Andres de Santa Cruz y Calaumana (December 5, 1792, La Paz (Bolivia) – September 25, 1865, Beauvoir, France) was President of Peru (1827) and Bolivia (1829-1839). He also served as Supreme Protector of the short-lived Peru-Bolivian Confederation (1836-1839), a political entity created mainly by his personal endeavours.

Early years

Santa Cruz was born in 1792 in the city of La Paz, which at that time had been recently transferred from the Viceroyalty of Peru to the Viceroyalty of the Rio de la Plata. His father was a Spaniard, Jose Santa Cruz y Villavicencio, and his mother an Indian, Juana Basilia Calaumana, cacique of the town of Huarina. In later years, Andres de Santa Cruz would claim that through his mother he descended directly from Inca rulers. He began his studies in his hometown at the San Francisco Convent and continued them at the San Antonio Abad Seminary in the city of Cuzco, but in 1809 he deserted and returned to La Paz.

Military career

Upon returning home, his father enrolled him as an alferez in the Dragones de Apolobamba Regiment of the Spanish Army. As such, he participated in the battles of Guaqui (July 20, 1811), Vilcapugio (October 1, 1813) and Ayohuma (November 14, 1813) where Argentine rebel forces attempting to invade the Upper Peru (modern day Bolivia) were defeated. He also took part in the campaigns to suppress the insurrection of Mateo Pumacahua (1814-1815), further demonstrating his loyalty to the Spanish Crown. His luck run out at the Battle of La Tablada (April 15, 1817) where he was captured and taken as prisoner of war to Buenos Aires. Nevertheless, he managed to escape, first to Rio de Janeiro and then to Lima. As a reward he was named Commander of Chorrillos

War of Independence

At the time of the landing of the rebel army of Jose de San Martin on the Peruvian coast, Santa Cruz was commander of militia forces in the region of Huarochiri. In that position, he fought against the insurgents in the Battle of Pasco (December 6, 1820), but the royalists were defeated and Santa Cruz captured. Taken to San Martin's headquarters at Huaura he decided to switch sides and joined the Patriot Army (January 8, 1821). Santa Cruz ascended rapidly, reaching the rank of Colonel later that year and that of Brigade General in 1822 for leading Peruvian troops at the Battle of Pichincha (24 May, 1822). He revolted against the Peruvian Congress on February 26, 1823 and forced it to elect Jose de la Riva Aguero as President. As commander of a Peruvian Army expedition he occupied the port of Arica and defeated a Royalist Army at the Battle of Zepita (August 27, 1823) but failed to exploit his victory and retreated hastily.

When Simon Bolivar assumed the presidency of Peru (February 17, 1824), Santa Cruz joined his army and was named Chief of Staff of the Peruvian Division. In that condition, he participated of the Battle of Junin (August 6 1824). Afterwards, he was named Prefect of Ayacucho and then Chief of Staff of the Patriot Army during the campaign for the liberation of Bolivia. As a reward for his actions he received the titles of Marshal and Prefect of Chuquisaca on April 1825. Named President of the Government Council in Lima, he was left in charge of the Peruvian Executive after Bolivar returned to the Greater Colombia on September 4, 1826 until the collapse of the Bolivarian regime in Peru on January 27, 1827. He then assumed the post of President up to June 9, 1827 when Jose La Mar was elected by Congress.

President of Bolivia

Removed from power, Santa Cruz was named Peruvian ambassador to Chile, but he was recalled from Bolivia where he had been proclaimed as President. Sworn in on May 24, 1829, he found a country afflicted by endemic internal disorders and very near to bankruptcy. Measures undertaken to resolve this problems included purging conspirators, reforming and strengthening the Army, reforming the bureaucracy, reforming public finances, issuing new currency, issuing a new Constitution, issuing a new Civil Code based on the Napoleonic Code and establishing Cobija as a free port. The authoritarian regime imposed by Santa Cruz brought stability to Bolivia at a time when most countries in Latin America faced widespread unrest. Furthermore, it formed a solid base from which to pursue his main project, the Peru-Bolivian Confederation.

Peru-Bolivian Confederation

As President of Bolivia, Santa Cruz instigated several failed plots to achieve a political union with Peru, taking advantage of that country's chronic political unrest. His best opportunity came in 1835 when the Peruvian President Luis Jose de Orbegoso requested his assistance to fight the rebel army of Felipe Santiago Salaverry. Santa Cruz defeated Peruvian caudillo Agustin Gamarra at the Battle of Yanacocha (August 13, 1835) and Salaverry at the Battle of Uchumayo (February 4, 1836) after which Salaverry was summarily executed.

At the instigation of Santa Cruz, a Congress of the Peruvian southern departments (Arequipa, Ayacucho, Cuzco and Puno) gathered at Sicuani and declared the establishment of the Republic of South Peru (March 17, 1836). A similar assembly at Huaura of the northern departments (Amazonas, Junin, La Libertad and Lima) founded the Republic of North Peru (August 11, 1836). Both recognized Santa Cruz as Supreme Protector with extensive powers that enabled him to create the Peru-Bolivian Confederation on October 28, 1836. He then summoned to the city of Tacna representatives of both legislatures together with those of the Bolivian Congress assembled at Tapacari to establish a Constitution for the new State. Under his direction, they signed a pact on May 1, 1837 which named him Supreme Protector for a ten-year period.

Invested with considerable powers, Santa Cruz endeavoured to establish in Peru the same type of authoritarian order he had imposed in Bolivia. He issued a Civil Code, a Penal Code, a Trade Regulation, a Customs Regulation and reorganized tax collection procedures allowing an increase in state revenues while restraining expenditures. However, the Confederation generated resistances among several groups in both countries, which resented the dilution of national identities. An important number of Peruvian politicians opposed to the idea of the Confederation fled to Chile where they received support from the powerful Minister Diego Portales. Together they amassed a military expedition against Santa Cruz, led by Admiral Manuel Blanco Encalada, but they were encircled by Santa Cruz and had to surrender by the Treaty of Paucarpata, signed on November 17, 1837. The Chilean Government organized a second expedition, which defeated the Supreme Protector at the Battle of Yungay (January 20, 1839) and forced the dissolution of the Confederation.

Later years

After resigning from his post as Supreme Protector (February 20, 1839), Santa Cruz fled to Ecuador from where he plotted unsuccessfully to regain power. On October 13, 1843 he disembarked at Camarones in the Peruvian province of Tarapaca but was captured while trying to reach Bolivia. Delivered to the Chilean Government, he was imprisoned at Chillan from 1844 until 1846 when he was freed. He was named ambassador to several European countries by Manuel Belzu (1848-1855) and then ran for president of Bolivia but was defeated by General Jorge Cordova. After staying for a while in Argentina, he returned to France where he lived the rest of his life at Versailles. He died at Beauvoir, near Nantes on September 25, 1865.

Sources

Basadre, Jorge, Historia de la Republica del Peru. Editorial Universitaria, 1983.
Tauro del Pino, Alberto, Enciclopedia Ilustrada del Peru. Peisa, 2003.

Other pages about Presidents of Peru

-Agustin Gamarra -Alan Garcia -Alberto Fujimori -Alejandro Toledo -Andres Avelino Caceres -Andres de Santa Cruz -Antonio Gutierrez de la Fuente -Antonio Jose de Sucre -Augusto B. Leguia -David Samanez Ocampo -Domingo Elias -Domingo Nieto -Eduardo Lopez de Romana -Felipe Santiago Salaverry -Fernando Belaunde Terry -Francisco Diez Canseco -Francisco Garcia Calderon -Francisco Morales Bermudez -Francisco Vidal -Francisco Xavier de Luna Pizarro -Guillermo Billinghurst -Guillermo Billinghurst Angulo -Gustavo Jimenez -Jose Balta -Jose Bernardo de Tagle -Jose Bustamante y Rivero -Jose Pardo y Barreda -Jose Rufino Echenique -Jose de la Mar -Jose de la Riva Aguero -Juan Antonio Pezet -Juan Crisostomo Torrico -Juan Velasco Alvarado -Justiniano Borgono -Justo Figuerola -List of Presidents of Peru -Lizardo Montero Flores -Luis Jose de Orbegoso -Luis Miguel Sanchez Cerro -Manuel A. Odria -Manuel Candamo -Manuel Ignacio de Vivanco -Manuel Maria Ponce Brousset -Manuel Menendez -Manuel Pardo -Manuel Prado Ugarteche -Manuel Salazar y Baquijano -Mariano Herencia Zevallos -Mariano Ignacio Prado -Miguel Iglesias -Miguel de San Roman -Nicolas Lindley Lopez -Nicolas de Pierola -Oscar R. Benavides -Pedro Diez Canseco -Pedro Pablo Bermudez -Ramon Castilla -Remigio Morales Bermudez -Ricardo Leoncio Elias Arias -Ricardo Perez Godoy -Serapio Calderon -Simon Bolivar -Valentin Paniagua -Zenon Noriega Aguero

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Andres_de_Santa_Cruz

Andres de Santa Cruz