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THE CREATION OF THE REPUBLIC OF BOLIVIA

by

CHARLES W. ARNADE

A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE COUNCIL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE PARTIAL IN DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY DEGREE OF

UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA August, 1955

UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA

3 1262 08642 713 4

^.:§^ PREFACE

Th» entire history of Bolivia needs to be rewritten; it is badly

dwie and unexplored by Bolivians and it is coBpletely unknown outside the country.

Of all Latin American history probably Bolivia's is the most

neglected, since little is available to acquaint those interested with

this fascinating country's events of the past.

In English practically

nothing can be found except some descriptions of Bolivia, and in Spanish the few works are of poor quality with the exceptiwi of several iteias that are so rare that they are unavailable even in the most famous libraries.

In the classroom of any course, xrnder graduate or graduate, dealing with Latin

ftraerican

history, Bolivia is usually skipped or if mentioned, only

the interesting but mostly false, anecdotes of Mariano Melgarejo are

told because of their humorous note,

Bolivia's most important statesman,

who was as important to the coxmtry as was Rosas to Argentina, Prancia to Paraguay, Santa Ana to Mexico, is not even known by Latin American special-

ists with the exception of a few, not more than a half-dozen,

'^ho

has

heard of Casimiro Olaneta, the man who practically managed the country from 1823 to I860, althou^ he was never president?

This present

stucljr

is the

first attempt to give in English a section of Bolivian history, the emergence

and creation of the rei^ublic.

But because this is a pioneer work, and

although it has been written with care, it undoubtedly will have mistakes

and maybe erroneous interpretations,

I hope, however, that I have given

the initial impulse and that further studies, monographs and dissertations -ii-

will be written about Bolivian histoiy.

It remains for Bolivian his-

torians who, with the exception of a few, ignore documents and write

history fran poor secondary sources, to examine thoroughly the primary

naterial and evaluate this stucty. Cai^ has been taken to use and consult as many sources as possible.

But it must be admitted that for a nearly perfect study of Bolivia in this period one should consult the archives in Buenos Aires and Salta, in Lima and in Spain, besides the Bolivian repositories.

Because of financial

reasons this was naturally in^ossible, and a choice had to be made.

I

decided that probably Bolivia would be the best and most appropriate place to write this work and I feel that I nade the right selection,

I an con-

fident that this atady with its new infonnation is the best proof of this. Therefore this is a stuc^y based mostly on Bolivian sources, and it is hoped that this is a welcome contribution since Bolivian books are virtually unknown.

Injdeed during my fourteen raonth stay in the National Library

at Sucre, I was usually the cmly researcher in the cold and gray, century-

old rooms of the Library.

I felt only too tefxy to be joined for several

days ly Dr. Lewis Hanke from the University of Texas and then ty Ruben

Vargas Urgarte, the tireless scholar from Lima.

But during all the many

other days and months no one ever stepped into the Library or /irchives to

do research.

It should be said that no perfect study of the creation of Bolivia will ever be possible.

The great Bolivian winter, Ren^-Moreno, intended to

write such a study as one of his many proposed projects.

Diligently he

started to collect in his great and invaluable libraiy in Santiago, Chile, all documents and printed soxirces for such a stulete stuurpose of cutting off part of one ear in order to identify the-a before the public,-^

It is reasonable

to believe that becaf.se of boiling ©notions exaggerated account? were published, as in

aaay

other war in any age.

guerrilla leader, Miguel Lanza, was

For example, when in 1B12, the great

e?^p tared

and indicted before the criminal

chamber of the ^diencia, he was not sentenced to be hanged as one would expect, but was given a ten ye-yr prison term.

At the same

tiise

Lanza's

lawyer's license was revoked for six months because of "his Ignorance and partiality," at least so

saj^-s

the record.^-'

Lanza escaped after entering

prison,-^

Y«t the

fli:ht

was indeed jnithless and

bloon of Chayanta

outr;tanding conrn-^nder.

which, when acLive, doninated the roads between Potosf, Oruro, Chuqui10

But since

saca and Cochabainba,

:.t

was enclaved within these four

towns, strongpoint'^ of the Spanish arniy, it had no escape route and there-

fore was only of a temporary nature, appearing and disappearing in ac-

cordance with the Loyalist impact upaai its domain,

There

HoMwrer, these were not the only gueirrilla republics.

were mar^ more of minor extent and importance.

From Camargo's and th»

PadLllaa' jurisdictic^is dovm to Tnrija numerous factions kept the line to the United Provinces open.

11

In the neighborhood of the pleasant

valley of Tarija in^ortant guerrilla coramsnders such as

Josrf

Fem^dez

Can^ero, Ramon and Manuel Rojas, ?'rancisco Uriondo and Eustaquio

!l!^ndo2

were very active, and in command of iinport-nt reoubljcnietas which have not yet received close attention.

12

In the eastern territories, besides

Wames, numerous partisan leaders were practically independent. main totally obscure. isdictiomil lines

13

i.-ere

They rc-

One should not be deceived by the fact that jur-

vaoue and borders

chnnge*.'.

every day.

It is im*

possible to deteimine where one ye-;ub^loueta started and another ended. The saoie is true of the lines between Patriot and Loyalist territory. Besides, there were smaller reoubli q\ie tas within larger ones. aiinor factional leaders

Sometiaies

were under the command of major guerrilla leaders,^

Other times th^- acted independently and drew together only in times of

36 aaergenpy.

Usually one leader did not know what others were doing,

and cared little,

Uell documented are the complaints of Cornnander

Arenales in regard to his neighboring 15 always refused to cooperate, '

publlouetas vei^ the greatest trouble.

.nost

consianc'e'^-,

ames, who nearly

Tet the six major jurisdictions or re-

important ones, and gave the Spaniards the

They isolated Upper Peru froa the outside and doTol-

nsted the co«anunics.ti ::ns among the main centers of Charcas,

th^ :

eru.

thm.

In 1816

had becorae a major threat to effective Spanish doailnance of Upper It remained an obvioua goal for the LcC^alist command to destroy This was achieved in a ^^eat sweep in 1P16,

^!uneoas, Camargo,

FadiUa and Wames fell in battle, and Hrenales had to take ArBontina,

fligjit to

Only the republiauet^ of .^yopaya survived the impact and ra-

laained undefeated tliroughout the reniainder of the wsir.

On January 29t

1825, the ;\yopaya coinaander, Miguel Lanza, occupied La Paz before Cucx-e

and his liberating

amy

entered

tlie

tovm.

Little has been known about the re jublinueta of Ayopaya,

His-

torians acknowledged its existence, that it frurvived the I8l6 drive and

from then on reinained an invincible region. tremely obscure.

The epic of /iyc^aya was

ex*»

Isolated by grandiose aountaine and bordering an im-

penetrable jxmgles, little news of the doings in this most beautiful

gaerriUa republic reached the outside.

Historians clair.ed that .^yopaya

existed and was heroic because of its le-vier, Tlguel Lanza, tliey

call

hint

the "pslayo boliviano,"

17 '

In Bolivia

Re created this -j^rtisan ter-

ritory and froio it fought until the veiy end of the war.

To Lanaa the

credit was given that from his laajestic and impregnable mountain repub-

37 lie he checked and threatened the roads of the three cities of La Paz, Coehabjtmba and Oruro.

into the Bolivarian Sucre,

18

arrp-

Lanza survived the war, was then integrated and became a tnasted lieutenant of Presideitt

In 1828 he died defending '?ucre against his ene-des,^"

Re was

the sole guerrilla leader who took part in the foundation and consolidat-

ion of Bolivia.

It is to his credit that he grve his life for Sucre in

1828 and was one of the few associates and friends of Sucre who remained loyal to the last, when the President

x^as

betrayed by unscrupulous sup-

Yet his career as a guerrilla is quite different from

porters.

vrbat

has

been told, kB stated in chsoter one, in 195?-, duiring the presence of this

writer in the Bolivian National Library at Sucre, a monuTiental diaiy

was found.

20

It was written ly a

siTTinle

soldier,

=

drurmer, who tells us,

in minute detail, the life of the Ayopaya puerrilla re-rablic from 1816 to 1821,

In I8l6 when the soldier's narrative starts llguel Lanza was

not in Ayopays., 21 in the republicnieta

Only cm February 3, 1821, did he m?ke his appearajice

mth

the aipointrrient ty his supeiriors in Argentina

as the "principal coimnander of the interior,"

22

In cold blood he killed

the previous cotmnander of the republic, Manuel Chinchilla, a close friend of his ^ who had fought the Spaniards valiently for mar^y years,

diary ends in 1821,

Th«

It laust be assumed that from that time on Miguel

Lanza was the chief of the republioueta .

But indeed, to give him full

credit, he was not new to the Ayopaya region in 1821, and very likeJjr

had been the original organizer of this factional territory, in 1812 he was engaged in fighting the Spaniards,

Alrea*",

h-'^'

\'-

r.r.r,fj

I'^oreno he.d

^ IcssoH.

been able to escape but that he,

'^'^

"

anyone who had coamdttod a crime.

delinquent ti'iis

i-nsedi'-^tely

^'''"^n

'-"

>

" w :(uld not tlirov;

the:-!,

the death cell,

corarautini;

Lira corf nned,

sravlr,;-!;

'

'^t-~>

•)ri3on

He vrould instead catch him and put

before a firinr: squad; he

businecjs of puttiofc

Ccairaander

in prison,

v.-culd

CLi^j-nij a

thft

forget all about

jury,

i,;.

Li^-i.^^

ui.era

in

the sentence and all such needless prolongation*.

thnt

•^il"'

those x/hn gscsjC do the same nasty thing,

and so Iloreno would do: they ^o over to the enariy, and the final consequence is that we hsve one more enemy to fight. tell the arries of the

He thought Moreno would

vcrything about ^"^ "nit, it? strength, and

what he wanted to do, iihen Lira had ter.Tinated hip address Colonel Zarate asked If

Lira knew that the accused Moreno had not gone over to the enemy, but

rather was hiding In the territory of this partisan unit, and that if

Moreno out of his own free will vrauld come into

tv,.^

men

and ask forgive-

^5 nes8, would he, T.nd

thoushtful

rr»

then :5ravoly resoonded that

nvnr to the enemjr.

Lira bec^Tie

Lira, nardon 'Moreno,

of the fatherland. •'^^

naiao

not

"trw".?.Ti'1er

h':j

would forgive

somet-jhg.t

in "the

hiro

Lira thought that in doing this Moreno Tie,

Iiira,

vas onvinced,

cr^rovfbQ-'^r

3.3

sured him, that the oeo^le and his suoeriors would la'bIy

lo.-i

ssiid "KLuntl^r

that they irere all flgliting

not *or th^ir ovm vell-be^-ng or ad-

^r.d

-ill

'-devoted to the common catise of the

irecent in the "yervlco of their

those

woTJ.d never see "the total trimrtih of oiir sacred opinion,"

country'-"

He thought

*'•

* the sons of

those

:;!-,:

wer-o lighting,

persecuting and caa-

jnitting cruelties woixld enjc^r the "fruit of the tree of llbeH^r"

which their unit

xfas flighting,

66

'ftar this the officer added gravely that

the coraroander under -^Awa they fought ims croatlng their ruin, tliat destroj'i.ng ^rr^

'-,>

for

\.o

«as

their wortc, thrt this nan would send then all to the grave,

'•'qt'--«>-i^

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T.7-v^

hsd

co?^-~

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