The encrypted letter from Leona Vicario

Mexican freedom fighter Leona Vicario has left behind a coded letter. Can a reader decipher it?

Deutsche Version

First of all, I would like to point out that the 100-euro prize that Frank Schwellinger offered for solving his encryption puzzle is still waiting for its winner. To stimulate the discussion, Mr. Schwellinger has changed the rules of the game. Perhaps the breakthrough will now be achieved.

Leona Vicario

And now we dive into history once again. It’s about Leona Vicario (1789-1842), a journalist and feminist who played an important role in the Mexican War of Independence. This armed conflict of Mexicans against the Spanish colonial rulers, lasting from 1810 to 1821, ended with Mexico’s independence.

Quelle/Source: Wikimedia Commons

The daughter of a wealthy businessman, Vicario used her considerable fortune to support the independence movement. She provided money and medicines, sheltered comrades-in-arms, and supplied information about military activities in Mexico City to the insurgents. She also wrote for prorevolutionary newspapers, becoming one of Mexico’s first female journalists.

The Encrypted Letter

Leona Vicario also played a role in the news exchange of the Mexican independence movement. She delivered letters, taking advantage of the fact that as a woman she was often less noticed than her male colleagues.

In this context, there is probably also a coded letter from Leona Vicario, which I found – thanks to Google – on two websites at once. Unfortunately, the image quality is not very good:

Quelle/Source: D.R. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, México, Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

According to the caption, this is a key and ciphers (“clave y cifras”) by Leona Vicario. However, I can not see a key. I assume that it is an encrypted letter.

Whether Vicario sent or received this letter is not known to me. It was apparently written on May 23 in Mexico (presumably Mexico City is meant). Unfortunately, the year is crossed out.

Possible solutions

The plain text of this letter is not known to me. I suspect that Leona Vicario made a simple letter substitution. Probably this cryptogram has already been solved. Maybe the plaintext can even be found on the Internet.

Otherwise, it should be possible to guess words and crack the encryption. Unfortunately, the poor image quality makes this a bit more difficult than usual.

Can a reader solve this letter? Or can anything be said about the background (such as the year it was written)? I will gladly accept hints.

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Further reading: Dieser Spion blamierte das US-Militär bis auf die Knochen

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