Andrés de Santa Cruz
Andrés de Santa Cruz y Calahumana was a Peruvian-Bolivian general and politician who served as interim president of Peru in 1827, the interim president of Peru from 1836 to 1838 and the sixth president of Bolivia from 1829 to 1839. He also served as Supreme Protector of the short-lived Peru-Bolivian Confederation from 1836 to 1839, a political entity created mainly by his personal endeavors.
Early life and education
Santa Cruz was born on 30 November 1792, in the town of Huarina, La Paz. He was the son of a colonial noble family, born of Field Master José de Santa Cruz y Villavicencio, a member of the Order of Santiago, originally from Huamanga, and Juana Basilia Calahumana, heiress to the curacazgo of the town of Huarina, near Lake Titicaca, and of Aymara descent. In later years, Andrés de Santa Cruz would claim that through his mother, he descended directly from Inca rulers. He began his studies in his hometown at the San Francisco Convent, and continued them at the San Antonio Abad Seminary in the city of Cuzco. In 1809 he left the seminary and returned to La Paz.Military career
After Santa Cruz's return home, his father enrolled him as an alférez in the Dragones de Apolobamba Regiment of the Spanish Army. As such, he participated in the battles of Guaqui, Vilcapugio and Ayohuma. The latter resulted in the defeat of the Argentine Independentist forces attempting to liberate the Upper Peru from Spanish rule. Santa Cruz also took part in the Spanish colonial campaigns to suppress the insurrection of Mateo Pumacahua, further demonstrating his loyalty to the Spanish Crown. His luck ran out at the Battle of La Tablada, where he was captured and taken as prisoner of war to Buenos Aires. He managed to escape, first to Rio de Janeiro and then to Lima. As a reward, he was named Commander of Chorrillos.War of Independence
At the time of the landing of the rebel army of José de San Martín on the Peruvian coast, Santa Cruz was commander of militia forces in the region of Huarochirí. In that position, he fought against the independentist in the Battle of Pasco, but the royalists were defeated and Santa Cruz captured. Taken to San Martin's headquarters at Huaura, he decided to switch sides and joined the Patriot Army. Santa Cruz ascended rapidly, reaching the rank of Colonel later that year and that of Brigade General in 1822 for leading Peruvian troops at the Battle of Pichincha.He revolted against the Peruvian Congress on 26 February 1823, and forced it to elect José de la Riva Agüero as President. As commander of a Peruvian Army expedition, Santa Cruz occupied the port of Arica and defeated a royalist army at the Battle of Zepita. Failing to exploit his victory, he retreated hastily.
When Simón Bolívar assumed the presidency of Peru, Santa Cruz joined his army and was named Chief of Staff of the Peruvian Division. In that condition, he participated of the Battle of Junín. Afterwards, he was named Prefect of Ayacucho, and then Chief of Staff of the Patriot Army during the campaign for the liberation of Bolivia. As a reward for his actions, Santa Cruz received the titles of Marshal and Prefect of Chuquisaca in April 1825. In the first months of 1826, he was Prefect of La Paz. He left that position in September of that same year to General Gregorio Fernández.
Named President of the Government Council in Lima, he was in charge of the Peruvian Executive after Bolívar returned to Gran Colombia on 4 September 1826, until the collapse of the Bolivarian regime in Peru on January 27, 1827. Santa Cruz temporarily assumed the post of President until 9 June 1827, when José La Mar was elected by Congress.
President of Bolivia
Removed from power, Santa Cruz was named Peruvian ambassador to Chile, but he was recalled to Bolivia where he had been proclaimed as President. Sworn in on 24 May 1829, he found a country afflicted by endemic internal disorders and very near to bankruptcy. Measures undertaken to resolve these problems included purging conspirators, reforming and strengthening the Army, reforming the bureaucracy, reforming public finances, issuing new currency, issuing a new Constitution, issuing a new Civil Code based on the Napoleonic Code and establishing Cobija as a free port. The authoritarian regime imposed by Santa Cruz brought stability to Bolivia at a time when most countries in Latin America faced widespread unrest. Furthermore, it formed a solid base from which to pursue his main project, the Peru-Bolivian Confederation.Peru-Bolivian Confederation
As President of Bolivia, Santa Cruz instigated several failed plots to achieve a political union with Peru, taking advantage of that country's chronic political unrest. His best opportunity came in 1835 when the Peruvian President Luis José de Orbegoso requested his assistance to fight the rebel army of Felipe Santiago Salaverry. Santa Cruz defeated Peruvian caudillo Agustín Gamarra at the Battle of Yanacocha and Salaverry at the Battle of Uchumayo after which he had Salaverry summarily executed.At the instigation of Santa Cruz, a Congress of the Peruvian southern departments gathered at Sicuani and declared the establishment of the Republic of South Peru. A similar assembly at Huaura of the northern departments founded the Republic of North Peru. Both recognized Santa Cruz as Supreme Protector with extensive powers, which enabled him to create the Peru-Bolivian Confederation on 28 October 1836. He summoned to the city of Tacna representatives of both legislatures together with those of the Bolivian Congress assembled at Tapacarí to establish a Constitution for the new State. Under his direction, they signed a pact on 1 May 1837, which named him Supreme Protector for a ten-year period.
Invested with considerable powers, Santa Cruz endeavoured to establish in Peru the same type of authoritarian order he had imposed in Bolivia. He issued a Civil Code, a Penal Code, a Trade Regulation, a Customs Regulation and reorganized tax collection procedures allowing an increase in state revenues while restraining expenditures. The Confederation generated resistances among several groups in both countries, who resented the dilution of national identities. An important number of Peruvian politicians opposed to the idea of the Confederation fled to Chile, where they received support from the powerful Minister Diego Portales. Together they amassed a military expedition against Santa Cruz, led by Admiral Manuel Blanco Encalada, but they were encircled by Santa Cruz and had to surrender by the Treaty of Paucarpata, signed on 17 November 1837. The Chilean Government organized a second expedition, which defeated the Supreme Protector at the Battle of Yungay and forced the dissolution of the Confederation.
During his tenure he advocated for the protectionist economic policies. Andrés de Santa Cruz was a staunch supporter of protectionist mercantilism rather than a liberal.