Excerpts from Books and Wikipedia
"In Mexico, Creoles entered an alliance with the heirs of the Morelos movement and backed reluctantly into independence. The guerrilla followers of Father Morelos had remained strong in the rugged country south of Mexico City after their leader’s death in 1815, continuing their stubborn fight but unable to defeat the royalists. . . . Within months, a Creole army commander named Agustín de Iturbide began to parlay with the guerrillas. His contact on the patriot side was Vicente Guerrero, a mestizo (partly, it seems, of African descent) and man of the people. When Iturbide and Guerrero joined forces, the independence of Mexico was at hand. . . . . Iturbide and Guerrero rallied a winning coalition with guarantees of an independent, constitutional Mexican monarchy . . . In 1821, a triumphant Iturbide entered Mexico City, where enthusiastic crowds called for his coronation the next year as Agustín I. But the monarchical solution did not work in Mexico. . . . When, after a short year in power, Iturbide closed the newly formed congress, composed of representatives of the sovereign people, military leaders ejected him and ushered in a republic."