An haifeshi a Navarra, Spain a shekarar 1789. Yayi karatun lauya a jami'ar Pamplona, amma ya sauka don yakar sojojin Faransa Napoleon da suka mamaye.
An kama shi fursuna a cikin 1808, a lokacin keɓewarsa ya yi karatun dabarun soja da lissafi. Lokacin da Fernando VII ya dawo kan gadon sarautar Spain, Mina ya jagoranci tayar da hankali don sake kafa tsarin kundin tsarin mulkin Cadiz na 1812. An tsananta masa kuma ya gudu zuwa Faransa da Ingila inda ya hadu da Fray Servando Teresa de Mier wanda ya gamsar da shi don shirya balaguron yaƙi da sarki daga New Spain.
Tare da taimakon wasu masu kuɗi, ya tara jiragen ruwa guda uku, makamai da kuɗi kuma ya tashi a cikin Mayu 1816. Ya sauka a Norfolk (Amurka) inda ƙarin maza ɗari suka haɗu da rundunarsa. Ya tafi Ingilishi na Antilles, Galveston da New Orleans kuma a ƙarshe ya sauka a Soto la Marina (Tamaulipas), a 1817.
Ya shiga Mexico, ya haye Kogin Thames kuma ya sami nasarar farko a kan masarautu a gonar Peotillos (San Luis Potosí). Yana ɗaukar Real de Pinos (Zacatecas) kuma ya isa Hat Fort (Guanajuato) wanda ke cikin ikon maharan. A cikin Soto la Marina abokan gaba sun nutsar da jiragensu kuma an tura mambobin rundunar zuwa gidajen yarin San Carlos, Perote da San Juan de Ulúa, duk a Veracruz.
Mina ta ci gaba da kamfen dinta na nasara har sai da Viceroy Apodaca ya kewaye Fort del Sombrero. Lokacin da Mina ya fita don neman kayayyaki, an kama shi a cikin Rancho del Venadito na kusa kuma an kai shi sansanin masarauta inda aka kashe shi "daga baya, a matsayin mayaudari" a cikin Disamba 1817.
