200 years of the independence of Peru: the culmination of the act of San Martín, freedom as a flag and its differences with Bolívar

Paracas, in Quechua, means “rain of sand”. In the bay that bears his name, 250 kilometers south of Lima, September 8, 1820 José de San Martin He landed with his liberating army. He had left Valparaíso at sunset on Sunday August 20. “Three ships gave the kings of Spain possession of the New World, these four will win”, whispered Bernardo de O’Higgins. while he fixed his eyes on the boats which were lost on the horizon.

O’Higgins he will have heaved a sigh of relief. To see these ships leave carrying the army was the culmination of great economic efforts. On board was someone who was urged from Buenos Aires to join him in the fight against the rulers of the interior. He accomplished what he had always proposed: not to interfere in the politics of Buenos Aires and to put an end to the plan of liberation of Peru.

On the coast, he had to discourage by a few cannon shots from his ships a royalist outpost which was supervising the landing. From the barracks he established in Pisco, he issued a proclamation: “Liberation Army soldiers!” We have already reached the place of our destination, and all that remains is courage to consume the work of constancy; But remember that your great duty is to console America, and that you are not coming to conquer, but to free the peoples who have been groaning for three hundred years under this barbaric right. The Peruvians are our brothers and friends: embrace them as such and respect their rights as you respected those of the Chileans after the battle of Chacabuco ”.

The campaign has had its share of luck. A powerful army that Spain was preparing to send to America halted its departure when the colonel’s uprising broke out. Rafael de Riego, and the expected reinforcements, which would have put the plans for independence into figurines, would no longer arrive. In return, some three thousand black men joined the recently landed forces.

At the end of September, meetings were held between the envoys of the viceroy Joaquin de la Pezuela Yes San Martin to negotiate a truce. But the following month, the fighting resumed. While the admiral Thomas cochrane blocked the port of Callao, Rudecindo Alvarado he occupied the mountains of the south of the country.

After creating a flag, which symbolized the union of our country with Chile and Peru, San Martin he embarked with the main body of the army north of Lima. He established his headquarters in Huaura and in November a first proclamation of independence was made, which would be repeated in other towns, while various battles took place. It is in the Cerro de Pasco that General Altoperuano Andrés de Santa Cruz, who fought alongside the Spanish army, is captured and passes to the liberating army. On December 3, the entire Numancia battalion, made up of Colombians and Venezuelans, continued to fight in the ranks of San Martín and at sea the royalists lost the Esmeralda, their main warship.

Fish his days were numbered. During the mutiny of Aznapuquio, a group of Spanish liberal officers staged a coup: they deposed this viceroy of absolutist ideas and put in his place José de la Serna. The strategy has changed: They left mighty Lima and prepared to resist in the mountains and declared Cusco as the new capital of the viceroyalty. Before the new official meets San Martin, but he didn’t let his arm twist. From the Serna He still had no idea he would go down in history as Peru’s last viceroy.

On July 10, 1821, San Martín entered Lima. “You’ve seen the intruder La Serna, who along with the bold and outspoken military leaders walked, leaving everyone in confusion and helplessness. Let us forget these criminals, compatriots, because you already see the desired country rushing to give you your freedom. It will be the center of your charms, delights and security ”. Many mothers in the suburbs donated their children for the army, others gave what they could. The other side of the joy was seen in the merchants, wine growers and pulperos, mostly Spanish.

He was staying at the Palacio de Lima and every day a crowd gathered to ask him to come out just to see him. As Peru still did not have its own anthem, the Argentine was sung at the theater and even on one occasion San Martin he silenced the orchestra because the women remained seated without singing and ordered everyone to sing the lines of the patriotic song.

The next step was on the 14th to ask the council of Lima for a general assembly to know the will of the people. The next day he replied that “The general will is determined by the independence of Peru from Spanish domination and all other foreign domination”. On Monday 16, the Act of Freedom was published in the Gaceta del Gobierno de Lima Independiente, and the signatures of the inhabitants occupied 25 pages in the following editions.

On the 22nd, San Martín decided that Saturday the 28th would be the act of proclamation of independence. He asked that everyone participate and that people decorate and light up their homes on Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings. “So that with demonstrations of joy the world receives the strongest testimonies of the interest with which the illustrious capital of Peru celebrates the first day of its independence and that of its incorporation into the great American family”, as read in the July 22 side.

On the 28th, Place d’Armes in Lima, he proclaimed his independence. San Martín appeared accompanied by Lieutenant-General Marqués de Montemira, political and military governor. He was escorted by generals from his army and behind the authorities of the University of San Marcos, religious dignitaries and members of the city council, all mounted on horseback. In front marched the cavalry guard and halberdiers of Lima, as well as the hussars, escorts of San Martín. Then came Battalion 8 with the flags of Buenos Aires and Chile.

“Peru is, from this moment, free and independent by the general will of the peoples and by the justice of their cause which God defends”. The bells of the church were felt. And the hubbub seized the city.

They all meet in the chapter rooms, where a meal is served in the evening, with music and dancing. The next day, a Te Deum was celebrated in the cathedral. In the end, the officials took an oath to God and the homeland to maintain and defend independence. And San Martín invited another party to the palace that evening.

He accepted the title of Protector of Peru. He formed a cabinet with Bernardo de Monteagudo, Prime Minister of War and the Navy; Juan García del Río, Minister of Government and External Relations e Hipólito Unanue, holder of the Treasury portfolio.

He called a constituent assembly to determine whether a monarchy or a republic should be the form of government for independent Peru. San Martin, supporter of a constitutional monarchy, sent to Europe Juan García del Río already James Parishioner seek a European king for these lands.

But the war against the Spaniards in America was not over. For that On July 26 and 27, 1822, he met Simón Bolívar in Guayaquil. It was just a series of interviews and no one can say for sure what was discussed there. San Martín reportedly offered to place himself under Bolivar’s orders, but refused to have him as a subordinate. They embodied two political projects that did not go in the same direction. In September, he announced to Peruvians that he would retire from political life; His army of ten thousand soldiers was under the command of Bolivar, he was convinced that his presence in Peru was harmful and he wanted to leave the fate of the country in the hands of the Peruvians. On September 20, he left for Chile on the ship Belgrano. To his friend and confidant Tomás Guido, he would have admitted that “Bolívar and I are not going back to Peru”.

Today, the bay that the Quechuas had baptized “rain of sand”, where an army was arming itself as best it could and financed itself on the basis of loans and debts, is called Independence.

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