AGUSTÍN GAMARRA: BIOGRAPHY, GOVERNMENT AND WORKS - HISTORY - 2024

Agustín Gamarra was a Peruvian military man who began his career in the royalist troops. With the passage of time he took sides for the patriot cause, getting to have prominent participation in the Battle of Ayacucho. He was appointed by Simón Bolívar prefect and general commander of the department of Cuzco.

In 1828 he carried out an armed intervention in Bolivia with the purpose of assaulting and displacing Antonio José de Sucre and his forces from Gran Colombia, which were established in Bolivian territory.

He held the position of president of Peru during the periods from 1829 to 1833 and from 1839 to 1841. This last presidential term was incomplete due to his death in Bolivia, at the Battle of Inagavi, on November 18, 1841.

Biography

This politician and military man was born in Cuzco on August 27, 1785. He was the son of Fernando Gamarra, who was a Spanish clerk or clerk. His mother was the indigenous Josefa Petronila Messía.

His father died when Agustín Gamarra was still a child. From that moment he began to be tutored by the priest Zaldívar.

Studies

His first studies were carried out at the Colegio de San Buenaventura; there it was in charge of the Franciscan monks. Later he studied at the Colegio de San Francisco.

In the beginning, his intention was to develop a career in Theology; for that reason he was an expert in Latin. However, later he ignored this to opt for the military, enlisting in the royalist ranks in 1809.

Nuptials

In 1825 he married Doña Francisca Zubiaga Bernales, alias La Mariscala. She was in charge of raising the son that, long before the relationship between the two arose, Agustín Gamarra procreated with the Argentine Juana María Alvarado.

Military life

In Upper Peru, Gamarra attended the campaigns and battles against the Buenos Aires troops. He did his service under the orders of José Manuel de Goyeneche, Joaquín de la Pezuela, Juan Ramírez Orozco and José de La Serna.

He also participated in the subjugation of the rebellion of the brothers Angulo and Mateo Pumacahua, between the years 1814 and 1815.

He fought against the independence skirmishes of the Indians settled in Upper Peru. He came to defeat the Republiqueta de Larecaja in 1816; This was a guerrilla that fought against the Spanish legions on Lake Titicaca under the command of the Catholic priest Ildefonso Escolástico de las Muñecas.

The indigenous people came to appoint this priest as head of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata. Agustín Gamarra and José Aveleira managed to defeat this fierce army, an army whose objectives were to advance towards the city of La Paz to achieve their liberation.

Gamarra rose through all the lower rungs of the royal military army until he reached the title of lieutenant colonel. However, suspicions were woven around him for having been involved in conspiracies engineered by the patriots. For that reason he was sent to Lima in 1820.

Union to the independence project

The following year he joined the independence project, joining the Liberation Army. This army was in charge of José de San Martín, who years later received the title of Protector of Peru.

Later, in 1822, he was part of expeditions to the central Sierra. He also joined the unhappy Ica campaign, also called the Macacona disaster or battle.

Battle of Ayacucho

In 1823 he was the second of General Andrés de Santa Cruz during the Second Intermediate Campaign. He received the appointment of chief of the General Staff in the contest that ended Spanish domination in Peru and throughout the continent: the Battle of Ayacucho in 1824.

Regarding this confrontation, Gamarra himself assured (in a letter written on July 17, 1828) that it was he who chose that battlefield.

government

First government

This period began in 1829 and ended in 1833. It was characterized by an atmosphere of economic crisis. This was largely due to the wars of independence.

It was also characterized by the commercial difficulties derived from the aforementioned crisis, all this accompanied by incessant political instability.

Special reference deserves the attempt at decentralization that was launched in the administrative area through departmental boards.

However, this trial did not have a good result. The causes of failure were the lack of training of its members, the general irresponsibility of the civil servants and the scarcity of financial resources.

This government had an authoritarian character given the persecutions, detentions and executions that were carried out during the same.

In addition, the period was notable for the complications on the border with Bolivia, although agreements were also signed between the two republics.

Second government

It began in 1839 and ended in 1841 due to his death. Once appointed provisional president, Gamarra concentrated on preparing a new constitution.

Already elected as constitutional president in 1840, he had to control several rebel movements that appeared in Cuzco, Arequipa, Puno and Ayacucho.

Plays

- One of his works as president was the implementation of the steam navigation system. This resulted in the activation of passenger and cargo transport in the country.

- In the educational area, he founded the Colegio de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe. Initially, the institution was dedicated to elementary education, but later expanded instruction to the secondary level.

- The founding of the Lima daily El Comercio is another achievement of Gamarra. With this newspaper a communicative space was inaugurated. With the passage of time, this newspaper also took care to give an account of the events of national life.

- Regarding international politics, a contract was concluded to exploit the guano of the islands. A Peruvian-Brazilian treaty of friendship, navigation, and trade was also signed on July 8, 1841.

- Regarding Bolivia, there was a new war in order to incorporate it into Peru. In this confrontation, Agustín Gamarra was assassinated, a controversial figure in Peruvian history who even today divides historians between detractors and passionate defenders in his trials.

References

1. The Biographical Encyclopedia Online. Agustín Gamarra. Recovered in biografiasyvidas.com
2. (1997). Agustín Gamarra. Recovered at adonde.com
3. De la Oliva, Cristian and Estrella Moreno. (1999). Agustín Gamarra. Recovered in: Buscabiografias.com
4. Rivera Serna, Raúl Rivera. (2009) Biography of the Grand Marshal Agustín Gamarra (1785-1841). Recovered at: es.scribd.com
5. Agustín Gamarra. Recovered in: historiaperuana.pe