Juan José Ruiz de Apodaca y Eliza, 1st Count of Venadito, OIC, OSH, KOC (3 February 1754 – 11 January 1835) was a Spanish Navy officer, nobleman and colonial administrator who served as the viceroy of New Spain from 20 September 1816 to 5 July 1821 during the Mexican War of Independence.

Two years later he happened to be the commander who brought news of the end of the Anglo-French War to the Philippines, on the return trip to Spain taking silver and fruit.

[3] Upon his arrival in Cádiz, he gave a briefing on copper sheathing, and the Ministry of the Navy approved a project to apply to technique to many Spanish ships.

All this earned him singular displays of appreciation from the Government and the King of the United Kingdom, who gave him conspicuous signs of this when he left office on 15 June 1811.

During a moment of great turbulence in the Mexican war of independence, he was named viceroy of New Spain at the beginning of 1816 but he did not take over the office from Félix María Calleja del Rey until September 20.

Thousands of insurgents accepted, with only Vicente Guerrero in the south and Guadalupe Victoria and Nicolás Bravo in Veracruz remaining in active rebellion.

On April 17, 1817, Spanish liberal Francisco Javier Mina and 308 volunteers arrived at Soto la Marina, Nuevo Santander, from London and New Orleans.

On May 24 his troops began a march into the interior to join with rebels under Pedro Moreno at Fuerte del Sombrero, northeast of Guanajuato.

The United States and Britain, which after the Napoleonic Wars were no longer war-time allies of Spain, and France were all interested in the commercial advantages they would gain by supporting the rebels in the Spanish possessions.

Spanish agents received news that Britons Thomas Cochrane and Wilson were preparing an expedition against New Spain, and that Mexican insurgents in New York had bought a gunboat, which they based in Matagorda Bay to attack coastal trading in the Gulf of Mexico.

When the order arrived in New Spain, Apodaca delayed its publication pending the outcome of secret negotiations being carried out in the church of La Profesa.

On March 7, 1821, the negotiators agreed on a declaration of independence for New Spain, accompanied by an offer to Ferdinand VII to rule as an absolute monarch, without mention of a constitution.

To that end, the viceroy chose General Agustín de Iturbide to represent the cabal, at the same time freeing him from a court case involving accusations of misbehavior at El Bajío.

General Francisco Novella was made interim viceroy until the arrival of Ruiz de Apodaca's replacement, Superior Political Chief Juan O'Donojú, a short time later.