Editing Agustín de Iturbide (section)

==Execution and burial==
[[File:Catedral de México.jpg|thumb|300px|[[Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral]]]]
[[File:EXPRestos Agustin de Iturbide 27Sep2010 CatMetMex.JPG|thumb|250px|Coffin containing Agustín de Iturbide's remains in Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral]]

Iturbide returned to Mexico on 14 July 1824,<ref name="Kirkwood"/> accompanied by his wife, two children, and a [[chaplain]] ([[Joseph A. Lopez]]).<ref name="manfut"/> He landed at the port of [[Soto la Marina, Tamaulipas|Soto la Marina]] on the coast of Nuevo Santander (the modern-day state of [[Tamaulipas]]). He was initially greeted enthusiastically, but was soon arrested by General Felipe de la Garza, the local military commander. Felipe de la Garza had been the head of a short-lived revolt during Iturbide's reign. Iturbide chose to pardon the general and reinstate him to his old post. Perhaps it was because of this debt that de la Garza wavered in his resolve to detain Iturbide. On the way to his trial, de la Garza gave Iturbide command over the military escort that accompanied them and requested that Iturbide present himself to the nearby village of [[Padilla, Tamaulipas|Padilla]].<ref name="Rosainz"/><ref name="mexdes"/> Iturbide gave his word of honor and surrendered to authorities.

The local legislature held a trial and sentenced Iturbide to death. When a local priest administered last rites, Iturbide said, "Mexicans! In the very act of my death, I recommend to you the love to the fatherland, and the observance to our religion, for it shall lead you to glory. I die having come here to help you, and I die merrily, for I die amongst you. I die with honor, not as a traitor; I do not leave this stain on my children and my legacy. I am not a traitor, no."<ref name="mexdes"/> He was [[Execution by firing squad|executed by firing squad]] on 19 July 1824.<ref name="elbalero"/>

The aftermath of his execution was met with indignation by royalists. The sentiment of those horrified by this [[Regicide#Mexico|regicide]] was compiled by novelist Enrique de Olavarría y Ferrari in "El cadalso de Padilla: "Done is the dark crime, for which we will doubtlessly be called Parricides." His body was buried and abandoned at the parish church of Padilla<ref name="mexdes"/> until 1833. In that year, President [[Antonio López de Santa Anna|Santa Anna]], deciding to rehabilitate the memory of Iturbide, ordered that his remains be transferred to the capital with honors. However, it was not until 1838, during the presidency of [[Anastasio Bustamante]], that the order was confirmed and carried out. His ashes were received in Mexico City with much pomp and ceremony, and the same Congress that had been against him for so many years gave him honor as a hero of the War of Independence, if not the short imperial reign after.<ref name="INEHRM"/>

On 27 October 1839, his remains were placed in an urn in the Chapel of San Felipe de Jesús in the [[Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral]], where they remain. On the stand is an inscription in Spanish that translates to "Agustín de Iturbide. Author of the independence of Mexico. Compatriot, cry for him; passerby, admire him. This monument guards the ashes of a hero. His soul rests in the bosom of God."<ref name="Rosainz"/>