Real del Monte was a prosperous mining city under the Spanish crown, located in east-central Mexico—today a municipality in the state of Hidalgo.
He is considered by many to be one of the richest and most powerful Spaniards in the colonies at the time of the strike, and is noted for his incredible business skill in restoring his bankrupt uncle's estate to one of the most prosperous silver producing regions in the whole of Spanish America (Ladd).
Due in large part to the prosperous silver mines, the viceroyalty of New Spain generated the most income for the Spanish crown of all the colonial holdings.
The majority worked in the trenches and were tasked with filling a roughly one hundred pound bag each twelve-hour shift and carrying it up 1800 notched steps steeply built into the side of the mine (Ladd 11).
In 1765, the Count of Regla suffered economic losses after attempting to drain the water and rehabilitate mines in Veta Vizcaina after severe flooding.
By the end of the year, not only had the workers' standard wages been cut, but their job was also made more dangerous by the increased quota bag size and their partido shares—-a form of "bonus" yet necessary to their livelihood-—reduced to a much lower quality ore (Ladd 47-48).
The August 1 grievance, which represented 1200 workers, went beyond the complaints in the July 28 petition to invoke larger allegations of tyranny and abuse by the Count of Regla and other administrators in the mines.
Due in large part to Cordero's writing skills, the petition invoked international labor rhetoric, not just specific complaints made by individual workers.
On August 15, 1766 the strike turned violent as workers stoned a district magistrate, Miguel Ramon de Coca, and the overseer of the La Joya mine, Manuel Barbosa, to death after pay had been doled out.
With the entire town in complete mayhem at this point, many of the miners took to the streets chanting "Long live the king, death to bad management!"
It was also at this point that the Royal Arbitrator Francisco de Gamboa, "New Spain's most experienced mining expert" (Ladd 61), was called by the viceroy to Real del Monte to help remedy the situation.
After multiple days of testimonials, he drew up the plans for ordinances to be published with clear guidelines for partido mixing that had been judged fair by both workers and management.
Gamboa though, wanted to jail the ringleaders of the strike with hopes that it would convince de Terreros to return from exile in San Miguel.
Violence continued through the end of 1766, especially with worker-anger geared towards the more skilled mine workers who were perceived to work "easier" or "better" jobs, particularly the recogedores (Ladd).
The few arrests that were made were based on hearsay or false evidence, but the February sweeps were the most far-reaching and resulted in the harshest sentences for many workers whose connection with organizing the strikes, or participating in the violence, was limited at best (Ladd 83).
Pedro Romero de Terreros did emerge from his exile, and continued to direct the mines; however, silver production levels never reached that of the pre-strike years (Ladd 93).
The Company began under Colonel Murphy from Liverpool, who gained power of attorney from the Count, Pedro Romero de Torreros, himself to take over contracts to run the mines after the Spanish had left Mexico (Letter to John Taylor 7).
Today, Real del Monte is a declared "Pueblo Magico" by the Mexican government for its historical significance as a mining hub and for its preserved, attractive downtown area which contains traces of both the Spanish influence and the Cornish presence (Fernandez).