Chuquisaca Revolution

The Chuquisaca Revolution was a popular uprising on 25 May 1809 against the governor and intendant of Chuquisaca (today Sucre), Ramón García León de Pizarro. The Real Audiencia of Charcas, with support from the faculty of University of Saint Francis Xavier, deposed the governor and formed a junta. The revolution is known in Bolivia as the "First libertarian scream" (Spanish: Primer grito libertario), meaning, the first step in the Spanish American wars of independence; but historians dispute whether such a description is accurate or not.

Causes

Although nearly 30 years had passed, the indigenous revolutions led by Túpac Amarú II and Tomás Katari, and their violent repression, were still remembered. Those revolutions ranged from the south of modern Colombia to the north of modern Argentina and Chile.

There was great concern about recent developments at Spain. French forces led by Napoleon had invaded many parts of the country and captured the Spanish king Ferdinand VII, replacing him with the French Joseph Bonaparte, brother of Napoleon. Without the authority of a king leading them, the Spanish resistance created Government Juntas.

Development

The news of the fall of Ferdinand VII in Spain caused great concern in the city, and in the University of Chuquisaca there were important debates about the legitimacy of the government. Bernardo de Monteagudo explained an idea that promoted Self-determination, which would be later known as "Syllogism of Chuquisaca" It stated the following:

Shall we follow the fate of Spain or resist in the Americas? The Indies are a personal domain of the King of Spain. The King is impeded to reign. Therefore, the Indies shall govern themselves.

The junta, initially loyal to King Ferdinand VII of Spain, was justified by the suspicion that the García León de Pizarro planned to turn the country over to Princess Carlotta Joaquina, wife of Prince Regent John of Portugal and Brazil, but from the beginning the revolution provided a framework for the actions of the separatists who spread the rebellion to La Paz, where a Junta Tuitiva ("protecting junta") was formed on 16 July. The latter clearly broke with any authority in Spain and with the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata. After the second, more radical uprising was repressed violently by an army sent by Viceroy Baltasar Hidalgo de Cisneros, the movement at Chuquisaca lost all external support and was finally undone by forces sent from Lima by Viceroy José Fernando de Abascal in October.

Historiography

This revolution did not intend to alter Chuquisaca's loyalty to the king, while the revolution of La Paz openly declared independence. Today, historians do not agree on whether the revolution of Chuquisaca was motivated by independence or if it was just a dispute between supporters of Ferdinand VII and Carlota. Consequently, there is disagreement on whether the first revolution to proclaim independence in Spanish America was that of Chuquisaca or that of La Paz. The researchers Juan Reyes and Genoveva Loza support the latter, arguing that in Chuquisaca the Spanish system of government was maintained and that it did not support the revolution in La Paz, while others such as Charles Arnade, Teodocio Imaña, Gabriel René Moreno or Felipe Pigna argue that the Chuquisaca revolution supported independence, citing as its main foundation the political philosophical concept of the "Syllogism of Chuquisaca" that proposed self-determination. Even more, Other historians locate the first "libertarian scream" at Ecuador rather than Bolivia, because of a revolt that took place in Quito in August, 1809.

See also

• Bolivian War of Independence
• La Paz revolution

External links

• 25 de mayo: 1809 Insurrección en Chuquisaca – 1810 Revolución en Buenos Aires