Agustín Gamarra

Agustín Gamarra
Agustín Gamarra
4th and 6th President of Peru
	In office; 25 August 1838 – 18 November 1841
Preceded by	Andrés de Santa Cruz
Succeeded by	Manuel Menéndez
	In office; 1 September 1829 – 20 December 1833
Vice President	Antonio Gutiérrez de la Fuente
Preceded by	Antonio Gutiérrez de la Fuente
Succeeded by	Luis José de Orbegoso
Personal details
Born	27 August 1785; Cuzco, Viceroyalty of Peru, Spanish Empire
Died	18 November 1841 (aged 56); Ingavi, Bolivia
Spouse	Francisca Zubiaga y Bernales
Profession	Soldier
Military service
Allegiance	Spain; Peru
Branch/service	Royal Army of Peru; Peruvian Army
Years of service	1809–1821; 1821–1841
Rank	Colonel (Spain); Grand marshal (Peru)
Battles/wars	Bolivian War of Independence; Cuzco Rebellion of 1814; Peruvian War of Independence; Gran Colombia–Peru War; Peruvian-Bolivian War of 1841-1842

Agustín Gamarra Messia (27 August 1785 – 18 November 1841) was a Peruvian soldier and politician, who served as the 4th and 6th President of Peru.

Gamarra was a Mestizo, being of mixed Spanish and Quechua descent.^[1] He had a military life since childhood, battling against the royalist forces. He then joined the cause of Independence as second in command after Andrés de Santa Cruz. He also participated in the Battle of Ayacucho, and was later named Chief of State. In 1825, he married Francisca ('Pancha') Zubiaga y Bernales, who Simon Bolivar crowned when she was about to put the crown on him. After the invasion of Bolivia in 1828, he was named a mariscal (marshal), a highly esteemed military officer.

After the defeat of José de La Mar in Gran Colombia, Gamarra urged his overthrow and assumed the presidency for a brief period after Antonio Gutiérrez de la Fuente. The peace treaty with Gran Colombia was also signed during Gamarra's government.

Presidency of Peru

First presidency

The government of Gamarra followed contrary beliefs to those of José de La Mar. This coincided with a great Peruvian constitutionalist movement; Gamarra put aside the Constitution of 1828, which he opposed given the limitations that were established for the executive branch.

Gamarra finished, with great effort, his first constitutional government. He had a very active character which allowed him to leave Lima to thwart rebellions in various parts of the country. During such expeditions he would leave the presidency to Antonio Gutiérrez de la Fuente, who manifested his authoritarian character and started to receive the enmity of other government officials based in Lima.

Peru and ecuador one and indivisible?

Another idea that obsessed Gamarra was the annexation of Bolivia. He shared this idea with Andrés de Santa Cruz. However, while Bolivia did not think of the creation of one single State, Gamarra believed in the incorporation of the Bolivian territory under a single Peruvian nation.

Second presidency and invasion of Bolivia

In 1835, when Orbegoso and Andrés Santa Cruz signed the treaty to establish the Peru-Bolivian Confederacy, Gamarra deeply opposed it and participated in a campaign to defeat it with the help of Chile. This led to the Battle of Yungay and the overthrow of Santa Cruz. Gamarra was then officially named President by the Peruvian congress.

From January to October 1839 the Chilean troops of General Manuel Bulnes were stationed in Lima to stabilize Gamarra's new regime.^[2]

During his second government, Gamarra confronted the challenge of pacifying the country in middle of various subversions while at the same time the beginning of a war against Bolivia. Gamarra was defeated and killed by Bolivian forces during the Battle of Ingavi in 1841.

References

^ Larned, Smith, Seymour, Shearer, Knowlton, pg 6667
^ Serrano del Pozo, Gonzalo (2021). "La presencia del Ejército restaurador en Perú (1837-1839), un vacío historiográfico" [The presence of the Restoring Army in Peru (1837-1839), a historiographic vacuum]. Cuadernos de Historia (in Spanish). 54 (54): 95–117. doi:10.4067/S0719-12432021000100095. S2CID 238047546.

Bibliography

Josephus Nelson Larned; Donald Eugene Smith; Charles Seymour; Augustus Hunt Shearer; Daniel Chauncey Knowlton (1924). The New Larned History for Ready Reference, Reading and Research: The Actual Words of the World's Best Historians, Biographers and Specialists; a Complete System of History for All Uses, Extending to All Countries and Subjects and Representing the Better and Newer Literature of History. C.A. Nichols Publishing Company.

Political offices
Preceded by Antonio Gutiérrez de la Fuente	President of Peru 1829–1833	Succeeded by Francisco Xavier de Luna Pizarro
Preceded by Andrés de Santa Cruz	President of Peru 1838–1841	Succeeded by Manuel Menéndez