August 17: José de San Martín, the biggest Argentinian

On August 17, 1850, at Boulogne-sur-Mer (France), at the age of 72, the Liberator Saint-Martin was extinguished. His mortal remains had to endure another 30 years in his voluntary exile. They arrived in Buenos Aires in 1880. At the painful hour of his death, no human greatness accompanied him, but a handful of his relatives. Today, they value and accompany 45 million Argentineans, Chileans and Peruvians recognized, and are respected throughout the world. At the reception of his remains, the then president, Nicolás Avellaneda, said: "See the statue of the first American soldier mounted on the workaholic who has traveled the most space to the world after Alejandro's ".

Yapeyú was his cradle on February 25, 1778, then he crossed three stages that marked his life: 27 years in Spain (21 in the army and 31 fights), 12 years in America (Argentina, Chile, Peru and Ecuador) and 26 years of ostracism in hospital soils of France and Belgium. His legacy was an eternal stoic ethic.

San Martín was a military professional with a political and humanist vision. It went beyond internal conflicts. He acted consistently and faithfully in his cause, renouncing honorary privileges. He fought for freedom, justice and peace. He privileged the fate of the brotherly peoples and consolidated that of his homeland. With Belgrano, they are the true architects of the independence of Argentina.

The story of General José de San Martín that we do not know

As a soldier, in designing his continental plan, he was a great strategist, opting for an indirect route – also known as indirect strategy – to the Spanish fortress in America. In the battles of Chacabuco and Maipo, he was a tactical specimen. He did not ignore the campaigns of Alejandro and Julio Caesar, but perhaps those of Frederick the Great and Napoleon have influenced it more. A good chess player, he perfectly mastered the psychic strategy – which he called "zapa war" – to disconcert and unbalance the adversary. It required disciplinary rigidity consistent with the dignity of the soldier. He has undoubtedly exercised a firm, balanced and respectful command. For the Argentine army, we had a behavior:"That the weapons of the homeland serve in defense of the sovereignty, liberty and right of citizens, but must never dishonor the uniform of the commission of criminal acts".

He respected the adversary and did not neglect the illustration of peoples. His repulsion for fratricidal struggles saved victims among his fellow citizens. He spoke French, English and Italian. In 1827, in a letter to his friend Tomás Guido, he condemned: "To defend freedom and its rights, citizens are needed, not coffee, but instructions, an elevation of the soul and, therefore, are able to feel the intrinsic and non-arbitrary value of the goods provided by representative government. "We have also been bequeathed by another sentence which maintains, even today, all its validity: "The best government is not the most liberal in its principles, but the one that makes the happiness of those who obey using the appropriate means for this purpose".He understood and faced better than anyone the situation of the fledgling Argentina and went beyond the strict cultural boundaries of his time.

10 phrases of Saint Martin that have marked the history

Besides Guido, his closest friends were Bernardo O'Higgins and especially Alejandro María Aguado. The latter was a former comrade of the Spanish army with whom he found himself in Brussels in 1828, while he was one of the most prosperous bankers in Europe. The friendship between them ended with the death of Aguado in 1842, who left him as an executor of the will, bequeathed property and organized his children. In a letter to O & # 39; Higgins and General Guillermo Miller, he tells them about Aguado: "I owe him, not only my existence, but also not to have died in the hospital, as a result of a long illness." The liberator has always called him a benefactor. Aguado was Jewish.

In 1838, about the conflict with France, he declared: "This unjust blockade … will not cause me so much attention, if there was more union and patriotism among our compatriots that there is really … "

Stoically, he endured persecution, defamation, humiliation and was even described as ambitious, thief, coward and traitor by his compatriots. But 30 years of despicable slander have not managed to get a defense and ingratitude has not started any complaints. However, in a letter to Guido in 1829, he expressed bitterly: "… but let us admit that it is necessary that all the philosophy of a Seneca, or the immodesty of a bad, be indifferent to slander."

His resignation, the abandonment of authority, power and his voluntary ostracism have two antecedents, that of the patrician and Roman politician Lucio Quincio Cincinato, and that of George Washington. Both, as well as our Hannibal of the Andes, have shown a lack of personal ambition, a great military capability and a political and humanistic outlook.

Four years before his death, in 1844, San Martín granted to Paris his very brief and exemplary testament which, in one of its clauses, states: "I forbid any form of burial … but I would like my heart to be deposited in that of Buenos Aires." According to him, his burial was done without pomp or ostentation. The accompaniment was humble and typical of a great modesty, companion so worthy of the moral qualities and glorious titles of such a prominent man, and of the famous soldier who fought against the Great Army during the battle of Bailén in Spain and which was destroyed. America to a large part of the Spanish empire.

San Martin, involuntarily, played posthumously, to glory, by rejecting celebrity.