Ramón Castilla y Marquesado , President of the Republic between 1845-1851 and 1855-1862. Son of Pedro de Castilla from Buenos Aires and Juana Marquesado Romero, Tarapaqueña with Indian blood, Ramón Castilla was born on August 30, 1797. During his childhood, according to Clemente Markham, he worked as a lumberjack in the service of his father and made trips to the desert to collect the pieces of firewood that fell from the carob trees. He went to Chile and joined the royalist regiment Dragones de la Frontera , with which he fought the patriots in Concepción, Talcahuano, Chillan and Rancagua, falling prisoner in the battle of Chacabuco (January 1817) and transferred to Buenos Aires. Obtained his release, he went to Rio de Janeiro and undertook, in the company of the Spanish colonel Fernando Cacho, his return to Peru (December 1817) via the Mato-Grosso. He passed through Chiquitos, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Valle Grande, Chuquisaca, Oruro, La Paz, Puno, Cuzco, Huamanga, Huancavelica, Lunahuaná and Lurín until he reached Lima; crossing in total leagues of jungle, mountains and sand. Already in the capital (October 1818), Viceroy Joaquín de la Pezuela assigned him to the Dragones de la Unión regiment. , stationed in Arequipa; however, it was at that time that he abandoned his realistic position and appeared in Lima before Torre Tagle and then before the Liberator José de San Martín (February 1822). After a series of tests and interrogations he was incorporated into the Hussars of the Peruvian Legion as a cavalry lieutenant. He did not attend the battle of Junín because he belonged to the patriot general staff, but he did attend the battle of Ayacucho (December 9, 1824), where he was wounded.
Ramón Castilla and the Peru-Bolivia Confederation
In 1825 he was appointed prefect of Tarapacá and was one of the first officials of his rank to break with Simón Bolívar, for disagreeing with the so-called life constitution. Promoted to the rank of cavalry lieutenant colonel and because of his friendship with Domingo Nieto, he became an enemy of Andrés de Santa Cruz and of the Peru-Bolivian Confederation project (1836-1839). For this reason he resigned from the Prefecture of Puno and separated from President Luis José de Orbegoso, later going to Chile with other Peruvian émigrés opposed to the Santa Cruz regime and sympathetic to the plans of Chilean Minister Diego Portales to end the confederation; in the southern country, at the command of a Peruvian battalion, he defeated the enemies of Portales in the combat of Barón carried out in Quillota (June 1837).
He participated in the first restoration expedition commanded by Manuel Blanco Encalada that failed in Paucarpata; During the second restoration expedition, commanded by Manuel Bulnes and alongside Agustín Gamarra, he was in the Battle of Portada de Guía (August 1838) and had an outstanding performance in the battle of Yungay (January 1839) and in the final defeat of Santa Cruz and the confederation, earning promotion as division general. In these campaigns promoted by Chile against Santa Cruz, his phrase became famous:"We have not come to run!" Linked to the second government of Agustín Gamarra (1839-1841), first as general minister and then as minister of war and finance, he supported the president in his attempt to invade Bolivia, being defeated in the battle of Ingavi , remaining prisoner in the fortress of Oruro (November 1841). After the war with Bolivia ended, he returned to Peru and, during the military anarchy (1842-1845), he faced Manuel Ignacio de Vivanco, whom he finally defeated in the battle of Carmen Alto (July 1844). In this way, the legal vice president, Manuel Menéndez, calls for elections, and Ramón Castilla is elected to the presidency of the Republic.
First government of Ramón Castilla
Upon assuming the government in 1845, Castilla found a country disordered due to the fights between military leaders, and an economy that could recover thanks to the income from the sale of guano in Europe. For this reason, the era that his government inaugurated has been called that of the "heyday" or "false prosperity", since the income obtained from the sale of bird droppings from our coastline allowed the execution of numerous public works and a relative political calm. Indeed, Castile and his advisers wanted to order the country. In the economic aspect, he inaugurated the appropriation system for the sale of guano, delivering almost all of this business to the British firm Gibbs, he introduced the first budget of the Republic, he created the law of the "consolidation of the internal debt" to cancel the expenses of Peruvians in favor of the wars of independence, arranged the external debt with England, the United States and Chile, except for the "debt of independence" with Spain and allowed the arrival of Chinese workers, the coolies for the plantations on the coast and the extraction of guano on the islands of Chincha.
Purchase of arms and international actions
In the international field he joined the Monroe Doctrine and summoned the first American Congress that was held in Lima between 1847-1848; he also opened delegations in the United States, England, Ecuador, Bolivia and Chile, as well as consulates in various cities in America, Europe and Asia. With regard to national defense, he created the Military College of Bellavista, the Central School of the Navy in Bellavista and the naval factory; he bought the frigate Mercedes , the brigs Guisse and Gamarra and transportation Alliance , the most spectacular purchase being that of Rímac , the first steamship in Peru and South America; on the other hand, his greatest concern was the military balance with Chile, a country that he knew a lot, hence his phrase:"If Chile builds a ship, Peru must build two!"
Other works
Other public works of his first government were the construction of the Lima-Callao railway, the first in South America (1851); the introduction of the first mechanical loom and the installation of the first paper mill; the construction of the Central Market in Lima; the installation of drinking water with iron pipes in Callao, Arica and Islay; the protection of the lands of indigenous communities; the enactment of retirement and severance laws; and the construction of churches, schools, markets, hospitals, barracks, customs, prefectures, irrigation canals, roads and bridges in various parts of the country. Regarding educational policy, the first Regulation of Public Instruction for schools and colleges of the Republic was promulgated (June 1850), claiming for the State the direction and administration of the educational process, establishing differences between public and private education. The reorganization of the University of San Marcos, the Convictory of San Carlos and the School of Medicine of San Fernando was also ruled.
Despite having supported the candidacy of General José Rufino Echenique for the presidency of the Republic in 1851, three years later he led a liberal revolution against him, due to the scandals over the irregular payments of the "internal debt".
Abolition of slavery
From Ayacucho, where he decreed the abolition of the indigenous tribute (July 5, 1854), he defeated Echenique for the first time in the battle of Izcuchaca ; he then went to Huancayo where he ruled the definitive abolition of slavery in Peru (December 5, 1854) , finally defeating Echenique in the battle of La Palma (January 5, 1855).
Second government of Ramón Castilla
During his second government, two constitutions were promulgated:the one of 1856, of a liberal nature, and the one of 1860, of a moderate character, the longest-lived in the country, since it was in force until 1920. In the international arena, war broke out with Ecuador (1859-1860), which after a victorious Peruvian landing in Guayaquil culminated in the signing of the Treaty of Mapasingue . With regard to his Americanist policy, he helped Nicaragua and Costa Rica economically against the claims of the North American William Walker, he frustrated the plans of Ecuadorian President Gabriel García Moreno to form the United Kingdom of the Andes with both countries, he protested against the Spanish invasion of Santo Domingo and sent diplomatic aid against the French intervention in Mexico. Finally, among his numerous public works we have the first General Map of Peru made by Mariano Felipe Paz Soldán; the first General Census of the Republic that showed a population of 2,487,916 inhabitants (1860); he created the department of Loreto (January 7, 1861) and acquired the ships Morona for Amazon navigation , Pastaza , Ñapo and Putumayo; the regime of the municipalities was restored; the Lima Penitentiary was inaugurated (July 1862) and several penitentiary centers were opened in the interior of the country; the drinking water service was installed in Lima; the Lima-Callao telegraph was laid, the first telegraph line in South America; the gas lighting system was inaugurated in Lima, the first in South America (May 1855); the Lima-Chorrillos railway was built (November 1858); The Unión Chalaca Volunteer Fire Company No. 1 was founded, the first of its kind in South America (December 1860); the monuments to Christopher Columbus and Simón Bolívar were inaugurated in Lima; the use of stamps was introduced (October 1857); the first Regulation of Carriages was given; the Peruvian vessel Lorthon He went around the world; and the Pisco port pier was built. In the educational field, the new Public Instruction Regulations (April 1855) were promulgated, establishing primary education in schools, common to all citizens; the average for those who could receive a liberal culture or were preparing to follow a professional training; and the special one, in the universities and schools and institutes such as the Military Institute, the Institute of Engineers, the Nautical School, the School of Painting and Drawing, the School of Mining and the School of Agriculture.
At the end of his government (1862) he called for elections and supported Marshal Miguel de San Román, who was ultimately elected president.
Last years of Ramón Castilla
Elected senator for Tarapacá, he presided over its Chamber in 1864 and agitated public opinion when, during the government of Juan Antonio Pezet, the conflict with Spain broke out and the Vivanco-Pareja treaty was signed; he being therefore banished to Gibraltar (January 1865). He also acted as an opponent of the regime of Mariano Ignacio Prado from Tarapacá (1866), being banished to Chile, from where he began a campaign to return to power, which was not possible because he died on May 30, 1867 in the Tarapaco desert of Tivilichi .