José María Lacunza

José María Lacunza
2nd First Minister of Mexico
In office June 13, 1864 – October 6, 1866
Monarch	Maximilian I
Preceded by	José Manuel de Herrera (First Mexican Empire)
Succeeded by	Teodosio Lares
Minister of Interior and Exterior Relations
In office May 10, 1849 – January 5, 1851
President	José Joaquín de Herrera
Preceded by	José María Ortiz
Succeeded by	José Mariano Yáñez
Personal details
Born	August 18, 1809 Mexico City, Viceroyalty of New Spain
Died	January 2, 1869 La Habana, Cuba
Political party	Liberal-Moderate

José María Lacunza Blengio was a Mexican politician and diplomat. In 1836, with his brother Juan Nepomuceno, he founded the Academia de Letrán, where he published his Historical Discourses. As a columnist he wrote for El Mosaico Mexicano, El Siglo Diez y Nueve and El Monitor Republicano.

He was the President of the Chamber of Deputies in 1848. From May 10, 1849 to January 15, 1851, he held the position of Minister of Relations during the government of José Joaquín de Herrera. During his tenure, he was in charge of handling the debt with the Spanish creditors. Additionally, he worked on the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, rejecting the free passage through the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, which the United States government claimed, could maintain the negative in favor of national sovereignty. He was president of the Senate and was in charge of the Directorate General of Funds and Public Instruction, being Minister of Finance during the presidential term of Benito Juárez.

During the Second Mexican Empire he was Minister of State of Maximilian of Habsburg and promoter of cultural policy. Overthrown the Empire was banished to La Habana where he died in 1869.