Rodríguez de Velasco y Osorio Barba, María Ignacia (1778–1851)

María Ignacia Rodríguez de Velasco y Osorio Barba (b. 20 November 1778; d. 29 October 1851). Born in Mexico City, "La Güera Rodríguez" (Rodríguez the Blond) was a member of a distinguished aristocratic family of New Spain and a partisan of the insurgents who became notorious for her great beauty as well as for her several love affairs. Rodríguez was a friend of important personages of the era, among them Baron Alexander von Humboldt and Agustín de Iturbide, with whom she was said to have had a love affair. During the struggle for independence, La Güera corresponded with the insurgents and sent them money and other forms of aid. Two of her haciendas were in the hands of the insurgent chiefs José Sixto Verduzco and José María Liceaga from the beginning of 1813, but no harm came to her properties. She died in Mexico City.

See alsoHumboldt, Alexander von; Iturbide, Agustín de.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Artemio Del Valle Arizpe, La Güera Rodríguez (1950); and Diccionario Porrúa de historia, geografía y biografía de México, 5th ed. (1986).

Additional Bibliography

Arrioja Vizcaíno, Adolfo. El águila en la alcoba: La güera Rodríguez en los tiempos de la independencia nacional. México, D.F.: Grijalbo, 2005.

Oropeza Martínez, Roberto. Artemio de Valle-Arizpe: La güera Rodríguez: Con introducción y antecedentes, aspectos generales, sinopsis, comentario y análisis guiado, autoevaluación, bibliografía. México, D.F.: Fernández editores, 1990.

Valle-Arizpe, Artemio de. La Güera Rodríguez. México: Planeta de Agostini: CONACULTA, 2004.

                                       Virginia Guedea