José Ballivián

José Ballivián
Portrait by Antonio Villavicencio, Museo de Charcas, Sucre
9th President of Bolivia
In office 27 September 1841 – 23 December 1847 Provisional: 27 September 1841 – 15 August 1844
Preceded by	Mariano Enrique Calvo (acting)
Succeeded by	Eusebio Guilarte (acting)
Minister of War
In office 27 March 1839 – 13 July 1839
President	José Miguel de Velasco
Preceded by	Otto Philipp Braun
Succeeded by	Manuel Eusebio Ruiz
Personal details
Born	5 May 1805 La Paz, Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata (now Bolivia)
Died	6 October 1852(1852-10-06) (aged 47) Rio de Janeiro, Empire of Brazil
Resting place	Crypt of the San Francisco Museum, La Paz, Bolivia
Spouse	Mercedes Coll
Children	7 (including Adolfo Ballivián)
Parent(s)	Jorge Ballivián Isidora Segurola
Signature

José Ballivián Segurola (5 May 1805 – 6 October 1852) was a Bolivian general during the Peruvian-Bolivian War. He also served as the ninth president of Bolivia from 1841 to 1847.^[1]

Born in La Paz to wealthy parents, he was the nephew of Dámaso Bilbao la Vieja. Ballivián had a rather undistinguished military career until his elevation to the post of Commander of the Army in June 1841. He had been a royalist until 1822, but switched sides and joined Lanza's insurrectionist army at the age of 18. His advance in the Bolivian army was unremarkable, although his role was apparently fundamental to the Confederate triumph over Salaverry at the Battle of Socabaya in early 1836. Importantly, he had been a supporter of Santa Cruz in the 1830s.^[2]

His golden hour came, and he rose dramatically to the occasion, when at aged 37 and as Bolivian Army chief he united the pro-Velasco and pro-Santa Cruz factions under his command to face-off a massive Peruvian invasion led by President Agustín Gamarra. At the Battle of Ingavi (November 1841), Ballivián emerged with a surprising and crushing victory against Gamarra, whom he took prisoner and ordered executed.

It was a stunning turn of events, and one that marks the highest point in Bolivian military history. Ingavi preserved Bolivian independence and transformed Ballivián into an overnight hero in a fractured nation badly in need of one. Congress almost immediately proclaimed him Provisional President in Calvo's replacement. Marshall Santa Cruz, from France, acquiesced to his rule and declined to return in the face of the enormous popularity of the new Caudillo.^[3]

Elected at the ballot box in 1842, Ballivián was a capable leader who enacted important reforms, including a revision of the Constitution. However, to stave any revolutionary plots by the rebellious Colonel Belzu and José Miguel de Velasco, Ballivián appointed military officers that supported him, like Dámaso Bilbao la Vieja and Eusebio Guilarte, in positions of power. Generally, he followed the organizational and administrative style of Santa Cruz and took great care to keep his supporters happy, thus positioning himself as the Grand Marshal's heir. It was Ballivián who ordered the first serious attempt at exploring and mapping the vastly unknown interior of the country and its frontiers.

He also created the Department of Beni, and endeavored to establish Bolivian control over the sea-fronting Department of Litoral. Under his administration, the guano riches of that frontier region were exploited for the first time in earnest. However, he failed to create a credible deterrent military presence in the area, since he tended to concentrate loyal troops in the important centers of population in order to quell rebellions, especially after 1845.^[4]

Ballivián had the misfortune of experiencing the defection, and subsequent dogged personal opposition, of the charismatic General Manuel Belzu, once head of the Army but now wounded by the alleged or perceived pursuit of his Belzu's wife by the President. Belzu withdrew to the countryside with his followers in 1845 and, swearing revenge, all but declared war on Ballivián, igniting a massive confrontation that polarized Bolivian society. Little by little, the populist Belzu's legend grew, while Ballivián's became more tarnished, especially when the latter was forced to resort to increasingly authoritarian measures to keep control.

Eventually, civil war-like conditions erupted, forcing the embattled Hero of Ingavi to flee shortly before Christmas of 1847.^[5] He left in his place General Eusebio Guilarte, head of the Council of State and second in line to the presidency in accordance to the new Constitution Ballivián himself had promulgated.

Following his exile in Chile, he moved to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where he remained the rest of his days. He suddenly died in 1852 in Rio de Janeiro, but is revered to this day as one of Bolivia's greatest Presidents and foremost military leaders. His remains were repatriated and he was given a lavish state funeral. José Ballivián's son, Adolfo Ballivián, followed in his father's footsteps and became Constitutional President of Bolivia in 1873.