and died in Mexico City in 1853."],"id":"mexico:mx-jose-manuel-zozaya-bermudez","identifiers":{},"legacyPersonIds":[],"legacyUrl":"https://chanceries.org/diplomat-60e8c62fa010a0a3c13e.html","name":"José Manuel Zozaya Bermúdez","notes":[],"paragraphSources":[["zozaya-mora","zozaya-flores"],["zozaya-letters"],["zozaya-letters","zozaya-flores"],["zozaya-mora","zozaya-paper"]],"profileUrl":"diplomat-60e8c62fa010a0a3c13e.html","relatedEvents":[{"basis":"tenure-overlap","country":"Mexico","date":"1822-12-12","description":"President James Monroe receives José Manuel Zozaya, Mexico’s first minister in Washington. The meeting establishes diplomatic relations and US recognition of independent Mexico.","id":"mexico-recognition","note":"Named people and the recorded mission tenure provide the connection; overlap does not establish personal participation.","sourceUrls":["https://history.state.gov/countries/mexico"],"title":"An envoy brings recognition","url":"Mexico.html#history-mexico-recognition"}],"relatedPeople":[{"certainty":"documented","name":"José Anastasio Torrens","note":"Torrens was his legation secretary and succeeded him as acting head.","profileUrl":"diplomat-f786ce40fffe3b531ee8.html","sourceIds":["zozaya-flores"],"targetId":"mexico:mx-jose-anastasio-torrens","type":"collaboration"}],"relationships":[{"certainty":"documented","note":"Torrens was his legation secretary and succeeded him as acting head.","sourceIds":["zozaya-flores"],"targetId":"mexico:mx-jose-anastasio-torrens","type":"collaboration"}],"researchStatus":"reviewed","reviewedOn":"2026-10-28","revision":"75803250c779ff8e","sources":[{"accessedOn":"2026-10-28","date":"1991","id":"zozaya-mora","locator":"Printed pp.163–164","publisher":"Instituto Mora, Secuencia20","title":"Ana Rosa Suárez Argüello, José Manuel Zozaya y el inicio de las relaciones de México con Estados Unidos","type":"scholarship","url":"https://secuencia.mora.edu.mx/Secuencia/article/download/347/323/323"},{"accessedOn":"2026-10-28","date":"1972","id":"zozaya-flores","locator":"Section5","publisher":"UNAM, Estudios de Historia Moderna y Contemporánea de México4","title":"Jorge Flores, Apuntes para una historia de la diplomacia mexicana: La obra prima,1810–1824","type":"scholarship","url":"https://moderna.historicas.unam.mx/index.php/ehm/article/download/69222/69018?inline=1"},{"accessedOn":"2026-10-28","date":"1822-12","id":"zozaya-letters","locator":"Letters of20 and26December1822, AEMEU t.424 nos.4–7","publisher":"Memoria Política de México, reproducing SRE correspondence edited by Ana Rosa Suárez","title":"Zozaya's letters to the Mexican foreign ministry, December1822","type":"primary-record","url":"https://www.memoriapoliticademexico.org/Textos/2ImpDictadura/1822-C-JMZ-MP-ITA.html"},{"accessedOn":"2026-10-28","date":"2019","id":"zozaya-paper","locator":"p.257","publisher":"Asociación Hispánica de Historiadores del Papel; author at Biblioteca Nacional de España","title":"Luz Díaz Galán, Papeles del siglo XIX en los folletos de la colección de Hispanoamérica y Filipinas","type":"scholarship","url":"https://ahhp.es/pdf/ac-2019-1-255-264-diaz-galan.pdf"},{"accessedOn":"","date":"","id":"mission-9fe6d5f27d546bc5f4ec","locator":"Official historical roster. Its stale “Actual” entry for Moctezuma is superseded by the current embassy. Blank dates remain unknown; appointment and credential dates are distinct.","publisher":"","title":"SRE Historical Diplomatic Archive — Mexican representatives to the United States","type":"Mission record","url":"https://portales.sre.gob.mx/acervo/images/Embajadores-2024/sedes-2024/1_25-Estados_Unidos.pdf"},{"accessedOn":"","date":"","id":"mission-2d0aa2d66171739384dd","locator":"Recognition and bilateral relations began 12 December 1822 with Zozaya in Washington. The 1825 US legation in Mexico and 1899 US embassy elevation are the opposite diplomatic direction.","publisher":"","title":"US Office of the Historian — Mexico","type":"Mission record","url":"https://history.state.gov/countries/mexico"}],"topics":["recognition","Mexican Empire","Texas boundary","papermaking","industrial history"]},"schemaVersion":1}