Juan Ramon Balcarce

Juan Ramón Nepomuceno González Balcarce (Buenos Aires, March 16, 1773 - Concepción del Uruguay, November 12, 1836) was an Argentine soldier and politician who participated in the War of Independence of his country and in the Argentine civil wars, and was governor of the Province of Buenos Aires on two occasions.

Family

Juan Ramón Balcarce was the eldest son of an officer of the Blandengues regiment, the Barcelona colonel Francisco González Balcarce Lat, and the porteño Victoria Damasia Martínez Fontes Bustamante, and the eldest brother of the Balcarces: Antonio, Marcos, Lucas, José, Diego and Francisco. Curiously, the only one of the Balcarce brothers who is usually cited with the full surname of González Balcarce is Antonio; all others are generally known with the surname Balcarce.

Juan Ramón married Trinidad García Mantilla on November 10, 1801 in the city of Buenos Aires. Her daughter, Trinidad del Corazón de Jesús Balcarce, was born on May 6, 1810.

The English Invasions

He joined the Blandengues corps as a cadet on October 2, 1789, with his father being the head of said regiment. By order of Viceroy Melo, he provided the necessary cooperation to the scientific mission of Don Félix de Azara, being military commander of Luján. On February 20, 1793 he was promoted to second lieutenant of Blandengues, and on May 2, 1799 to lieutenant of the same corps. In 1801, he attended the campaign against the Portuguese, being promoted to senior assistant in 1804. The following year he went to the General Arms Command of Tucumán, where he was when the first English invasion occurred.

Balcarce was in San Miguel de Tucumán when the first English Invasion of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata took place, in 1806. He was recruited by Viceroy Rafael de Sobremonte for his reconquering army, formed in Córdoba, which did not reach time for the Reconquest. The viceroy commissioned him to intern the English prisoners in the province of Córdoba. During the Second English Invasion of 1807, Balcarce was assistant to Santiago de Liniers in the defense of the city of Buenos Aires, in the 1st battalion of Husars. By royal order, on February 9, 1808 he was promoted to captain of cavalry and on November 8 he was promoted to Sergeant Major of the Hussars battalion commanded by Colonel Martín Rodríguez.

The May Revolution

In 1808 Juan Ramón Balcarce was promoted to sergeant major and commander of the 1.er battalion of Hussars. The following year, he accompanied his chief Martín Rodríguez and Cornelio Saavedra against the Álzaga Asonada and in the days of the May Revolution of 1810. Saavedra commissioned him with the operation for which the deposed viceroy Baltasar Hidalgo de Cisneros was sent to Cadiz.

First campaign to Alto Perú

When the First Aid Expedition to Upper Peru sent by the First Junta captured Córdoba, its commander, Francisco Ortiz de Ocampo, refused to execute the former viceroy Santiago de Liniers and his royalist supporters. In response, the Junta commissioned his brother, Antonio González Balcarce, as military leader, and the member Juan José Castelli as political leader, to carry out the death sentence issued against them and take command of the expedition, which would head to the Upper Peru.

When the condemned were reached in Cruz Alta by the troops of Juan Ramón Balcarce, who accompanied his brother, they were executed on the same day by order of Castelli in Cabeza de Tigre Liniers, the governor Juan Gutiérrez de la Concha, Santiago Alejo de Allende, the accountant Moreno and Rodríguez. Out of respect for the ecclesiastical member of the Junta, Manuel Alberti, and due to the influence of Balcarce himself, Bishop Rodrigo de Orellana was not executed. Balcarce was in charge of giving the executed a Christian burial.

He returned to Buenos Aires while the rest of the troops continued with the First Aid Expedition to Upper Peru. In the capital, he was one of the first leaders to support the Saavedra revolution of April 6, 1811. Shortly after, he was sent to the Army of the North, to reinforce its discipline.

Upon arriving in Tucumán, he received the news of the disaster suffered by the patriot troops in the battle of Huaqui, and continued advancing to Nazareno, where he received the remains of his younger brother Francisco Balcarce, who died in the battle of Nazareno.

Second campaign to Alto Perú

With the beginning of the Second auxiliary expedition to Upper Peru, Juan Ramón Balcarce took charge of the defense of the Quebrada de Humahuaca, stopping the royalist advance guards, to give time to the Jujeño Exodus initiated by the new chief of the Northern Army, General Manuel Belgrano. Only when the bulk of the royalist army under the command of General Pío Tristán arrived at the site, did they retreat towards the south. He played an important role in the victory over Colonel Agustín Huici in the Battle of Las Piedras, which allowed General Belgrano to organize the resistance in Tucumán.

On September 9, 1812, from Paraje de la Encrucijada, Belgrano sent him to Tucumán with the mission of recruiting and training a body made up of local militiamen. Balcarce also carried letters to the powerful Aráoz family, requesting financial aid and resources for the patriot army. The success of this mission determined that the patriot forces stopped their march and confronted the royalists in Tucumán.

In the battle of Tucumán he led the right wing of cavalry, made up of young men that he had recruited before the battle, while Major General Eustoquio Díaz Vélez led the left flank. He demonstrated notable courage and leadership capacity in said confrontation, which stood out as a chaotic confrontation between divided factions of both armies; included a wind and dust storm and a swarm of locusts. It was a victory of great importance for the patriot forces.

After the new revolutionary triumph in the battle of Salta, he continued to be part of the Second Aid Expedition to Upper Peru, under the orders of Belgrano, and participated in the defeats that the patriots suffered in the battles of Vilcapugio and Ayohúma.

The Assembly of the Year XIII

Juan Ramón Balcarce moved to Buenos Aires, having been elected deputy to the Assembly of the Year XIII for Tucumán. He acted in the Lautaro Lodge but did not particularly identify with the government of the Supreme Director of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata Gervasio Antonio de Posadas nor with that of Carlos María de Alvear.

Campaigns against Santa Fe

Juan Ramón Balcarce was promoted to the rank of colonel, after the fall of Supreme Director Alvear and was placed in command of the Field Army of the Intendancy of Buenos Aires. He had an active participation in the war against the federals in the province of Santa Fe.

On July 30, 1818, he was appointed Governor-Intendant of Buenos Aires. He limited himself to organizing the province's militias and sending his former chief, Saavedra, to make peace with the Indians. He remained in this position until November 12, 1818.

In November of that year he was again placed in command of an army that was to expedition against Santa Fe. The strategy of the supreme director Juan Martín de Pueyrredón was to capture the troops of the Santa Fe leader Estanislao López between two fires; that was, between the army of Balcarce and that of Juan Bautista Bustos, which was advancing from Córdoba.

But López relied on the speed of movement of his army: after advancing rapidly on Balcarce, forcing him to stop to wait for reinforcements, he deviated towards Fraile Muerto against Bustos, which - although he did not manage to defeat him - he left without horses or cattle for food.

Meanwhile, Balcarce had occupied the town of Rosario and began to advance on Santa Fe at the head of some 3,700 men. López surrounded him and harassed him with continuous cavalry attacks, refusing to accept the frontal battle that Balcarce provoked him into and leaving his forces without horses or food. In any case, Balcarce managed to reach the Salado River, where Colonel Rafael Hortiguera managed to defeat the federals in the battle of Paso de Aguirre. Balcarce occupied the capital and sent Hortiguera to pursue López towards the north, but he destroyed him at Monte Aguiar, nine leagues away. Balcarce was besieged in the city and a few days later the retreat began, destroying everything in its path and herding the cattle they found, according to the orders received from Pueyrredón. After devastating and burning Rosario, Balcarce embarked for Buenos Aires on January 29, 1819.

The battle of Cepeda, the Anarchy of the Year XX and first governorship

On March 17, 1819, Juan Ramón Balcarce was again appointed Governor-Intendant of Buenos Aires. He joined the army commanded by the new supreme director, José Rondeau, for a new campaign on Santa Fe. This time the directorial troops were completely defeated by the forces of Estanislao López and Francisco Ramírez in the battle of Cepeda, on February 1, 1820. Rondeau was removed from the battlefield and Balcarce withdrew, at night and in order, all the infantry forces—relatively intact—to San Nicolás de los Arroyos. A few days later, he embarked that army towards Buenos Aires. He was received as a hero, as he was the only organized military force available for the city's defense.

Upon arriving at the capital, the Anarchy of the Year XX was found; In the midst of conspiracies and riots, he resigned as governor-intendant of Buenos Aires on February 9, 1820. At the same time the supreme director Rondeau resigned, the Congress was dissolved and — due to pressure from the federals — he took over as governor of the Province of Buenos Aires. Aires Manuel de Sarratea, a discredited character. The national authorities ceased.

The new governor signed the Treaty of Pilar with the leaders, which declared the autonomy of the Argentine provinces. But it included a secret clause, which agreed to the delivery of weapons to the invading armies.

This clause, which humiliated the people of Buenos Aires—accustomed to being obeyed—decided the generals Miguel Estanislao Soler, Hilarión de la Quintana and Juan Ramón Balcarce to force Governor Sarratea to resign. An open council, gathered by these military leaders, appointed Juan Ramón Balcarce as governor of the province of Buenos Aires on March 6. His government failed to control the chaos and, when the leaders threatened the Buenos Aires people if they did not replace Sarratea, completely lacking support, Balcarce resigned. It had lasted less than a week.

Minister of War of Dorrego, Viamonte and Rosas

Balcarce went into exile in Montevideo, where he refused to return for more than two years. After his return, he joined the Military Reform of the governor of the province of Buenos Aires, Martín Rodríguez, implemented through Minister Bernardino Rivadavia, and dedicated himself to the administration of a small ranch.

Governor Manuel Dorrego appointed him Minister of War, and then plenipotentiary minister before the court of the Brazilian Empire, to remedy the errors committed by the Argentine envoy Manuel José García - who had negotiated the delivery of all the disputed territory to the Brazil—in the peace negotiations to end the Brazilian War. In any case, he could not achieve more than the independence of the new Eastern Republic of Uruguay, due to English pressure, and because the negotiations were taking place in Brazil.

Back in Buenos Aires and faced with discontent over the result of the agreement, he was surprised by the revolution of December 1, 1828; Faced with Dorrego's flight and the lack of support from the forces that should have obeyed him, he handed over the government to the leader of the triumphant revolution, Juan Lavalle. His war minister, José María Paz, deported him to Uruguay.

He returned after the fall of Lavalle, during the governorship of Juan José Viamonte, who appointed him his Minister of War. His first measures were to hold a solemn funeral for Dorrego and confiscate the properties of those who had intervened in the December 1 revolution, using these funds to reward the veterans of his restoration army and the farmers and laborers who had suffered. great losses in the fight.

He retained the position throughout the government of his successor, Juan Manuel de Rosas. When Rosas decided to start the campaign against the League of the Interior, led by General Paz, he appointed Balcarce commander of the army that was to advance on Córdoba. The head of his cavalry advance, Ángel Pacheco, defeated the Peace troops in the Battle of Fraile Muerto, which marked the beginning of the end for him. Attacked simultaneously by Balcarce and Estanislao López—his old enemy—Paz was captured without ever fighting. The advance of the leader Facundo Quiroga on Cuyo led the Unitarians to retreat to Tucumán, where they were definitively defeated. Balcarce returned without fighting to Buenos Aires.

Second governorship

Balcarce was elected governor of the province of Buenos Aires for the second time by the legislature, on December 12, 1832—fourth, if you count his two functions as mayor-intendant during the Directory—and on December 17, Rosas gave him the command.

Rosas moved away from Buenos Aires, dedicated to his campaign to the Desert, Balcarce decided to begin a period of political tolerance. As a first measure, he denied Rosas resources for his campaign, which should have been financed by the former governor and his friends.

On the one hand, Balcarce proposed a federal-type national organization, considering it necessary to sanction the leadership of a Constitution that guarantees the division of powers and individual freedoms. On the other hand, at the provincial level, Balcarce will oppose the one-man leadership exercised by Juan Manuel de Rosas, who had held the governorship of the province between 1829 and 1833 with extraordinary powers. The new governor attempted to resist Rosas' attempt to impose a political model based on the preeminence of the executive and the elimination of electoral competition and public deliberation. In this way, Balcarce repealed some laws, reestablished freedom of the press and drafted a constitution in which it was established that the province of Buenos Aires would not join the others if it were not under the federal system, the president could not be invested with power. extraordinary powers, nor reverse the order or reputation of administration established by law.

The federal group led by Balcarce and his ministers Enrique Martínez and Félix Olazábal received the nickname 'black loins', for its most notorious characters wearing frock coats, as well as the doctors of the unitary party. He had the support of men from the legislature and others also linked to the federal party such as: Ugarteche, Del Campo, Cernadas, Rubio, Galán, Zavaleta, Navarro, Barrenecha and Bustamante.

He held his position until October 1833, when the Restoration Revolution broke out, orchestrated by Rosas' supporters and led by General Agustín de Pinedo; After a resistance of more than a week, he resigned on November 4. He was succeeded by Viamonte.

Recent years

Juan Ramón Balcarce quickly left Buenos Aires, heading to Concepción del Uruguay, province of Entre Ríos, where he placed himself under the protection of Governor Pascual Echagüe and General Justo José de Urquiza.

He died in Concepción del Uruguay in 1836. His remains rest in the Recoleta Cemetery in the City of Buenos Aires.