Felipe Santiago de Salaverry

Peru's transition from more than three centuries of colonial rule to nominal independence in 1824 under President Bolivar (1824-26) proves tortuous and politically destablizing.

Independence does little to alter the fundamental structures of inequality and underdevelopment based on colonialism and Andean neo-feudalism.

Essentially, independence represents the transfer of power from Spanish-born whites (peninsulares) to sectors of the elite Creole class, whose aim is to preserve and enhance their privileged socioeconomic status.

However, the new Creole elite is unable to create a stable, new constitutional order to replace the crown monolith of church and state.

Nor is it willing to restructure the social order in a way conducive to building a viable democratic, republican government.

Ultimately, the problem is one of replacing the legitimacy of the old order with an entirely new one, something that many post-colonial regimes have difficulty accomplishing.

By one count, Peru experiences at least twenty-four regime changes, averaging one per year between 1821 and 1845, and the constitution is rewritten six times.

This is not to say that larger political issues do not inform these conflicts.

A revisionist study by historian Paul E. Gootenberg shows in great detail how the politics of trade (free or protectionist) and regionalism were central to the internecine caudillo struggles of the period.

In this interpretation, nationalist elites—backing one caudillo or another—manage to outmaneuver and defeat liberal groups to maintain a largely protectionist, neomercantilistic, post- colonial regime until the advent of the guano boom at mid-century.

This view stands in opposition to the dominant interpretation of the period, according to which unrestricted liberalism and free trade led to Peru's "dependency" on the international economy and the West.

A particularly virulent form of Andean caudillismo surges into the political vacuum left by the collapse of Spanish rule.

Caudillo strongmen, often officers from the liberation armies, manage to seize power through force of arms and the elaboration of extensive and intricate clientelistic alliances.

Personalistic, arbitrary rule replaces the rule of law, and a prolonged and often byzantine struggle for power is waged at all levels of society.

The upshot is internal political fragmentation and chronic political instability during the first two decades of the post-independence era.

On the other hand, the large-scale importation of British textiles after independence virtually destroys the production of native artisans and obrajes, which are unable to compete with their more technologically advanced and cost-efficient overseas competitors.

For the most part, however, the economy will continue in the immediate decades after independence to be characterized by a low level of marketable surplus from largely self-sufficient haciendas and native communities.

The chaotic Peruvian era of the caudillo, however bewildering, can be divided into several distinct periods.

In the first, Bolívar had tried, unsuccessfully, to impose a centralist and Utopian liberal government from Lima.

When events in Colombia caused him to relinquish power and return to Bogotá in 1826, his departure left an immediate vacuum that numerous Peruvian strongmen will try to fill.

One of the most successful in terms of tenure is the conservative General Agustîn Gamarra (1829-34) from Cusco, who manages to crush numerous rebellions and maintain power for five years.

Then full-scale civil wars carry first General Luis de Orbegoso (1834-35) and then General Felipe Salaverry (1835-36) into the presidential palace for short terms.

The power struggles reach such a chaotic state by the mid-1830s that General Andres de Santa Cruz  y Calahumana marches into Peru from Bolivia to impose the Peru- Bolivia Confederation of 1836-39.

This alliance upsets the regional balance of power and causes Chile to raise an army to defeat Santa Cruz and restore the status quo ante, which, in effect, means a resumption of factional conflict that will last well into the 1840s.

Peru's descent into chronic political instability, coming immediately after the destructive wars for independence (1820-24), accelerates the country's general post-independence economic decline.

Silver mining, the country's traditional engine of growth, had collapsed during the 1820s,  and massive capital flight had resulted in large external deficits.

General Luis José de Orbegoso also has to deal with General Felipe Salaverry, who, after the establishment of the republic had rose in the army, until, at the age of twenty-eight, he had obtained the rank of general.

When the garrison of Callao revolts against Orbegoso in January 1835, pronouncing in favor of La Fuente, Salaverry defeats the insurgents, and is appointed governor of the fortress.

Nevertheless, on February 23, he himself rises in arms against the government, and as Orbegoso abandons Lima, Salaverry occupies the capital and proclaims himself "Supreme Chief of the Republic.”

In a few months, he has possession of the south, and Orbegoso has been reduced to commanding a small force in the northern provinces.

Orbegoso does not lose the support of southern Peru, however, and calls in to his help the president of Bolivia.

It is the opportunity that Marshal Santa Cruz, himself a former president of Peru, has been waiting for.

The Bolivian army promptly proceeds to invade Peru.

Luis José de Orbegoso, with Bolivian help, quickly regains his leadership throughout Peru.

Felipe Santiago de Salaverry retires to Arequipa, and on February 7, 1836, is totally routed at Socabaya, a district of the city.

After wandering for several days, Salaverry surrenders to General Miller, who delivers him to Andrés de Santa Cruz, and he is shot.

The creation of the Peru-Bolivian Confederation causes great alarm in the neighboring countries.

The potential power of this confederation arouses the opposition of Argentina and, above all, Chile, due not only to its great territorial expanse but also to the perceived threat that such a rich state signified for the area.

Diego Portales y Palazuelos, arguably the most important Chilean statesman of the nineteenth century, who at this time is the power behind president José Joaquín Prieto Vial, is very concerned that the new Confederacy will break the regional balance of power and even be a threat to Chilean independence, and so becomes immediately its enemy.

An important number of Peruvian politicians opposed to the idea of the Confederation fled to Chile, where they receive support.

The direct conflict between the two countries had begun with a simple tariff disagreement.

In January of 1835, General Felipe Salaverry, then president of Peru, had signed a Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Navigation with Chile.

When General Luis Orbegoso replaced President Salaverry in Peru, the treaty had been declared null and void on February 14, 1836.

In the meanwhile, the Confederacy was already taking form.

In order to force Chile to renegotiate, Peru had raised its tariff on Chilean wheat from twelve cents to three pesos—an increase of over two hundred and fifty percent.

Chile had responded by raising the tariffs on Peruvian sugar by the same amount.

The hostilities begin to escalate until the Mexican ambassador to Chile offers to mediate in the conflict.

Open conflict is averted for the time being.

Both countries are in a heated competition for the control of the commercial routes on the Pacific; and for the Chileans specially, whose relations with independent Peru had already been strained by economic problems centering on the rivalry between their ports of Callao and Valparaíso.

For the Nor-Peruvians also, the Confederacy is viewed as a most serious threat to their economic interests.

After the victory of the conservative party, former Chilean president General Ramón Freire y Serrano had been exiled to Lima.

He had managed to obtain a small subsidy from the Confederate government to equip a frigate and try to wrestle power from the Prieto administration.

The adventure was a quick failure.

The sloop Orbegoso had been captured by the frigate Monteagudo on July 28, 1836 and became part of the Chilean fleet.

In the meantime, Freire who had managed to capture the city of Ancud, had himself been defeated and captured, being sent this time to the prison-island of Juan Fernández.

The Freire Expedition had had a secondary result.

Portales had decided to take the offensive and staged a surprise raid to prevent further interference by the Confederate government in Chilean internal affairs.

He had given command of the small Chilean fleet to the Spanish sailor Victorino Garrido and ordered him to raid the Confederate fleet that was stationed in the port of Callao.

Garrido, who had arrived with the Aquiles on a good will visit, had staged a silent attack on the night of August 21, 1836, managing to capture 3 confederate ships: the Santa Cruz, Arequipeño and Peruviana.

Instead of immediately going to war, Santa Cruz tries to negotiate with Chile.

The Chilean Congress sends Mariano Egaña as plenipotentiary to negotiate a treaty based on several points: the payments of the outstanding international debts owed by Peru to Chile, the limitation of the outstanding armies, commercial agreements, indemnification to Chile for the Freire Expedition, and the dissolution of the Confederation.

Santa Cruz agrees to everything but the dissolution.

Chile responds by declaring war on December 28, 1836.