Cronología

1770

Nace en Buenos Aires Manuel José Joaquín del Corazón de Jesús Belgrano

1784

Ingresa al Real Colegio de San Carlos

1786

Viaja a España. Se matricula en Leyes en la Universidad de Salamanca

1770

1789

Se recibe de bachiller en Leyes y se instala en Madrid. Su padre es acusado de desfalco, va preso y embargan sus bienes

1790

Lee autores de la Ilustración y asiste a tertulias y academias

1793

Se recibe de abogado en la cancillería de Madrid

1794

Es nombrado secretario perpetuo del Consulado

1795

Primera Memoria del Consulado sobre Agricultura, Industria y Comercio y Educación para el Trabajo Se niega a jurar al monarca inglés. Se incorpora al Regimiento de Patricios

1799

Apoya la creación de las Escuelas de Náutica y de Dibujo

1800

Colabora en el Telégrafo Mercantil. Consolida sus ideas reformistas

1807

Participa en las acciones de la defensa de la ciudad

1808

Promueve a la infanta Carlota Joaquina de Portugal en la Corona del Río de la Plata

1809

Conspira contra el virrey Cisneros

1778

Buenos Aires: autorizada a comerciar con puertos españoles

1776

Creación del Virreinato del Río de la Plata

1794

Carlos IV establece el Real Consulado de Buenos Aires

1807

Segunda invasión inglesa al Río de la Plata

1809

Juntas de gobierno en La Paz y Chuquisaca

1806

Primera invasión inglesa al Río de la Plata

Declaración de la independencia de los Estados Unidos de América

1776 1780

Alzamiento de Túpac Amaru en Perú y de los Comuneros de Nueva Granada en rechazo a las reformas borbónicas La Expedición Malaspina llega al Río de la Plata

1789 1791

Revolución francesa. Toma de la Bastilla y abolición de privilegios feudales Nelson derrota a la flota francoespañola en Trafalgar

1799 1804 1805 1808

La travesía Napoleón, científica de emperador

Alexander de Francia von Humboldt y Aimé Bonpland en América Fernando VII abdica. José Bonaparte, rey de España. La Corte portuguesa recala en Brasil

1810

Publica el Correo de Comercio. Deja el Consulado. Vocal de la Primera Junta; y general en jefe de las tropas al Paraguay. La Junta Grande lo destituye

1811

Derrota en Tacuarí. Es nombrado coronel del Regimiento de Patricios. Motín de las Trenzas

1812

En Rosario enarbola la bandera celeste y blanca en la batería Libertad. Como jefe del Ejército del Norte ordena el Éxodo Jujeño. Victoria de Tucumán.

1814

Transmite el mando del Ejército al coronel José de San Martín. Vuelve a Buenos Aires

1813

Victoria de Salta. Entra en Potosí; derrotado en Vilcapugio y Ayohuma, se retira del Altoperú. En Santa Fe, nace su hijo Pedro Rozas y Belgrano

1815

Viaja a Europa con proyecto de monarquía para el Río de la Plata. Fracasa. Regresa a Buenos Aires

1816

Jefe del Ejército de Observación en el Litoral. Declina el nombramiento de jefe del Ejército del Norte. En el Congreso deTucumán explica la situación internacional; propone una monarquía inca temperada. Hace jurar la Independencia de las Provincias Unidas. Reorganiza el ejército

1818

Nace Manuela Mónica, la hija que tuvo con Dolores Helguero.

1820

Agravada su salud, regresa a Buenos Aires donde fallece el 20 de junio, casi sin ser advertido

1819

Al frente del Ejército de Observación combate a los caudillos artiguistas. Regresa enfermo a Tucumán

1821

Funeral solemne en el primer aniversario de su fallecimiento

1821

1810

Revolución de Mayo en Buenos Aires. Juntas autónomas de gobierno en Caracas, Buenos Aires, Bogotá, Santiago de Chile y Asunción; insurrección popular en México

1814

Belgrano y Rivadavia viajan en misión diplomática a Europa

1815

Convocatoria al Congreso de Tucumán. Derrota patriota en Sipe-Sipe, pérdida del Alto Perú

1817 1818

San Martín triunfa en Chacabuco. Güemes contiene el avance realista en el norte. Caudillos federales: López en Santa Fe; Ramírez en Entre Ríos San Martín proclama la Independencia de Chile. Armisticio de San Lorenzo

1819

Bolívar vence a los españoles y entra en Bogotá

1816

Congreso de Tucumán. Declaración de la Independencia de las Provincias Unidas en Sud América

1820

Cepeda; firma del Tratado del Pilar. Artigas es derrotado por los portugueses. San Martín: Expedición Libertadora al Perú

Victoria patriota sobre los realistas de Montevideo El ejército español reconquista Venezuela y Nueva Granada. Congreso de Viena

1812 1814 1815 1816

Las Cortes de Cádiz aprueban la Constitución política de la monarquía española

Restaurada la monarquía absoluta, España prepara expedición reconquistadora Batalla de Waterloo. Portugal, Brasil y Algarve, regido por un Braganza en el exilio Se funda la Santa Alianza por iniciativa del zar de Rusia. Invasión portuguesa al Uruguay

Unhappy the land that needs no hero. Unhappy the land that breeds no heroes. Bertolt Brecht, Galileo Galilei

His signature is hasty, plain, with insisting, overlapping lines, and no embellishments.

An arrow into the future, maybe. The same future for which Manuel José Joaquín del Corazón de Jesús risked his life.

So many names and yet he signs with an initial, its dot and a lowercase “l” followed by its Italian last name “Belgrano” (“good grain”)—did he think of it this way? We know what his thoughts were through letters, documents and his autobiography: only work, thoughtfulness and knowledge would bring bountiful harvests for the new country.

Laboratorios Bagó’s proposal for this Belgranian year faced us with a new professional challenge: to come up with an illustrated and fancy book on Belgrano’s life and time using a clear language and truthful data, aimed to rediscover from an emotional perspective the complex biography of the man who created our flag.

We committed ourselves to a fruitful discussion. Inspired by the candidness of a superior intelligence and the vision of this great patriot, we explored texts, images, testimonies, and literary fragments, fully determined to amplify the voice of the hero who questions us from the very origins of Argentina.

M.l Belgrano. El hombre y su tiempo (M.l Belgrano. The Man and His Time) begins with a text by María Sáenz Quesada, who, from her perspective as a historian, puts together the pieces of a life marked by the drastic changes of his time, describing the value of his legacy in a brief epilogue called “His Example as a Message.” Christian Kupchik offers a broader and more detailed literary account in nine chapters that follow the complex steps and thoughts of the patriot, from the origins of his genius to his final trip. The images have been carefully researched and edited by Silvia Gabarrot; Daniela Coduto and Ari Jenik were in charge of the complex design and the technical production of the book. Irene Domínguez patiently corrected inaccuracies and mistakes. Juan Manuel Duhalde, the chief editor, passionately and rigorously led the team entrusted to “put on paper” this deeply committed work in these virtual times.

Belgrano was as much a thinker as an intense fighter and a rebel, but he was always loyal, touchingly loyal to his people’s happiness. We have all wanted to go beyond words to honor him.

Gigliola Zecchin (Canela) Buenos Aires, spring of 2020

Manuel Belgrano

By María Sáenz Quesada

The best throughline to grasp the complexity of the historical process from the latest years of the colonial government to the American Independence is Manuel Belgrano’s biography. The founders of Argentinian historiography so understood, and that intellectual architecture is still valid 200 years after the death of the national hero despite the changes in the ideas and values and the permanent review of the past.

The study of the most outstanding events of this life through documents, as is a historian’s activity, explains such validity and justifies that he was called a “Founding Father of the Nation,” though he, with his proverbial modesty, preferred to be called “a good son” of it.

His exemplary behavior both at times of victory and defeat made him a symbol of the Argentine nation, as was recalled on occasion of the second centenary of his death. His legacy, a life focused on the idea of serving his homeland and lived giving preference to the greater good over individual interests, is extraordinarily contemporary. Belgrano and his memory have been able to endure with dignity through the fluctuations of successive historical revisionisms.

However, it is frequently noted that many people are not aware of the significance of his figure, minimize it and even overlook it and are attracted by personalities apparently stronger, ignoring what actual strength means as well as the meaning of being a statesman. That is why, as a historian, I feel honored to make a review of the several fields in which he had to act and to evoke the greatness of this hero, without ignoring his mistakes and limitations: we meet again with the public man in his private life, his ingrained Catholicism, his political ideas, his family drama while he was living in Spain; his love affairs, his children, the diseases; the bond of affection that he —being a porteño— could forge with the provinces and, above all, the sense of duty, his final and permanent commitment with his homeland, and his austerity.

Manuel Belgrano was part of that enlightened criollo minority which, from places that were very far from the center of the Empire, became aware that the old colonial model had to be reformed both by reading modern authors and through their own experience as officers, military men, philanthropists, scientists and travelers. The creator of the Argentine flag, who served as secretary of the Royal Consulate, who was the author of projects to introduce new industries, improve agriculture and educate people, and who, after the 1810 revolution, accepted new challenges as a high-rank military commander, represents an actual paradigm shift in the roles assumed by this generation of patriots.

He was born in 1770 in the City of Buenos Aires as the sixth child out of fourteen children born to Domingo Belgrano Peri, a natural of Liguria and from an elite family, and María Josefa González Islas, from a family both from Santiago del Estero and the City of Buenos Aires, who was related to the charities of that time.

Domingo settled in Buenos Aires in 1751. The city, that was elevated to capital city of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata in 1776, and which was allowed for trading between Spanish and American ports, was favorable for trade. That was the environment where he served in different both ad honorem and remunerated positions, where his business thrived and where he was able to offer his children the best education.

Manuel made his first studies at the Santo Domingo convent and at the age of 14 he was enrolled in the Real Colegio de San Carlos. He was only 16 and he had not finished his studies when his father sent him to Spain to continue his education, a privilege very few could enjoy. Being familiarized with the metropolis, where he lived almost 8 years, he could also pursue any studies he wished. He met the requirements to graduate as a lawyer and he passionately and enthusiastically searched in books, literary gatherings and academies, as well as in the personal contact with true masters, that which he could not get from formal education: a view of the modern thought of philosophers, economists, naturalists and politicians, who were bringing about a real revolution of ideas.

Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos, together with Valentín de Foronda and Pedro Rodríguez de Campomanes, were his models in the Spanish wing of Illustration; from François Quesnay’s work he appreciated the economic theory of physiocracy, which gives a key role to agricultural production, that was so appropriate for the still uncultivated pampa of the Río de la Plata region; from Montesquieu he took the principle of State division of powers; from abbot Caetano Filangieri he took the notion of integrated economy so that prosperity could be brought to many families; from Adam Smith, the principles of economic

liberalism, which challenged the mercantilism related to Cadiz trade monopoly. His inclination for empirical knowledge was reflected in his education proposals which aimed at useful knowledge and practical teaching and at strengthening the local infrastructure (ports, roads).

While he purchased books –which he later donated to the Buenos Aires Public Library−, Manuel wrote his parents that he had decided to gain renown through his works and to use them specifically for the benefit of his homeland and the general welfare. He more than achieved this goal throughout his public life.

He was deeply impressed by the French Revolution, the condemnation of tyrannies and the exaltation of the ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity. A constant in his political thinking was the defense of “civil liberty”, whether under a Republican form of government or under a monarchy. That year, 1789, was a milestone in his life: his father was accused of having covered up certain practices performed by the Customs administrator. The letters exchanged by Manuel with María Josefa to define the best strategy to save his reputation show us that the family drama tempered his character. It was probably then when he started to reject the colonial bureaucracy and when his criollo feeling against the metropolis began. It is worth mentioning that not only he rejected the trade system on which his father’s success was based, but also he did not share either his ambition to get rich.

After ending his education in Spain, the young porteño “with a beautiful Italian face” —as was described by an English traveler—, who had a good position in the educated metropolitan sphere, returned to his homeland as perpetual secretary of the Buenos Aires Royal Consulate. He imagined, then, that a vast field opened to him to carry out his projects. We know the content of such projects due to the successive Memorias he wrote while in that position.

The opening of the Drawing School and the Naval Academy, both of them as a result of his efforts, seemed to be the foundations “of a work that would be for the benefit of mankind,” as he said. When the Spanish Court declared that such facilities were merely a luxury in times of war, he understood that nothing would change while his homeland’s interests depended on decisions taken in Madrid; he wrote to that regard to the Chilean philanthropist Manuel de Salas: “Let’s go on with our work and let’s hope that it gets better with time. Maybe after some time favorable circumstances will arise”.

Meanwhile, a small enlightened group started to set up in Buenos Aires: Belgrano, Manuel José de Lavardén, Luis José de Chorroarín, Hipólito Vieytes, Juan José Castelli, dean Gregorio Funes, Miguel de Azcuénaga, and a few other men, who wrote in the first newspapers of the Río de la Plata region, formed societies and met in literary gatherings and started thinking the problems from the perspective of “the American homeland”, and calling themselves and the other Río de la Plata inhabitants “Argentinians”, with the expectation of putting the natural resources of that homeland in value. The seed of the criollo party or of Independence was growing in them.

As a result of the crisis in the Spanish Empire, the first episode of which were the British invasions to the Río de la Plata, politics also became one of these first patriots’ concerns. Belgrano revealed his temper at that time. It is worth noting that he was the only member of the porteño patriot group who had a direct participation in the Defense military actions. After the fight, he talked about the future of the Viceroyalty and the intentions of the British Empire with a high-ranking British commander and Belgrano told him categorically: “We want the old master or none”.

Between 1808 and 1810, the political groups acting in the capital city of the Viceroyalty took a position. Martín de Álzaga and the pro-Spanish who opposed to viceroy Santiago de Liniers and defended the trade monopoly system sought unsuccessfully to create a Government Junta, as in Spain and in Montevideo. Others accepted the decisions taken by the Junta of Seville in the name of Ferdinand VII, the king who had been taken prisoner, and obeyed Baltasar Hidalgo de Cisneros as the successor of Liniers. A third group, “the Carlotists,” who were in favor of some kind of independence, explored an audacious option: inviting infanta Carlota Joaquina, the wife of Portugal’s prince regent, to govern the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata as regent in the name of her brother, Ferdinand VII. Belgrano is the author of important documents of the Carlotists and conducted negotiations with the princess’ representatives, such as secret agent Felipe Contucci. This project reveals that the criollo patriots sought to impede no matter what that the Álzaga party prevailed or that a solely peninsular government entity ruled in American territory.

Belgrano objected to the arrival of viceroy Cisneros. The new viceroy sought to ingratiate with the criollo party, authorized the opening of the Buenos Aires port to foreign trade and encouraged Belgrano to publish the weekly newspaper Correo de Comercio, where free trade economic ideas would be set out.

The fall of Spain to the French accelerated the events. Belgrano had a significant role in conspiracy meetings and in the actions that led to the May 22 open cabildo. Due to his energy at the time of taking decisions and his already consolidated reputation, he was appointed as ordinary member of the First Government Junta (Primera Junta).

The Junta demanded from the provinces that they acknowledged the Junta’s authority as successor of the viceroy in the name of Ferdinand VII and decided to send military expeditions to secure that acknowledgment. Belgrano was appointed to lead the mission in Paraguay, without duly taking into account that he was not familiarized with the military art, his poor health and the difficulties of the plan. He accepted because he had supported a revolution and had to act accordingly. In his own words, he accepted “so that no one would believe that he rejected the risks, that he only wanted to enjoy the gains, and also because [he] could see a seed of disunity among the committee members and could not prevent it”.

Clearly he was not a man of sides or factions at a time the Junta was strongly divided between Moreno and Saavedra followers (morenistas and saavedristas). He shared Mariano Moreno’s and Castelli’s modern thought, but he was moderate compared to them; on the other hand, he always held religious beliefs that were present in this education projects.

Throughout this first military campaign, during which he traveled through the current Argentine litoral up to Paraguay, he was able to turn the fledgling soldiers and inexperienced officers that were with him into a disciplined force that respected the civilian population. Although he was not familiar with the territory he had to cross, he achieved his goal and engaged in battle, although he previously invited Paraguayans leaders not to shed brotherly blood.

In this campaign, which ended at the beginning of 1811 with the defeat of the patriot force at the Paraguarí and Tacuarí battles, Belgrano made tactical errors but in the heat of the battle he encouraged the troop, obtained an honorable surrender and withdrew after having sown the seed of autonomy. He did more: he respected the civilian populations, helped widows and orphans, and forbade the exploitation of indigenous people in the yerbals. Thus, he showed that, in the whirl of politics and war, he kept the spirit of the general welfare that he had admired when young, and that he was able of putting it in practice.

His enemies in the Junta called him to render accounts for the defeat, but finally no one declared against him. Immediately, he took new responsibilities as the head of the Regiment of Patricians. There, his intention to restore discipline (a constant during this military career) derived in the so called “Pigtail mutiny” (motín de las Trenzas), which ended with a violent repression.

At the beginning of 1812, Belgrano was entrusted with the task of installing the batteries in front of the Paraná river, at the Rosario chapel, which was threatened by the Montevideo royalist fleet. At that place he decided to create the light blue and white insignia that would differentiate patriot from royalist troops, given that up to that time they both held the Spanish colors. That way, some people like Belgrano, who already thought about creating an independent nation, started parting with the “Ferdinand VII mask”.

Tough times arrived after the defeat at Huaqui battle, when the Upper Peru Provinces were lost and the royalist army advanced to the south... Once again, the Triumvirate thought on Belgrano to rebuild the Northern Army. It was the toughest challenge: Peru and the Upper Peru, under the strict hand of the viceroy of Lima, José Fernando de Abascal, represented a very serious threat for the revolution of the Río de la Plata region.

“I only regret that I do not know the country where I am heading, but I will do my best to live up to your appointment in a manner that, I do not doubt, would cover up my inexperience,” answered Belgrano.

This decision to know the country and its inhabitants is key to understand the love and esteem that his fellow countrymen accorded him. When he took back control, he observed that the initial enthusiasm had vanished: the hostility towards porteños and massive desertions had strengthened the proSpanish groups. To instill patriotism, he made swear allegiance to the light blue and white flag on May 25 in Jujuy and he went even further: he restored discipline by applying very severe measures, introduced religious practices, recruited peasants, formed a decent officer corps and ousted the unruly, of which there were plenty. When the royalist force advance became imminent, he ordered the mass departure of the whole population under very severe penalties.

To that regard, General José María Paz stated: “Although this may seem cruel, it was an extremely useful political measure as it made people understand the seriousness of the commitment that had been undertaken;” in addition, Belgrano’s personal behavior and the careful handling of public funds as well as of his own personal expenses supported the revolutionary cause and refuted the royalist propaganda, which accused patriots (not without reason) of heresy and outrages.

All this convinced him of the need to resist the advance of the foreign army in the city of San Miguel del Tucumán. After achieving the support of the population, which helped with money and human resources, he disobeyed the Triumvirate’s order to retreat and abandon the city. Due to the victory in Tucumán on September 24, 1812 over Pío Tristán’s forces, the whole region was incorporated to the United Provinces, despite the new ups and downs of the war.

From the political point of view, the victory represented the end of the First Triumvirate, which was removed by a military movement fostered by the Lautaro Lodge, which ended with a call to an Assembly that introduced significant reforms.

Meanwhile, Belgrano won the battle of Salta on February 20, 1813. Magnanimously, he offered the defeated general an honorable surrender under the oath that he would not take arms against the patriots again; he caused the dead men from both sides to be buried in the same place; and answered ironically to the criticisms he received for not chasing the enemy.

It is true that those who had taken the oath in Salta soon joined the ranks of the royalist troops, but Belgrano had a longterm strategy and goals. He so showed when he allocated the important reward granted to him by the Constituent Assembly to the creation of four public schools. Also, when he published his translation of the Farewell Address, by George Washington, from whom he admired his capacity to teach lessons of patriotism and moderation when in the power. That was also a way of participating in the discussion on the form of government for the United Provinces, a matter that remained unresolved at that time.

In 1813 our hero faced the victory followed by the defeat. Indeed, in a hard effort to reconquer the Upper Peru provinces, he marched further to the north and settled in the city of Potosí, located at a height of 4000 m. The silver from which the viceroyalty’s economy depended up to that time came from that city. Meanwhile, Chuquisaca, Cochabamba, and the caudillos and caciques of the so called republiquetas (independence-seeking guerrilla groups) spoke out for the patriot cause; with a prudent exercise of government, Belgrano could renew the sympathies with the criollo leaders and gain the straight support of indigenous communities. However, he could not maintain his position; he had to face a royalist army commanded by leaders well-trained in the military art, on the one hand, and a disordered troop and the population weariness, on the other hand.

He was defeated at two successive battles on the Vilcapugio and Ayohuma plains. Once again, Paz testified about the tactical flaws, but acknowledged that the behavior of the military commander, who assumed responsibilities and sufferings, allowed for an honorable retreat. Belgrano continued in contact with the Peruvian and Upper Peru populations that sought to break free from the Spanish government. That relationship was the seed for his Inca monarchy project.

His command of the Northern Army was ending, but his return to Buenos Aires was delayed because he requested to continue heading a regiment under the orders of General José de San Martín, a petition that was granted. He believed that the new commander had the military experience he lacked and he sought to continue learning by San Martín’s side. Consequently, during the summer of 1814 he remained next to San Martín, engaged not only in training the troops but also in sharing with San Martin his knowledge of the land and its inhabitants. During that period, both “Founding Fathers” discussed the strategy to free the territory. “War there must be conducted not only with weapons, but also with opinions,” was Belgrano’s advice. San Martín did not ignore the warning.

When he returned to Buenos Aires, Belgrano requested in vain from the government a full license; he no longer considered himself “useful for any service.” The government rejected his request and entrusted him with a delicate diplomatic mission in Europe with Bernardino Rivadavia. World politics had turned around. Ferdinand VII had returned to the Spanish throne, and the monarchs from the Old Regime wanted to finally close the cycle of Republican revolutions. In view of this situation, the Directorate of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata feared, not without reason, that a large reconquest expedition would put an end to the revolution in this part of America. Thus, Belgrano and Rivadavia carried instructions: to buy time and seek the protection of England to ensure the freedom “of the People from the Union.”

During the mission in London −from March to November of 1815−, Belgrano and Rivadavia, who shared a trust and respect relationship, helped Manuel de Sarratea, another envoy sent by the Directorate, who had conceived a plan to crown infante Francisco de Paula, a younger brother of Ferdinand VII, who lived in Rome. Belgrano, though aware that the initiative was informal, did not reject it plainly. He himself drew up the project to create the Río de la Plata United Kingdom, a kingdom that would comprise the territories of the Buenos Aires viceroyalty, the presidency of Chile and the provinces of Puno, Arequipa and Cuzco, to the north, up to Cape Horn, to the south, to be governed by a monarchy, with an upper and a lower house, and the possibility of jobs and positions for everyone. According to San Martín’s strategy and his own

recent experience in Potosí, Belgrano was enthusiastic about and engaged with this ambitious project, regardless, maybe, of the many difficulties it involved.

When Belgrano returned to his country, the main problem was still the Upper Peru, after a new and overwhelming defeat of the patriot troops at Sipe Sipe. In addition to the resulting disorganization of the Northern Army, rebels from the provinces posed a threat to the domestic front and they created in the Litoral region the League of Free People led by José Gervasio Artigas. At that point, Belgrano offered his services to the government centralized in the Directorate, to work for a unified country. He was immediately appointed military commander of the weakened forces that were fighting against the Santa Fe caudillos that had declared their autonomy. He received new disappointments and disrespectful behaviors against him when in this position. In spite of that, his reputation was not tarnished, which is indicative of the soundness of his bases.

The director appointed by the Congress of Tucumán, Juan Martín de Pueyrredón, appointed him as general commander of the Northern Army —or the Peru Army— to provide it with “order and organization”. Belgrano accepted “for the sacred cause of the Homeland”. San Martín very much agreed; he appreciated, in particular, the civic and military virtues of Belgrano, with whom he shared the idea of an “American” revolution.

In a secret session of Congress, Belgrano explained how much the international context had changed in the previous two years, that, given to their anarchical situation, republics were no longer highly esteemed, that Independence should be declared and that a political option according to the new trends had to be built. He proposed a constitutional monarchy and an Inca descendant to the throne, as a way to repair the devastation that people had suffered as a result of the Spanish Conquest. The idea was welcomed by the Northern populations, not only by the migrants from cities that were under the royalists’ power, but also by mixed-race soldiers. Belgrano had learnt during his military campaigns the importance of taking into consideration that part of the country that he, as a porteño educated in the European culture, used to ignore. However, the proposal was reviled in Buenos Aires among mockeries to the “chocolate king,” as it was inadmissible that the political center could be taken to the far North.

From 1816 to 1819, Belgrano remained as the commander of the Peru Army, which was in pitiful conditions. Meanwhile, San Martín conducted his successful campaign in Chile. “Please keep on making our Country glorious,” Belgrano wrote after Maipú’s victory. He watched very closely the preparations for the expedition to Peru, providing useful information and even accepted that he was not given elements that he needed for its own forces. Meanwhile, he did everything possible to satisfy the help requests from Martín Miguel de Güemes, who was putting up a vigorous defense at the borders of Salta and Jujuy, always threatened by the Spanish army. He was very critical of the Litoral caudillos, Estanislao López and Francisco Ramírez, who rejected the authority of the Directorate.

Belgrano’s correspondence is clear about his position: he shared San Martín’s fear of and rejection to the consequences of anarchy; the fate of revolution was not sealed and a reconquest expedition was being organized in Spain. He felt no ill will for the Litoral caudillos, whom he had met during the Paraguay and Eastern Bank campaigns, and recommended that they were heard, but he demanded from them that they dropped their animosity, as the creation of the Nation required to be organized around a unified leadership.

Meanwhile, he lived his personal life in the City of Tucuman, where he had an established household, relationships and dear friends; he was always active and was proud of having set an Academy of Mathematics to train military engineers and was seeking a method to learn soldiers to read, as he regretted their illiteracy. He believed all that was essential to give content to the idea of an independent country.

At the beginning of 1819, the Córdoba and Santa Fe campaigns, with staging posts and camps which lacked horses, weapons, clothes, as well as the setbacks experienced by his subordinates, put his spirit to the test. “This chest may bear anything,” he wrote determined to face “the awful outlooks for this year 19,” and he added: “Ultimately we, the Americans, were very barbarians”.

By the end of that year, amidst the deterioration of the central authority and the chaos in the different jurisdictions, humiliated by an attempt to imprison him and seriously ill, Belgrano returned to his home town. His last days were at the family household on Santo Domingo street. He made a will and commended the fate of the country to the divine Providence, as the sole possible solution to the catastrophes that it faced. In his opinion, lack of education was the cause of all evils.

He died on June 20, 1820. Only a few intimates mourned him. Acknowledgment and glory arrived later.Belgrano: His Example as a Message

Belgrano: His Example as a Message

By María Sáenz Quesada

Despite the feeling of defeat that the national hero felt at the time of his death, when anarchy was at its peak, his beloved country slowly got back on its feet. Indeed, after a succession of civil wars, the Argentine Republic started to grow into a modern nation. Most of Belgrano’s best initiatives on education, freedom of the press, institutions, modernization of infrastructure, industries and national defense were implemented during the historical period known as the National Organization.

The creator of the light-blue and white flag eventually became himself a symbol of patriotism and civic virtues. His moral status, his integrity and his mental clarity allowed him to go with an untarnished reputation through extremely difficult times of the American history, where everything was yet to be defined and the outcome of the fight for Independence was still unknown. Belgrano’s image as a national hero has been preserved both by academic historiography, as well as by literature and popular memory. Maybe because this porteño from a wealthy family, who went to school in Europe and was educated in the modern culture, managed to establish relationships of mutual understanding, respect and affection with the country’s inland populations, including indigenous communities in the Altiplano. An inescapable reference associated to the national identity feeling, he is present in monuments and in the nomenclature of the current Argentine territory, as well as in school teaching, where the first patriotic images and models are formed.

Belgrano set high goals and helped achieve them; as a humanist and a statesman, as a civilian and a military man, and as a precursor and an architect of Independence, he was instrumental in building the Argentine Nation. This “unassuming hero”, as President Domingo Faustino Sarmiento put it when paying tribute to him, is nowadays one of the undisputed “Founding Fathers” of our nation. His memory helps us come together over and above any differences to face future challenges. Today, his example sends a strong message to all Argentinians—it invites us to exercise citizenship to the full extent of our rights and duties; to embrace the knowledge society; and to understand the general welfare can be achieved when ethics and politics concur.

M. S. Q.