Miguel José de Azanza y Alegría, 1st Duke of Santa Fe, KOS (December 20, 1746, in Aoiz, Navarre – June 20, 1826 in Bordeaux, France) was a Spanish politician and diplomat, and viceroy of New Spain from May 31, 1798 to April 30, 1800.

He arrived in the New World at the age of 17, in the company of his uncle José Martín de Alegría, administrator of the royal treasury in Veracruz.

He became secretary to the royal visitador (inspector), José de Gálvez, and with him he traveled throughout New Spain, learning much about its problems.

Their expenses were costing the treasury a great deal and their absence from their homes had left their fields abandoned.

He took steps to protect the coast from a potential British invasion thanks to the outbreak of the Anglo-Spanish War.

Because of the difficulties of maritime commerce, the number of factories producing cotton cloth in New Spain increased during his term of office.

One who remained was Luis Lidner, who occupied the chairs of chemistry and metallurgy at the Royal College of Mines.

Pedro de la Portilla, a Criollo employee in the tax collectors' office, met with about twenty youths in the Alley of the Gachupines (Spurs) in Mexico City.

The conspirators intended to free prisoners, and with them take the viceroy hostage, proclaim the independence of Mexico, and declare war on Spain.

To accomplish this, they were counting on 1,000 pesos of silver, two pistols, and some 50 cutlasses and machetes to initiate a popular uprising under the patronage of the Virgin of Guadalupe.

At the second meeting, Isidoro Francisco de Aguirre, a cousin of Portilla, became alarmed at the preparations, and went to the authorities to denounce the conspiracy (November 10, 1799).

Although this was not a serious threat to Spanish rule, it was a startling indication of the state of affairs in the colony, influenced by the recent American and French Revolutions.