Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

La independencia y la cultura política peruana (1808–1821)

2012; Duke University Press; Volume: 92; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1215/00182168-1471058

1527-1900

Christine Hünefeldt,

History and Politics in Latin America

Víctor Peralta’s new book is in line with a current historiographical tendency that accentuates topics like modernity, representation, citizenship, and public spaces, a choice that leads him to a different reading of the causation of the independence movements in Latin America. In Peralta’s view independence did not come as a result of a rising criollo nationalism or the presence of José de San Martín’s and Simón Bolívar’s armies, but as a result of events in Spain beginning with the Napoleonic invasion in 1808. Peralta’s main argument is that the years between 1808 and 1825 saw the emergence of a new political culture, triggered by the forced abdication of Ferdinand VII. Although Peralta’s main focus and archival research is on Peru, the book makes some very interesting comments on political processes elsewhere in Hispanoamerica. His is a reading of political ideas and institutions; his well-proven hypothesis is that the political culture in the Peruvian vice-royalty, usually considered the bastion of counterrevolution, was able to change because of the advent of Spanish liberal and constitutional ideas, especially during the years (1810–14) when the Cádiz Constitution tried to rule the lives of people in the Iberian Peninsula and in the colonies. According to Peralta, Ferdinand’s return to the throne in 1814 interrupted this process but could not erase it.Throughout the book we learn about the impact the juntas de gobierno had in Spain and in Peru. The juntas themselves changed jurisdictions and encountered local and regional resistance after 1808. In this initial phase of political adjustment all authorities and people in Hispanoamerica declared their fidelity to King Ferdinand VII, declared war on the French, and accepted the armistice with England. In Spain, a group of afrancesados supported the Bonapartes as the new Spanish dynasty, but they did not find any support in Hispanoamerica. The Junta Central was the first that managed to centralize all actions undertaken by the juntas provinciales and to propose that American delegates (vocales elegidos) should participate as representatives of the viceroyalties and general captaincies. With the military disasters of 1809 and the self-dissolution of the Junta Central in January 1810, “juntismo” in Hispanoamerica lost its influence and power. As a consequence, American autonomist thinking gained impetus, especially in New Spain, New Granada, the Rio de la Plata, Caracas, Quito, Charcas, and Chile.The Council of the Indies, which once was the main arbiter between Spain and its colonies, closed its doors in August 1809. In the meantime, the criollo elite, allied with the peninsular elite, gave Viceroy Abascal the economic means to drum up sentiment against the French and in support of the king, often hiding or forbidding the flow of information. Several criminal lawsuits were set up against antagonizers. However, according to Peralta, it was Abascal’s propagandizing that triggered a change in public opinion from being religious and literary to becoming political. When freedom of the press was established in April 1811 as part of the implementation of the Cádiz Constitution, political voices became louder and were more widely disseminated. Spanish constitutionalism, in turn, created a seedbed for challenges to despotism and arbitrariness. Several new journals distributed thousands of issues. Although these journals did not engage in political debates with each other and often did not circulate beyond Lima, they helped bring an end to the homogeneity of political thought.In 1816, Lima aristocrat José de la Riva-Agüero finished his “Manifestación histórica y política de la revolución de la América,” a collection of 28 reasons why Peruvians had suffered from despotism. According to Peralta, this widely circulated manifesto was not the beginning but the culmination of a discourse that began in 1811 under the auspices of the Cortes de Cádiz. From then on it would be the patriotas independentistas who would use this discourse against despotism, initially introduced by the Hispanic constitutionalists, to override the political language of the defenders of Ferdinand VII.A changing political language went hand in hand with the electoral process instigated by the Cádiz Constitution and the constitutionalists. Elections happened at various levels throughout the viceregal territory. The elections for Ayuntamientos Constitucionales and Ayuntamientos de Diputaciones Provinciales were the first steps toward forming representative governments with a local and regional character. However, especially at the level of the Diputaciones Provinciales, the way in which elections were mediated ultimately made it possible for peninsular authorities to have the final say on who became elected. The same was true for the elected Peruvian representatives to the Cortes de Cádiz.Much disappointment ensued when in 1814 the Cortes were abolished and Ferdinand VII was back on the Spanish throne. Constitutionalists in Spain and in Hispanoamerica were disappointed; some (like Manuel Lorenzo de Vidaurre) even resigned their citizenship and ended up supporting the independence movements. In 1820, the 1812 constitution was restored. Abascal’s successor, Viceroy Joaquin de la Pezuela, made one final attempt at rescuing king and religion based on a discourse of political anarchy and religious impiety overshadowing the American revolutions. In 1820 Pezuela (like Abascal before him) accepted the new rules of the game and even called for elections for cabildos constitucionales in all the capitals of the viceroyalty. By then, however, it was too late.Víctor Peralta’s book is thoroughly researched and based on abundant archival materials from collections in Seville, Madrid, and Cusco. It is elegantly and clearly written. I will assign it in my next research seminar focused on state formation processes.