Historical Figures

Agustin de Jauregui y Aldecoa

Agustín de Jáuregui y Aldecoa was the XXXIII Viceroy of Peru . Son of Matías de Jáuregui y Apesteguía and Juana de Aldecoa y Borda, he was born in Navarra in 1711. Dedicated to a career in arms, he began as a cavalryman for King Felipe V and, with the rank of captain, led the regiment of dragoons from Almansa who served in Africa. After a brilliant military career, during which he was honored with the habit of knight of the order of Santiago (1736), and holding the rank of lieutenant colonel, he was transferred in 1740 to the island of Puerto Rico, and from here to the from Cuba. Some years later, already back in his homeland, he participated in the Portuguese campaign at the head of the Sagunto dragoon regiment, with an outstanding performance in the siege and capture of Almeyda (1762). Recognized as field marshal he received, in 1773, the appointment of governor and captain general of Chile and seven years later he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general and appointed viceroy of Peru (January 10, 1780) , replacing Manuel de Guirior. The solemn reception of him by the Lima council took place on November 5 of that year, despite having been exercising his functions since July. The praise speech delivered by José Baquíjano y Carrillo -with veiled criticism of the colonial system- in the act of receiving him by the University of San Marcos (August 1781) is famous.
Like his predecessor, he had to suffer the administrative interference of General Visitor José Antonio de Areche, who had also been appointed superintendent of the royal treasury (1780). However, thanks to his conciliatory nature, Jáuregui was able to avoid competition disputes and even get that intemperate official to be changed. The fundamental attention of his government was concentrated on the uprising of the chief of Pampamarca, José Gabriel Condorcanqui, who, with the massive support of the local Indians, executed the corregidor of Tinta and went in pursuit of the one of Quiquijana, directing a series of proclamations against injustice. of taxes, mita work and forced distribution of merchandise. The movement was finally dominated by royalist troops commanded by General José del Valle, who managed to capture the indigenous leader (self-titled Tupac Amaru II in honor of his Inca ancestors), in March 1781 . Both the chief Condorcanqui and his wife and his closest relatives were cruelly executed in the main square of Cuzco (May 18, 1781). Later there was a need to combat the hostilities maintained by a nephew, Diego Cristóbal Tupac Amaru, who was also killed. As a result of all this, measures were adopted to prevent the circulation of images and texts and the celebration of festivals that extolled the lineage of the Incas, whose memory had become for the natives a kind of utopian way out of viceroyalty oppression. In addition, the official chairs of the Quechua language were suppressed and the hated distribution of merchandise carried out by the corregidores was abolished.
The internal rebellions were already virtually suppressed when Viceroy Jáuregui ceded command of the country to the knight Teodoro de Croix, on April 6, 1784. He died in the city of Lima only three weeks later, at the age of 73.


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