Oscar Raimundo Benavides

Óscar Raimundo Benavides Larrea (Lima, March 15, 1876-Lima, July 2, 1945) was a Peruvian soldier and politician, Provisional President of Peru on two occasions, from 1914 to 1915, appointed by the bicameral Parliament after the coup against President Guillermo Billinghurst; and from 1933 to 1939, designated by the Constituent Congress. In 1940, he was conferred the rank of Grand Marshal.

Biography

He completed his school studies at the Colegio Guadalupe in Lima and in Chincha. In 1890 he entered the Military School of Lima, from where he graduated in 1894, beginning his military career that would take him to the rank of major general in 1933. He participated in the political-military events of the country and received training in France and Germany. In the conflict with Colombia, which began in 1911, he had distinguished action in the combat at La Pedrera, on the banks of the Caquetá River (July 10, 11 and 12, 1911), making the invaders flee. He removed President Guillermo Billinghurst in 1914 and was named Provisional President, a position he held until 1915. In this first short term he successfully dealt with the monetary problem, establishing paper money. After handing over power to José Pardo y Barreda, he went to Europe where he exercised diplomatic functions. When the dictatorship of Augusto Leguía began in 1919, he returned to Peru but was deported, going back to Europe, although he continued to conspire against Leguía. When he was overthrown by Luis Miguel Sánchez Cerro in 1930, he returned to Peru, but he returned to Europe that same year, going on to exercise diplomatic functions in Spain and England. Called by President Sánchez Cerro at the outbreak of the Colombian-Peruvian War, he assumed the Directorate of the National Defense Council and, after Sánchez Cerro was assassinated, he was empowered by Congress to finish his term and negotiate peace with Colombia, Rio de Janeiro Protocol (1934). In this second government, he severely repressed the Apristas and communists, and overcame the economic crisis. In 1936, the elections that gave Luis Antonio Eguiguren an advantage because he was supported by the Apristas were annulled, and Benavides was extended in power for three more years. Under the motto of "order, peace and progress", he ruled until 1939, when he handed over command to Manuel Prado Ugarteche, whose Congress granted him the title of Marshal of Peru in 1940. He later served as ambassador in Madrid and Buenos Aires, and returned to Peru in 1944 to help create the National Democratic Front, which nominated José Luis Bustamante y Rivero for president in 1945. He died shortly after his triumph.

Childhood and youth

Son of José Miguel Benavides y Gallegos, sergeant major of the National Guard, a native of Lima; and to Erfilia Larrea Bazo, a native of Chincha, Óscar Raymundo was born in Barrios Altos, Lima. He began his studies at the Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe National College in Lima (1884) and finished them in Chincha due to the disturbances derived from the war with Chile.

In 1890 he enrolled in the Military School, in Lima, as a cadet and was honored with his promotion, in addition to being recognized as Lieutenant of artillery, in 1894. Immediately, he joined the artillery brigade of the “ Dos de Mayo” from the Bellavista barracks. He had a disciplined attitude towards a group of pierolistas who tried to assault said barracks, during the revolution of 1894-1895. He was separated from service, but was reinstated in August 1895. He formed successively in the "Callao" No. 5 and "Ayacucho" No. 3 battalions, being promoted to lieutenant in 1899 and to captain in 1901, and assigned to the regiment mountain artillery.

He studied at the Escuela Superior de Guerra, directed by the French mission headed by Paul Clement, and simultaneously studied mathematics at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of San Marcos. In 1906, at the age of 30, he graduated as sergeant major with the highest marks.

To complete his military training, in 1907 the government sent him to France, where already as a lieutenant colonel (1909) he participated in maneuvers with the French army. The French Republic distinguished him with the Cross of the Legion of Honor. He also took advantage of his stay in Europe to manage the purchase of arms in Austria and Germany (in 1910).

Caquetá Campaign

After returning to Peru in December 1910, Benavides was appointed commander of the 9th Infantry Battalion stationed in Chiclayo, on the north coast of Peru. In February 1911 the government ordered Benavides to lead the 9th Battalion to the northeastern border with Colombia in the Peruvian Amazon. Colombia had established a fortified post at La Pedrera, on the southern bank of the Caquetá River, which, according to the Porras-Tanco Argáez Treaty of 1909, was within Peruvian territory.

Colonel Oscar R. Benavides.

The 9th Battalion had to travel more than 2,000 kilometers through roadless stretches of the Andes in Cajamarca and Chachapoyas until they reached the Amazon jungle. In the District of Balsapuerto, at the headwaters of the Huallaga River, the expedition prepared rafts and obtained canoes and sailed downstream to Yurimaguas, on the Huallaga River, from where it continued by boat to Iquitos, on the Amazon River. The fluvial expedition, which consisted of a float and four boats, set sail from Iquitos on June 29, 1911, four months after leaving Chiclayo. On July 10, he was in front of La Pedrera with the flags fluttering. After an exchange of notes with which the Colombian commander refused to abandon the position, Commander Benavides began the attack. The victory was complete for the Peruvian forces. But, on July 24, to his dismay, Commander Benavides was informed that the governments of Peru and Colombia had signed a treaty whereby the Peruvian forces had to abandon Caquetá and retreat to the Putumayo River.

Still in La Pedrera, on July 28, 1911, the Peruvian forces celebrated the National Holidays of Independence Day; but they lacked equipment to protect themselves from the weather and endemic infectious diseases in the region. On July 29 the troops were attacked by a violent epidemic of yellow fever and beriberi. Lacking medicine, the troops were cruelly decimated.

On August 4, Commander Benavides returned to Iquitos. He was promoted to the rank of infantry colonel (30 September). Despite this, Benavides wrote in his diary: «I have suffered so much, that the victory achieved, the applause and the promotion that has been conferred on me, have not compensated me in the way that many presume and as it would have been if I had not suffered so many. setbacks".

The government sent Benavides to Europe for beriberi treatment. When he returned on April 8, 1912, he was received as a national hero and in his honor a military parade was organized in Lima along the Jirón de la Unión to the Plaza de Armas.

Benavides was appointed commander-in-chief of the Third Region, in Arequipa, and in November 1913 he was appointed chief of the Army General Staff, based in Lima.

First government (1914-1915)

Óscar R. Benavides, president of Peru (1914-1915).

In 1913 the President of the Republic was Guillermo Billinghurst who had been elected in 1912 with the support of the labor movements. Faced with opposition from a significant portion of Congress, which stood in the way of fulfilling his promises to workers such as 8-hour work, the right to unionize, and to strike, Billinghurst planned to dissolve Congress. Some deputies began to conspire to depose the President, and thus keep power concentrated in the Peruvian oligarchy, and they obtained the support of Lieutenant Colonel José Urdanivia Ginés, the head of a section of the General Staff. Billinghurst was trying to arm the population so that it would face the armed forces. The conspirators contacted Colonel Benavides, who agreed to support them both to defend the constitutional order and to avoid a split in the armed forces.

On February 3, 1914, Billinghurst removed Benavides from the command of the Army General Staff, a fact that only served to precipitate the coup. At dawn on February 4, the garrison in Lima under the command of Benavides spoke out against the government. The troops approached the Government Palace and there was a short firefight with the palace guard, who finally joined the rebels. Benavides obtained a statement from President Billinghurst in which he expressed his willingness to negotiate. After some talks, Billinghurst resigned and was exiled to Chile, where he died the following year. During the uprising in the Santa Catalina barracks, the horrendous murder of General Enrique Varela Vidaurre, a hero of the Pacific War, took place, who was shot while he slept.

The senators and representatives, meeting on the afternoon of February 4, agreed to temporarily grant the Executive Power to a Governing Board of six members, chosen from among the representatives of the political parties. They were: José Matías Manzanilla, from the Independent Civil Party (Foreign Relations); Rafael Grau, from the Leguíista Civil Party (Justice and Instruction); José Balta, from the Liberal Party (Treasury); Arturo Osores, from the Constitutional Party (Government) and Benjamín Boza, from the Democratic Party]] (Development). And as president of the Board, Colonel Benavides.

The Governing Board should be in charge of the command while the National Congress resolved what was convenient for the exercise of the Executive Power. There were those who argued that power should be assumed by one of Billinghurst's vice presidents: Roberto Leguía or Miguel Echenique. After arduous discussions, on May 15, 1914, Congress appointed Benavides Provisional President, with the mission of calling elections.

On December 17, 1914, Benavides was promoted to brigadier general.

During the eighteen months of his government, Benavides restored order and political stability. Regarding the personnel of his ministerial cabinets, Jorge Basadre wrote: "General Benavides revealed to be cautious and balanced when choosing his collaborators". The presidency of the Council of Ministers was successively occupied by: General Pedro Muñiz Sevilla, Rear Admiral Melitón Carvajal Ambulodegui, Aurelio Sousa y Matute, Germán Schreiber Waddington and Carlos Isaac Abril Galindo.

Important works and events

• He faced the monetary problem. Since 1901 Peru had a solid gold coin, the Peruvian Libra, “to par with London” as the Peruvians proudly said. But as a result of the outbreak of World War I, fear forced the population to hide the gold coins and withdraw their deposits into the banks. There was, therefore, the threat of a sudden economic paralysis. It was then used to issue tax bills, with the name of “circular cheques”, by law No. 1968 of August 22, 1914. They were paper coins worth 1, 5 and 10 Peruvian pounds, the issue of which according to this law could not exceed one million one hundred thousand pounds and supported by 35% by the gold stored in the banks. In October of that same year, another law was given which allowed to extend the emission to two and a half million pounds, with the minimum guarantee of gold being reduced to 20% of the issue. It was stipulated that such “circuit checks” would be withdrawn from the market six months after the end of the world war, but the gold coin disappeared almost from the circulation, and since then the paper currency regime was installed.
• The problem was La Brea and Pariñasone of the most black episodes of imperialist penetration in Peru. The British company London Pacific exploited this oil field, with serious indications that it benefited from more belongings of those recognized in the paper, so a review had been ordered in 1911, which was delayed, until the government of the Board of Government issued a resolution ordering to carry out such remembrance or measurement of the properties exploited. This gave the existence of 41,614 belongings instead of the 10 that claimed to hold the owners of the deposit. The government then ordered the payment of the corresponding surface canon, at the rate of 30 soles per membership, making a total of 1,248,420 soles a year, instead of the 300 suns that had been paid until then. However, this problem would continue to be a headache for subsequent governments.
• As the European war broke out in August 1914 (after the first world war), Peru declared strict neutrality.
• His most important political work was undoubtedly the return to constitutionality. Benavides called for a party convention, which met at the General of the Convent of Santo Domingo, in which delegates from the Civil Party, the Liberal and the Constitutional Party participated, rather than the Democrat or pierolist. The objective of this Convention was to unify the candidatures, that is to make a kind of “primary” of the general elections to be held in 1915. In the final vote the civilist José Pardo triumphed over the constitutional Pedro E. Muñiz Sevilla (general of the army). In the general elections, he overwhelmingly won Pardo on the purely symbolic candidacy of the Democrat Carlos de Piérola.

Pardo was sworn in as President of the Republic on August 18, 1915. It was the second time he had assumed the presidency.

Performance between 1915-1933

President Pardo sent Benavides to Paris in 1916 as an observer of the First World War and as such he witnessed the battle of Verdun. Later, in 1917, Pardo named him Ambassador Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary in Italy. On July 4, 1919, Augusto B. Leguía became President of the Republic as a result of a coup against Pardo. In December 1920 Benavides resigned from his position in Rome and returned to Lima.

Leguía feared that Benavides would organize a revolt and on May 3, 1921, he had him arrested. Benavides and twenty-five other citizens were taken prisoner and embarked on the steamer Paita bound for Sydney, Australia A mutiny led by Benavides captured the captain of the ship and his officers and changed the route to Costa Rica. From Costa Rica Benavides moved to Panama and then to Guayaquil (Ecuador) where he re-established contacts with elements opposed to Leguía. The expected revolution that was to break out in Peru did not happen and then, on November 2, 1927, Benavides embarked for France, arriving in Nice on the 14th, where he met with his family.

During the years of the Leguiísta government, Benavides maintained contact with Leguía's opponents and encouraged the coup projects that were hatched in various parts of Peru. Until on August 22, 1930, Lieutenant Colonel Luis M. Sánchez Cerro started a revolution in Arequipa and Leguía was forced to resign from the presidency. Sánchez Cerro was invested as Provisional President. On October 3, 1930, Benavides was appointed Extraordinary Ambassador and Plenipotentiary Minister in Spain. For family reasons he returned to Peru in July 1931, taking advantage of the occasion to follow the development of the electoral process that year, which ultimately elevated Sánchez Cerro as constitutional president. He then returned to Madrid, resuming his diplomatic function. In February 1932, he went to London, also with the investiture of minister plenipotentiary.

Shortly thereafter, the Sánchez Cerro government recalled Benavides and on March 27, 1933, appointed him General in Chief of the National Defense Council, in charge of the Peruvian forces at the precise moment a new armed conflict with Colombia broke out, where some combats take place, including the Combat of Tarapacá (1933) on February 14 and the Combat of Güepí on March 26, 1933, for which Peru temporarily loses that position. On March 31, 1933, Benavides was promoted to the rank of major general.

Second government (1933-1939)

General Oscar R. Benavides, transmitting a radio message in 1936.

Sánchez Cerro was assassinated on April 30, 1933. To complete the term of Sánchez Cerro (1931-1936), the Constituent Congress elected Oscar R. Benavides as president. This action was unconstitutional, although in the face of the internal and external crisis that Peru was going through, reason of state prevailed. Benavides was then the head of the Army, promoted to that high position as a result of the conflict with Colombia. Benavides signed the new Constitution of Peru that replaced the one of 1920, in force since the administration of Augusto B. Leguía. The 1933 Constitution remained in force until 1979, although various points that it stipulated were never fulfilled; for example, what refers to departmental meetings.

Benavides's priorities at the beginning of his government were to seek an end to the conflict with Colombia (a peace agreement was reached in May 1934) or the Rio de Janeiro Protocol (1934) to calm the internal political turmoil and overcome the crisis At the beginning of his government, he gave the General Amnesty Law, on August 9, 1933, by which all those people who were subject to impeachment were granted amnesty and the deportees were allowed to return. This is how Haya de la Torre, the leader of the American Popular Revolutionary Alliance or APRA, was released and the exiled Apristas were allowed to return. But after an Aprista revolutionary attempt in Lima, known as the El Agustino conspiracy, the anti-Aprista persecution began again. The Apristas responded with terrorist acts throughout the country. On May 15, 1935, the director of the newspaper El Comercio , Antonio Miró Quesada de la Guerra, and his wife, were murdered at the hands of an Aprista militant.

The government maintained the ban on APRA, arguing that it was an international party, which was prohibited from acting, according to the 1933 Constitution. For the same reason, the Communist Party was repressed. The jails were filled with political prisoners, Apristas and communists. A novel by the indigenous writer José María Arguedas, El Sexto, is set in that period.

In 1936, the year in which the term of President Sánchez Cerro ended, Benavides called general elections, in which Jorge Prado Ugarteche (initially supported by the government), Luis A. Flores (fascist), Manuel Vicente Villarán and Luis Antonio Eguiguren; the latter turned out to be the favorite candidate of the population. But these elections were annulled by the National Election Jury, as soon as the vote count had begun, on the pretext that the Apristas (whose party was outlawed by law) had benefited Eguiguren, the virtual winner, with their votes. Such an argument was a total nonsense, especially since by then the vote was already secret. After consulting Congress, it decided that Benavides would extend his mandate for three more years, until 1939, and in addition granted him the power to legislate (since Congress, installed in 1931, ended his term in 1936).

Benavides governed under the motto of "order, peace and work", counting on the support of the army and the oligarchy. However, in the last stretch of his term, the boredom of the population became notorious. On February 19, 1939, while Benavides was on an excursion in Pisco, his Minister of Government and second Vice President, General Antonio Rodríguez Ramírez, rebelled and occupied the Government Palace. The rebellion, which apparently had great support from various sectors, was frustrated when the head of the Assault Guard, Major Luis Rizo Patrón, burst into the courtyard of the Palace, demanding Rodríguez's surrender three times. He pounced on Rizo Patrón, who machine-gunned him on the spot, killing him. Thus the coup attempt failed. Benavides was saved, but he understood then that it was counterproductive to stay in power.

Seeing the adverse outlook, Benavides decided to call elections and make the transfer of power. But before he called a plebiscite, which was held on June 18, 1939, and through which important constitutional reforms were approved, such as the extension of the presidential term from 5 to 6 years, the restoration of the two vice presidents and the reduction of the legislative powers of Congress in economic matters. His intention was to strengthen the Executive Branch to the detriment of the Legislative Branch.

General Óscar R. Benavides and his cabinet. Lima, 1933.

For the 1939 general elections, Benavides supported the presidential candidacy of Manuel Prado Ugarteche, son of President Mariano Ignacio Prado and who at that time was president of the Central Reserve Bank of Peru. Against this official candidacy, that of José Quesada Larrea, a young lawyer from Trujillo, who for his campaign acquired the newspaper La Prensa, from where he fought for electoral freedom, for the obvious purpose, stood up. of the government to manipulate the results.

The Aprista party, which was the most important in the country, continued to be prohibited by law. Another important political force, the Revolutionary Union, was also annulled when its leader, Luis Alberto Flores Medina, was exiled. Given the electoral situation, both Prado and Quesada requested the support of the Apristas but they did not take sides. After the scrutiny, Manuel Prado was the winner, with a huge advantage. There was talk of massive fraud.

Important works and events

Other notable events during the second government of Benavides were:

• The University of San Marcos was reopened in 1935, which had been closed by Sánchez Cerro in 1932.
• The Civil Code of 1936 was promulgated, which replaced the Civil Code since 1852. He first recognized the divorce.
• The economic crisis was overcome. The financial aspect was significantly improved, especially with regard to banking and tax collection, and some projects that had left the Kemmerer mission in 1931 were implemented. The country began to enter a period of prosperity due to exports, especially agricultural.
• The Peruvian stretch of the Pan American road was built, bringing together sections of that road in Ecuador, Peru and Chile.
• The Central Highway across the Andes east of Lima was built into the Amazon rainforest, reaching Tingo María.
• The toll of roads and bridges was abolished with what freedom was implemented on the roads.
• The naval dock and the dry dam of Callao were reconstructed.
• The construction of the port of Matarani in the south began to replace Mollendo as the main port of Arequipa.
• Tourism was promoted and the construction of Tourist Hotels was planned in the main cities.
• The National Census was planned and organized, which, however, had effect only in 1940, under the following government.
• By the fourth centenary of the foundation of Lima (1936) great modernization works were carried out in the capital. The current headquarters of the executive authorities (Palacio de Gobierno), legislative (Palacio Legislativo del Perú) and judicial (Palacio de Justicia) were built.
• The armed forces were strengthened and modern weapons were purchased. According to the evolution of military technique worldwide, the French school was abandoned to follow the American one.
• The Ministry of Public Health, Labour and Social Welfare was established and was separated from the Ministry of Public Health. The Directorate of Indigenous Affairs was established as a unit of this ministry.
• The Ministry of Public Education was established, separated from the Ministry of Justice, Prisons, Worship and Benefit.
• Sanitation works were carried out, i.e. water and drainage facilities throughout the Republic.
• Several irrigation works initiated by the second Leguía government were completed.
• neighbourhoods and dining rooms were built for workers and their families.
• Obligatory Social Security for Workers was established.
• The project of the construction of the Workers' Insurance Hospital was studied.

On December 8, 1939, Benavides handed over the presidential mandate to Manuel Prado y Ugarteche, who had won the presidential elections of that year. On December 19, Prado honored Benavides with the title of Marshal.He was the penultimate of the marshals of Peru, before Eloy Ureta.

Foundation of the National Democratic Front

Tomb of Oscar R. Benavides in Cemetery Master Presbyter.

Benavides was Ambassador of Peru in Madrid (1940) and in Buenos Aires (1941-1944). He returned to Peru on July 17, 1944, in order to collaborate in the renewal of public powers and was among the founders of the National Democratic Front (FDN), a group of parties (among which was APRA, with the name of People's Party), which launched the candidacy of José Luis Bustamante y Rivero.

He died in Lima on July 2, 1945, after the victory of the FDN in the 1945 general elections was confirmed.

His remains rest in the Presbítero Maestro Cemetery in Lima.

Offspring

Oscar R. Benavides along with his wife Francisca Benavides Diez Canseco, better known as "Doña Paquita".

In 1912, at the celebrations for Caquetá, Benavides met his fourth cousin Francisca Benavides Diez Canseco, with whom he was linked as they were both great-great-grandchildren of the royalist general Domingo D. de Benavides y Moscoso. She was the sister of María Benavides Diez Canseco (wife of the renowned Polish architect Ricardo de Jaxa Malachowski) and Alberto Benavides Diez Canseco (father of the mining businessman Alberto Benavides de la Quintana and grandfather of Roque Benavides Ganoza). The couple married a few months later and had four children:

• Francisca Benavides and Benavides, married to Mariano Peña Prado, grandson of Mariano Ignacio Prado and grandson of Manuel Costas Arce, both presidents.
• María Teresa Benavides and Benavides, married to Francisco Mendoza and Canaval, Marquis of Casa Boza and Knight of the Order of Malta, decorated with the Order of St.
• Oscar Raimundo Benavides and Benavides (1917-2004), married to the Brazilian Maria Angélica Matarazzo Dall'Aste, granddaughter of the Italian industrialist Francesco, Count Matarazzo.
• José Miguel Benavides and Benavides, married to Rosa Gubbins Hercelles.