Manuel Ignacio de Vivanco
Manuel Ignacio de Vivanco Iturralde (Lima, June 15, 1806 - Valparaíso, September 16, 1873) was a Peruvian soldier and politician, de facto ruler of Peru from 1841 to 1843. 1844. Linked to the Lima colonial aristocracy, he represented authoritarian tendencies and even a certain nostalgic monarchism. He was an obstinate conspirator, whose influence was fertilized by the charm of his personality and his enlightenment; but he lacked practical sense and the audacity necessary to carry out his plans, and he was always displaced by other, more pragmatic and effective leaders. His tenacious rivalry with Ramón Castilla marked a whole stage in the republican history of Peru.
Biography
Serving the patriot cause
Son of Bonifacio Antonio de Vivanco y Cañedo, merchant, and of the Lima lady Marcela de Iturralde y Gorostizaga. He began studies at the Real Convictorio de San Carlos, but after independence was proclaimed he joined the patriot ranks (November 28, 1821). He was posted as a midshipman and participated in an expedition to which he was assigned to blockade the intermediate ports of the south; He then made a surprise landing in Arica, carried out a campaign of harassment against the Spanish squadron and protected the crossing of the military transports in which the victorious forces from Pichincha returned. Back in Lima, he requested to join the army.
He served a few months as a cadet and was promoted to second lieutenant, he participated in the Second Intermediate Campaign (1823), which under the orders of General Agustín Gamarra penetrated Upper Peru, to then retreat from Oruro towards the coast. He then participated in the northern campaign against President José de la Riva-Agüero, joined the liberation army of Simón Bolívar and attended the battles of Junín and Ayacucho (1824).
Promoted to second lieutenant, he attended the campaign to pacify Upper Peru; during it he was promoted to first lieutenant (1825), and when he returned he acted in the initial operations against the Iquichanos rebels, who in Huanta were still fighting under the Spanish flag (1826).
Between wars and revolutions
Successively promoted to graduated captain (1827) and effective (1828), he was incorporated into the staff of the Northern Division in the war against Gran Colombia. He fought in the battle of Portete de Tarqui (February 27, 1829) and was later attached to the occupation forces in Guayaquil. There he contributed to the edition of El Athlete de la Libertad, a newspaper dedicated to combating the development of the war and Gamarra's conduct. Once his prison was ordered, he rushed to Lima, where he requested his retirement when President José de La Mar was overthrown. But his request was not accepted and he became aide-de-camp to General Antonio Gutiérrez de la Fuente, being promoted to sergeant major.
Later he served as secretary in the mission to Bolivia headed by Minister Pedro Antonio de la Torre y Luna-Pizarro, mission that gave rise to the treaties signed in Arequipa (1831); With the signed texts he returned to Lima to enjoy leave.
Graduated as a lieutenant colonel, he was entrusted with the direction of the Military College established in Lima (1832), and recognized the effectiveness of his class, President Luis José de Orbegoso entrusted him with the command of the “Cuzco” battalion. From such a position he supported the pronouncement of General Pedro Pablo Bermúdez (January 4, 1834) and went on to assume the prefecture of Lima. But he had to leave the capital, due to popular hostility (January 28), and riding next to La Mariscala, he was wounded in the thigh. Defeated said revolution, he went to Bolivia.
Back in Peru, he began agricultural work in Majes, but on the occasion of the Bolivian invasion, he returned to service, first collaborating with Marshal Gamarra, whom he accompanied in the battle of Yanacocha; He then supported General Felipe Santiago Salaverry, who incorporated him into his staff and promoted him to colonel (1835). In the campaign carried out on Arequipa he was taken prisoner after being defeated in the combat of Gramadal (January 26, 1836), obtaining his release after being exchanged for two Bolivian officers (February 5).
Fight against the Peru-Bolivian Confederation
After the battle of Socabaya, he emigrated to Chile and there joined the conspirators against the Peru-Bolivian Confederation, participating in the restoration expeditions of 1837 and 1838, but in both he maintained a personalist position and surrounded himself with a group of people to which they were given the criollo name of "la argolla". When during the second of these expeditions the restorers marched to fight against Orbegoso, president of the North-Peruvian State, Vivanco refused to fight, arguing that he had only come to fight Andrés de Santa Cruz. However, he had to fulfill eventual service commissions and was appointed prefect of Arequipa on July 15, 1840, already under the second Gamarra government, due to the resignation of Colonel José Ildefonso Coloma from that post.
His “regenerative” revolution (1841)
Like many military chiefs, he had an ambition for power and began a “regenerative” movement in Arequipa on January 4, 1841, taking the title of Supreme Chief. To combat it, Gamarra sent his Minister of War, General Ramón Castilla, who suffered a setback in Cachamarca (March 25) and later triumphed in Cuevillas (March 30), forcing Vivanco to emigrate to Bolivia. It was the beginning of the rivalry between Castilla and Vivanco, one of the most intense in the republican history of Peru.
Supreme Director of the Republic (1843-44)
After the battle of Ingavi, where Gamarra died after invading Bolivia (November 18, 1841), Vivanco returned to Peru at the head of a column of prisoners and handed over his command to Colonel Manuel de Mendiburu, prefect of Tacna, passing to settle in Arequipa. There he seconded the pronouncement made in Cuzco by Juan Francisco de Vidal (July 28, 1842), who after taking power promoted him to Brigadier General and appointed him Minister of War. But instead of moving to the capital, Vivanco formed forces in the south and revolted against Vidal, proclaiming himself "Supreme Director of the Republic" (January 28, 1843). He sent General Juan Antonio Pezet to occupy Lima in his name.
He installed his government on April 7, 1843 and, trying to consolidate his authority, little by little he gave it an excessively personal tint, reaching extremes such as imposing an oath of allegiance to civilians and soldiers, the creation of a silver card, whose holders were the only ones who had access to the presidential office, the signing of numerous banishment orders and threatening decrees against lawbreakers. A constitutionalist movement headed by Generals Domingo Nieto and Ramón Castilla soon began in Tacna and Moquegua, and Vivanco had to leave Lima (November 30) to confront it. He was defeated at the battle of Carmen Alto, near the town of the same name in Arequipa, on July 22, 1844.
Exile and return. Presidential candidacy
Vivanco resigned himself to his defeat. "As the soldier of honor complies (according to himself he said), with the enemy who has defeated him in a good war. He thought that it was illegal to disturb the only period of rest that was given to Peru after so many upheavals. Almost destitute he went into exile, refusing alimony assigned to him by Castilla. In exile, he lived for several years in Manabí, Ecuador, tilling the land. He was beginning the year 1849 when he decided to return to his homeland under the amnesty law given on September 1, 1847. A group of citizens from Manabí published then to praise him, a tribute to virtue. This print motivated numerous citizens of Arequipa, led by Andrés Martínez and José Luis Gómez Sánchez, to respond to the people of Manabí through an emotional message of thanks (February 1, 1849).
Vivanco was warmly received by his friends in the northern ports, and arrived in Lima; press propaganda began immediately to sponsor his candidacy for the presidency of the Republic. He had the undeniable fervor of Arequipa, with the loyalty of old supporters of the directory and of regeneration, and with a sector of the government opposition, although at the beginning of his electoral campaign there was no public animosity against him in the ranks of the vivanquistas. But he did not triumph and the official candidate, General José Rufino Echenique (1850), was elected. Vivanco then chose to retire to Chile.
He returned once more to Peru to offer his services to President Echenique, when General Castilla led the Liberal Revolution of 1854 in Arequipa. Vivanco, together with General José Trinidad Morán, attacked that city, whose people bravely defended themselves after the barricades erected in the street; After containing the attackers, the Arequipeños left their positions and pursued them (December 1, 1854). Vivanco was wounded, while Morán was arrested and shot shortly after.
After the defeat of Echenique in the battle of La Palma (January 5, 1855), Vivanco emigrated once more to Chile.
The Civil War of 1856-58
Since his exile in Chile, Vivanco conspired by letter against the second government of Castilla, and, proclaimed supreme leader by a revolution that began in Arequipa (November 1, 1856), he returned to lead. It was the beginning of a long civil war, perhaps the most serious that the Peruvian Republic has suffered. Supported by the squad, Vivanco tried to land in Callao (December 31); but he was rejected and continued north (January 9, 1857), to Paita; He hurriedly turned, heading for Callao, to avoid the persecution of President Castilla, and the population of the port inflicted a clear defeat on him in his new attempt (April 22, 1857). This event earned Callao the title of "Constitutional Province", which it still maintains.
Vivanco opted to return to Arequipa, where he resisted a long siege that ended with an assault carried out by forces loyal to the government (March 6 and 7, 1858). Thousands of people died in this episode, including the poet and artillery captain, Don Benito Bonifaz Febres, (1829-1858), whose body was found by a friend in a trench, and Vivanco, once again, he was exiled to Chile.
Last years
Vivanco returned at the beginning of the presidential mandate of Marshal Miguel de San Román (1862) and, when he died on April 3, 1863, the vice president, General Juan Antonio Pezet, acceded to the government, who accredited him as plenipotentiary minister in Chile (April 16 to November 14, 1863).
While in Lima, he was commissioned to celebrate a preliminary agreement that would put an end to the conflict caused by the arbitrary occupation of the Chincha islands ordered by General José Manuel Pareja, in his capacity as commander-in-chief of the Spanish Pacific Squadron. He signed the Vivanco-Pareja Treaty on January 27, 1865, which was angrily rejected by public opinion due to some clauses that were considered offensive to patriotic honor. A nationalist revolution began then, led by Colonel Mariano Ignacio Prado; and when it culminated with the triumph (November 5, 1865), Vivanco had to return for the umpteenth time to exile in Chile.
Despite everything, he was favored by the trust of the Arequipa electorate and represented the department in the Chamber of Senators (1868-1872). On the other hand, the Royal Spanish Academy appointed him a corresponding member (1871); and by order of President José Balta, he oversaw the construction of the Palace of the Exhibition and the arrangement of the surrounding park. For health reasons he traveled to Chile, from where he never returned as he died in Valparaíso.
Marriage and offspring
He married in Lima, on June 25, 1835, with the lady from Arequipa Cipriana de La Torre, niece of Archbishop Francisco Xavier de Luna Pizarro and direct descendant of the Spanish conquistador Juan de la Torre, with whom he had as his only son:
- Reynaldo de Vivanco, married to Domitila Olavegoya Iriarte.