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The
Republic
General San Martín immediately assumed
political control of the fledgling nation. Under the title "Protector
of Peru" he set about devising a workable constitution for the new nation - at one point even considering importing European
royalty to establish a new monarchy. A libertarian as well as a
liberator, San Martín declared freedom for slaves' children, abolished
Indian service, and even outlawed the term "Indian." But in
practice, with Royalist troops still controlling large sectors of the
sierra, his approach did more to frighten the establishment than it did to
help the slaves and peasants whose problems remain, even now, deeply
rooted in their social and territorial inheritance.
The development of a relatively stable political system took virtually
the rest of the 19th century, although Spanish resistance to
independence was finally extinguished in the battles of Junin and
Ayacucho in 1824. By this time, San Martín had given up the political
power game, handing it over to Simón
Bolívar, a man of enormous force with definite tendencies towards
megalomania. Between them, Bolívar and his right-hand man, Antonio
José de Sucre, divided Peru in half, with Sucre first president of
the upper sector, renamed Bolivia. Bolívar himself remained dictator of
a vast Andean Confederation - encompassing Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador,
Peru and Bolivia - until 1826. Within a year of his withdrawal, however,
the Peruvians had torn up his controversial constitution and voted the
liberal José de la Mar as
president.
The
"Caudillos"
On La Mar's heels raced a generation of "caudillos," military men, often "mestizos" of middle-class
origins who had achieved recognition (on either side) in the battles for
independence. The history of the early republic consists almost entirely
of internal disputes between the Creole aristocracy and dictatorial
"caudillos." Peru plunged deep into a period of domestic and foreign
plot and counterplot, while the economy and some of the nation's finest
natural resources withered away.
Generals Andres de Santa Cruz
and Agustin Gamarra stand
out as two of the most ruthless players in this high-stakes power game:
overthrowing La Mar in 1829, Santa Cruz became president of Bolivia and
Gamarra of Peru. Four years later the liberal Creoles fought back with
the election of General Luis José de Orbegoso to the presidency. Gamarra,
attempting to oust Orbegoso in a quiet palace coup, was overwhelmed and
exiled. But the liberal constitution of 1834, despite its severe
limitations on presidential power, still proved too much for the army -
Orbegoso was overthrown within six months.
Unable to sit on the sidelines and watch the increasing pandemonium of
Peruvian politics, Santa Cruz invaded Peru from Bolivia and installed
himself as "Protector" in 1837. Very few South Americans were
happy with this situation, least of all Gamarra, who joined with other
exiles in Chile to plot revenge. After fierce fighting, Gamarra defeated
Santa Cruz at Yungay, restored himself as president of Peru for two
years, then died in 1841. During the next four years Peru had six more
presidents, none of notable ability.
The
"Guano"-Boom
Ramon Castilla
was the first president to bring any real strength to his office. On his
assumption of power in 1845 the country began to develop more positively
on the rising wave of a booming export in "guano" (birdshit) fertiliser. In 1856, a new moderate constitution was approved,
and Castilla began his second term of office in an atmosphere of growth
and hope - there were rail lines to be built and the Amazon waterways to
be opened up. Sugar and cotton became important exports from coastal
plantations and the guano deposits alone yielded considerable revenues.
Castilla abolished Indian tribute and managed to emancipate slaves
without social-economic disruption by buying them from their "owners";
guano income proved useful for this compensation.
His successors fared less happily.
President José Balta (in
office between 1868-72) oversaw the construction of most of the rail
lines, but overspent so freely on these and a variety of other public
and engineering works that it left the country on the brink of economic
collapse. In the 1872 elections an attempted military coup was
spontaneously crushed by a civilian mob, and Peru's first civilian
president - the laissez-faire capitalist Manuel
Pardo y Lavalle - assumed power.
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