José Miguel Carrera

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José Miguel Carrera

José Miguel Carrera Verdugo (born October 15, 1785 in Santiago de Chile , † September 4, 1821 , executed in Mendoza , Argentina ) was a Latin American national hero and Chilean politician.

Life

Youth and education

He belonged to the Carrera family: son of Ignacio de la Carrera and brother of Juan José Carrera , Luis Carrera and Javiera Carrera . He was married to Mercedes Fontecilla Valdivieso, with whom he had four daughters and a son: José Miguel Carrera Fontecilla, who in turn was the father of the hero of the Battle of Concepción , the captain Ignacio Carrera Pinto .

José Carrera was the third child (after his sister Javiera and brother Juan José) to Colonel Ignacio de la Carrera and his wife Francisca de Paula Verdugo Fernández de Valdivieso y Herrera. Carrera received his school education at the renowned Convictorio Carolino of Santiago. There he befriended Manuel Rodríguez Erdoíza , who was to become a celebrated and feared guerrilla during the Chilean War of Independence .

After leaving school, his parents sent him to Spain . There he joined the army in 1808 and fought against the Napoleonic troops in the Spanish War of Independence . He was wounded in the Battle of Ocaña and then transferred to Cádiz . He was awarded the Talavera Cross and sargento mayor (about Major / Lieutenant Colonel) in the regiment carried the Galician Hussars. At that time Cádiz was the center of political Spain; there the government council met to draw up a constitution for the kingdom.

It is likely that Carrera met Joaquín Fernández de Leiva , half-brother of his friend Manuel Rodríguez, in Cádiz . Fernández was a representative of Chile to the Cortes of Cadiz . He also met José de San Martín for the first time in Cádiz.

The "old republic" ( La patria vieja )

When Carrera learned that a Junta de Gobierno had formed in Chile on September 18, 1810 to lead the government as long as there was no Spanish king, he embarked on April 17, 1811 on board the English warship Standard and arrived Santiago on July 26th, 1811. At the age of 25 he became one of the driving forces behind the Chilean independence movement. In contrast to the moderates that had prevailed until then, who wanted to be content with an autonomy within the framework of the Spanish monarchy, he strove for the full independence of Chile from Spain.

When José Miguel Carrera arrived in Chile, the most independent section of the junta was led by Juan Martínez de Rozas , who belonged to the same Masonic lodge as himself, the Caballeros Racionales de Cádiz . They were opposed to the moderates on the one hand, and to the pan-American-oriented advocates of a Latin American counterpart to the United States of America , who were dominated by the Lautaro Masonic Lodge , on the other . Because of alleged irregularities in the first congressional elections, Carrera's brothers Juan José and Luis, who were in command of the troops in the capital, prepared a coup d'état. José Miguel convinced his brothers to wait while he tried to find a peaceful solution with the more conservative forces.

This attempt failed, however, and Carrera decided that only a coup d'état, which he undertook on September 4, 1811, could actually bring the solution. The forces striving for independence then took the lead in Congress. Nevertheless, Carrera put on another coup on November 15. The Congress remained formally in place, but power passed into the hands of a triumvirate consisting of José Gaspar Marín (for Coquimbo), Bernardo O'Higgins - replacing rival Rozas - for Concepción and Carrera for Santiago.

His intentions and motives in this second coup were controversial. Carrera himself mentions three motives: The convening of the congress did not correspond to the will of the entire citizenry. In addition (as stated in another publication) the appointment of Congress was a political mistake because the country was not yet ripe for this type of institution. Finally, he complained about irregularities in the election of the MPs. In his private diary, he also admits that he wanted to break the domination of the Larraín family.

A little later, on December 2, 1811, he dissolved Congress, which led to the resignation of Marín and O'Higgins. The reason he gave in his diary: "The majority of the men who make up Congress are ignoramuses, murderers and, in the end, directed by one or two perverts".

In possession of sole rule and under the influence of Joel Roberts Poinsett , the first US envoy to Chile, he created the first national symbols and institutions. He drafted the first Chilean constitution, flag and coat of arms, and promoted the press by introducing the first printing press to Chile. Soon afterwards, the Aurora de Chile appeared as the first newspaper in the country . Carrera also set September 18 as a national holiday; it is still celebrated in Chile today.

War of Independence and Reconquista

When Spanish expeditionary troops under Antonio Pareja landed in southern Chile in 1813 to crush the independence movement, Carrera took over command of the independence troops. He achieved some success and was able to recapture the city of Concepción from the Spanish. Still, the warfare suffered from desertion and tactical errors; he besieged the city of Chillán in vain because he lacked the necessary funds. When El Roble was surprised on October 17, 1813, Carrera was surrounded by Spanish units and only saved itself from capture by jumping into the river, while another unit under O'Higgins defeated the Spanish.

In January 1814, the government released him from the command of command, which it placed in the hands of the victorious brigadier Bernardo O'Higgins. Carrera was captured by the Spanish on the way from Concepción to Santiago, but he managed to escape.

The attitude of the government under the Director Supremo Francisco de la Lastra , which in May 1814, in the Treaty of Lircay, affirmed its loyalty to the Spanish King Ferdinand VII , reinstated by the Treaty of Valençay , and Chile as an integral part of the Spanish monarchy had confirmed it led to a third coup in Carreras. In the morning hours of July 23, 1814, the Carrera brothers, together with the priest Julián Uribe and the support of independence-minded troops in Santiago, took power in a flash. The La Lastra government was ousted and replaced by a government junta made up of Uribe, José Miguel Carrera and Manuel Muñoz Urzúa .

While Uribe and Muñoz established a reign of terror in Santiago, Carrera fought an inner-Chilean battle against O'Higgins and his troops. On August 26, 1814, the parties met at the Battle of Las Tres Acequias . Thanks to clever defensive tactics from Carrera's youngest brother Luis , O'Higgins was beaten. Meanwhile, the Spaniards captured Concepción and advanced on Santiago. In this critical situation, Carrera and O'Higgins buried their quarrel and united armies weakened by internal struggle.

Carrera's plan was to lure the Spaniards into the gorge of Paine, while O'Higgins wanted to face the enemy in the town of Rancagua . It was agreed to pursue Carrera's plan and to meet at the Angostura de Paine , where one could hope to find terrain that could be defended well even if the number was outnumbered. At the last minute and contrary to express orders, O'Higgins assembled the Chilean troops on October 1, 1814 in the main square of Rancagua. They were promptly surrounded and, after a whole day of fighting, defeated by the Spanish troops under Mariano Osorio in the disaster of Rancagua until the evening of October 2, 1814 .

Exile in Argentina

After the defeat, many Chilean patriots fled to Mendoza , which was ruled by José de San Martín at the time . San Martín was a member of the Lautaro Lodge and welcomed O'Higgins and his allies with open arms. There was tension and power disputes with the Carreras from the start. The brothers were sent to Buenos Aires , where Carlos María de Alvear , a friend of Carrera since the war for independence against Napoleon in Spain, had become a national hero. On January 9, 1815, he took power in Argentina .

As long as Alvear was in government, Carrera had a secure position in Buenos Aires, but after Alvear resigned on April 15, Carrera had to flee as well.

United States

On board the expedition , he went to the United States, where he hoped for the support of the former US consul in Santiago, Poinsett. He had no money and could not speak English: he learned the language during the three-month crossing.

Poinsett introduced him to US Secretary of State James Monroe and gave him access to US President James Madison , who told him there was nothing he could do to help liberate South America as the US was negotiating the acquisition with Spain at the time from Florida .

At least Carrera managed, with the help of another friend, Commodore David Porter and other military personnel from North America and Europe, to raise the necessary funds to send four ships manned by soldiers to South America for the liberation of Chile. Meanwhile, his father Ignacio had been exiled to the Juan Fernández Islands by the Spanish and the family's goods had been confiscated.

Buenos Aires and Montevideo

On February 9, 1817, Carrera landed with his small fleet in Buenos Aires. At that time, San Martín had set out with the Andean army over the main Andean ridge, where he decisively defeated the Spaniards in the Battle of Chacabuco on February 12, 1817 . Carrera refused to place his flotilla under the command of San Martín's men. As a result, the Director Supremo of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata , Juan Martín de Pueyrredón , refused to allow him and his ships to continue. When he nevertheless wanted to leave without a permit, the fleet was arrested and Carrera was imprisoned on March 29, 1817 on board the frigate Belén .

With the help of the US envoy, Carrera escaped imprisonment and fled to Montevideo under the protection of General Carlos Frederico Lecor . While José Miguel was in Montevideo, his brothers Juan José and Luís conspired against O'Higgins. They were arrested and executed in Mendoza. Bernardo de Monteagudo was in charge. In Chile, the Spaniards had defeated the Andean army under San Martín and O'Higgins in the second battle of Cancha Rayada. In this case, the Lautaro Lodge had already prepared plans to execute all political opponents, including the Carrera brothers. When José Miguel found out, he took up the public fight against San Martín and O'Higgins.

As a result, José Miguel Carrera was one of the main supporters of the federalists in the war against the Unitarian government in Argentina. Carrera and the federalist troops defeated the units of the San Martín government and entered Buenos Aires victoriously. On February 23, 1820, the federal system of Argentina was sealed in the Treaty of Pilar .

death

Also as part of the contract, Carrera received funds and troops with which he marched towards Chile in February 1821. After the governors of the provinces of Córdoba and San Luis, General Juan Bautista Bustos and Colonel Luis Videla, denied him the required free passage, he defeated Bustos at Chajá and Videla near Ensenada de las Pulgas and took the city of San Luis. On August 30, 1821, he was defeated by the troops of Colonel José Albino Gutiérrez at Punta del Medano. Thereupon Carrera tried to withdraw on Jocoli. However, his troops mutinied captured him and handed him over to Gutiérrez him in a show trial sentenced to death on 4 September at the Plaza of Mendoza shoot left. His grave is in a monument erected in the Metropolitan Cathedral of Santiago in honor of him and his siblings, the Carrera siblings .

Political legacy

Today Carrera is one of the founding fathers of independent Chile. His legacy includes the abolition of slavery in Chile and the abolition of the nobility and its legal privileges. He founded the country's first newspaper and created its first flag and coat of arms. He also founded the first free and secular school, which today bears his name as Instituto Nacional : Instituto Nacional General José Miguel Carrera ; several Chilean presidents and dozens of senators and parliamentarians emerged from it.

Individual evidence

  1. Historia General de Chile ( Memento of the original from October 21, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Volume 8, p. 479.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.memoriachilena.cl
  2. Diario militar, p. 39.
  3. Diario militar, p. 49.
  4. ^ David Muñoz Condell: La ascendencia de Joel Roberts Poinsett en José Miguel Carrera . In: Anuario de Historia de la Iglesia en Chile . ISSN  0716-1662 . Vol. 29 (2011), pp. 53-71.
  5. ^ Letter of recommendation from January 17, 1816 at A Comprehensive Catalog of the Correspondence and Papers of James Monroe , p. 618 (English)
  6. Diego José Benavente: "José Miguel Carrera" , p. 33 (4.9 MB; PDF)

Web links

Commons : José Miguel Carrera  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikisource: José Miguel Carrera  - Sources and full texts (Spanish)