Perou

1831 · réf. 41128 — Santiago de Chile: Imprenta Republicana 1831. Exiled Peruvian President Defends His Conduct The extended and quite rare manifesto of Peruvian revolutionary and former president Antonio Gutiérrez de la Fuente published during his brief exile in Chile in order to defend his administrative and personal conduct from detractors at home. Gutiérrez was born in Huantajaya Peru now part of Chile and supported Simón Bolívar during the 1823 revolution. After independence he became governor of Arequipa until 1826 when he joined with Agustín Gamarra in a coup. Gutiérrez held the presidency briefly before it was handed to Gamarra and remained under his co-conspirator as Vice President until 1831. Not unlike Santa Anna in Mexico Gamarra maintained an active role as a general and frequently left the capital on military excursions leaving Gutiérrez as acting President. The sometimes-president clearly made no friends on these occasions and his unpopular support for foreign-manufactured goods was leveraged in yet another coup – in 1831 Gutiérrez was forced to flee the capital across the rooftops and seek asylum on board an American ship anchored in the harbor later ending up in Venezuela. He returned to Peru for the Civil War of 1834 and despite fighting for the winning side was quickly exiled once again once peace returned. He and former comrade Gamarra now out of power himself participated in several invasions of Peru from Chile in the next years until in 1839 they were once again in power. This manifesto dates from Gutiérrez's first exile in 1831 and attempts to defend his character against the figures who violently ousted him from power. He begins our translation: "If the horrific attack committed in my house and aimed at my person on the night of April 16 of this year had had no more consequence than my disappearance and the triumph of a handful of criminals considering myself the victim of personal hatred I would have faded into silence and obscurity deploring the dishonor to myself and the misfortunes of my country. However since a high official of the Peruvian Nation dares to appear on the public scene as the author and perpetrator of such a scandalous excess since he tries to justify it by blaming my public and private conduct with the most reckless accusations; Honor patriotism and the voice of my conscience demand from me if not a victorious refutation of such gross slanders at least a simple statement of my administrative conduct." OCLC records only three copies of this very rare work located at Harvard Pontifica Universidad Catolica del Peru and the Biblioteca Nacional de Chile. Not in Palau. Folio. Dbd. Light foxing on first two leaves else quite clean. Very good. OCLC 34662421. unknown