Diego Portales
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Diego José Pedro Víctor Portales Palazuelos (June 16, 1793 - June 6, 1837) was a Chilean minister, statesman and entrepreneur.
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[edit] Early life
He was born in Santiago, the son of José Santiago Portales Larraín and María Fernández Palazuelos. He did his primary studies at the Colegio de Santiago, and in 1813, attended law classes at the National Institute. From where he moved to a job as an assayer for the Chilean Mint, where his father and grandfather had been superintendents.
On August 15, 1819 he married his cousin, Josefa Portales Larraín. He had two daughters with her, both of whom died within days of their birth. His wife died also very soon in 1821. He never remarried after that, but took Constanza Nordenflicht as his mistress, with whom had three children.
In July of 1821, he resigned his job at the Mint and went into business. He opened a trading house, Portales, Cea and Co., based in Valparaiso with a branch in Lima, Peru. He bid and obtained the management of the government monopoly on tobacco and other items (known in Spanish as estanco). In exchange for the monopoly, he offered to service the full amount of the Chilean foreign debt. Nonetheless, in the anarchy that was regnant in Chile at the time, there was no means of enforcing a monopoly, and the company eventually went bankrupt. Out of this unsuccessful business venture, the only remnant was the name eventually applied to his political followers, who in time came to be known as the estanqueros (monopolists.)
[edit] Early political career
Soon after he aligned with the conservatives, and more especially with General José Joaquín Prieto, in the political fights that were racking Chile at the time. In 1823, he was elected supplementary deputy for Santiago to the Provincial Assembly of that year. Very soon he became the intellectual leader of the conservative side.
[edit] Administration
After the triumph of the conservatives in the Revolution of 1829, President José Tomás Ovalle named him minister of the Interior and Foreign Affairs on April 6, 1830 remaining until May 1831. He was named again to that position by President Fernando Errázuriz on July 9, 1831 and remained until August 31, 1831 and named once again by President José Joaquín Prieto from November 9, 1835 to January 1837. Something similar happened with his nomination as minister of war and navy from April 6, 1830 until May 1831; then from July 9, 1831 until December 1832 and from September 21, 1835 to September 1836.
[edit] Assassination
The Chilean government, in order to bolster its standing, inmediately imposed martial law and asked for (and obtained) extraordinary legislative powers from Congress. Early in 1837 a Court Martial Law was approved and given jurisdiction over all citizens for the duration of the war. The opposition to the Prieto administration inmediately accused Portales of tyranny, and started a heated press campaign against him personally and the impopular war in general.
Political and public opposition to war inmediately affected the army, fresh from the purges of the civil war of 1830. On June 3, 1837, Coronel José Antonio Vidaurre, commander of the Maipo regiment, captured and imprisoned Portales while he was reviewing troops at the army barracks in Quillota. Vidaurre inmediately procedeed to attack Valparaíso on the mistaken belief that public opinion opposed to the war would support him and topple the government. Rear Admiral Manuel Blanco Encalada, in charge of the defense defeated him right outside the port at the Battle of Barón. Captain Santiago Florín, who was in charge of Portales, had him shot when he heard of the news, on June 6, 1837. Most of the conspirators were subsequently captured and executed.
This murder turned the tide of Chilean public opinion. The government derogated Martial law and the country rallied behind the government. The war became a holy cause, and Portales a martyr.
[edit] Legacy
His legacy in the improvement and renewal of the administration of the State, his strategic vision of Chile as an independent and sovereign Latin American country, and his influence in the Chilean Constitution of 1833 are considered the most important milestone of Chilean institutionality during the 19th century. His work was specially influential during the years of political learning of the post-independence turmoil and during the governments of the Authoritarian Republic (1830-1861) and in a lesser degree the governments of the Liberal Republic (1861-1891)
Portales, Diego: A Chilean Biography
[edit] Trivia
His remains, missing since his assassination, were found on March 2005 in Santiago's Metropolitan Cathedral during renovation projects.
| Preceded by Joaquín Tocornal |
Minister of the Interior and Foreign Affairs 1835-1837 |
Succeeded by Joaquín Tocornal |
| Preceded by José Matías López |
Navy General Commander 1833-1834 |
Succeeded by Ramón de la Cavareda |
| Preceded by Juan Francisco Meneses |
Minister of the Interior and Foreign Affairs 1830-1831 |
Succeeded by Ramón Errázuriz |
