Joaquín María del Castillo y Lanzas

Joaquín María del Castillo y Lanzas came from Jalapa and studied in Britain and Spain before returning to Mexico in 1822. He worked as a naval interpreter, municipal official, and journalist. In Veracruz he edited El Mercurio, founded El Faro, and directed La Euterpe. Service as an army paymaster during the defeat of the Spanish expedition of 1829 supplied the subject of his poem on the victory at Tamaulipas. ¹

His Washington service crossed the Texas crisis and overlapped with Manuel Eduardo de Gorostiza's special mission. The protocol of 20 April 1836 identifies Castillo as the chargé responsible for exchanging ratifications of the additional boundary convention with John Forsyth. Gorostiza and Forsyth clarified the accompanying obligation to have commissioners and surveyors meet at Natchitoches within a year. ²

Castillo later represented Mexico in London and served as foreign minister under Mariano Paredes and Félix Zuloaga. With Tornel he also negotiated over the neutrality of a proposed Tehuantepec transit route. He published Ocios juveniles in Philadelphia in 1835, translated English poetry, and wrote a geography textbook. After leaving office he participated in learned societies and became a corresponding member of Spain's language academy. He died in Mexico City in 1878. ¹