Bartolomeo Blanche Espejo

Bartolomeo Blanche Espejo

Bartolomeo Blanche Espejo , also Bartolomé Blanche Espejo (born June 6, 1879 in La Serena , † June 10, 1970 ) was a Chilean military and politician . In the autumn of 1932 he served as a temporary president of his country for three weeks .

After attending school in his hometown, Blanche entered the military school ( Escuela Militar ) as a cadet and pursued an officer career . A longer stay abroad took him to Germany in 1909 , where he was ordered to the cavalry school in Hanover . In 1927 he achieved the degree of General in the Chilean Army .

Under the military dictatorship of Carlos Ibáñez del Campo, Blanche held the post of Minister of War . After the overthrow of the "Socialist Republic" of Juan Esteban Montero Rodríguez and the turmoil of the uprisings and coups in 1932, Carlos Dávila Espinoza made him Minister of the Interior and on September 13th gave him provisional presidential duties. Blanche stayed in office for only three weeks, appointed the Chairman of the Supreme Court, Abraham Oyanedel Urrutia , as its vice-president, and resigned on October 2, 1932. Blanche managed to calm the army , which in Antofagasta and Concepción was on the brink of coup d'état, clearing the way for the presidential elections of October 30, 1932, which allowed Chile to return to constitutional order.