Luis Miguel Sánchez Cerro
Encyclopedia
Luis Miguel Sánchez Cerro (August 12, 1889, Piura
– April 30, 1933, Lima
) was a high-ranking Peruvian army officer and President of Peru from 1931 to 1933. On August 22, 1930, as a lieutenant-colonel, he overturned the eleven-year dictatorship of Augusto B. Leguía
after a coup d'état
in Arequipa
.
Following Leguía's resignation, Manuel Ponce
was interim president until Sánchez was chosen on August 27. The new president flew to Lima
and himself served as provisional president until the military with whom he had effected the coup forced him into exile after six months in office.
on Àugust 12th, 1889 to Don Antonio Sánchez and Doña Rosa Cerro. He was the first Peruvian president to have Indigenous Peruvian
ancestry as well as being of Malagasy
descent (mangache or malgache, Afro-Peruvian
with ancestry from Madagascar
).
, in 1914.
In 1921 he was again shot and injured when captured in Lima, in an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow President Leguía. During his exile abroad he served
with the Spanish Foreign Legion in Morocco
, where he was wounded. He also served with the Royal Army of Italy
in 1925, and took advanced military studies in France
in 1926.
with Peru's Order of the Sun, and proceeded to escort the prince and his entourage in the voyage back to the United Kingdom
. Sánchez was awarded in return with the Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire.
After six months in office, prominent Peruvian Navy officers held talks with Colonel Sánchez, and told him that only a single regiment in Lima remained loyal to his regime. As a result of this, Sánchez resigned, stating that he "only wanted to save his country," and that he "had no political ambition."
The Navy then selected Chief Justice Ricardo Leoncio Elías
of Peru's Supreme Court as the new president of the Republic on March 1, 1931.
which he founded. President Luis M. Sánchez was inaugurated at Peru's Government Palace
as the forty-fifth President of Peru.
The results, however, were contested by the main opposition party, APRA
.
In March 1932, as he was leaving Lima's socialite Church in Miraflores, an assassination attempt by an unknown individual – later identified as José Melgar – took place. Melgar attempted to shoot the president in the chest, but missed. The president himself was armed and almost shot his aggressor, but was stopped short of doing so by his bodyguards after they arrested the man.
Days after, the president commuted the death sentence of José Melgar to imprisonment for twenty-five years. He claimed that his "actions were entirely personal". The assassin claimed that his actions were not "politically motivated".
On June 1932, another revolt against President Sánchez took place in Huaraz
. The President closed both the National College and the National University as "hotbeds of revolutions," and appealed for voluntary contributions to purchase three squadrons of bombing planes in order to put down further revolts.
n town of Leticia. They then expelled the town's Colombian officials and demanded the support of the Peruvian Government. The surge of patriotism was too strong to be resisted by Sánchez.
By the Saloman-Lozano Treaty of 1922, Peru ceded to Colombia a "Corridor to the Amazon" at the tip of which is Leticia. However, the Treaty was kept in secret until the end of the Augusto B. Leguía
dictatorship, and it was considered null and unequal by the new authorities under Sánchez.
By the end of September 1932, both Colombia and Peru were mobilizing men, money and munitions. On February 1933, at least three thousand Colombian troops with artillery and machine guns were deployed behind the Putumayo River, facing roughly equal Peruvian military forces. At Peru's Military Aviation School near Lima, President Sánchez approvingly inspected a brand new fleet of Douglas combat planes, just arrived from the United States
.
The Council of the League of Nations
sent Lima an important telegram, in which Peru was commanded by the Council "to refrain from any intervention by force on Colombian territory and ... not hinder the Colombian authorities from the exercise of full sovereignty and jurisdiction in territory recognized by a treaty to belong to Colombia."
On April 30, 1933, while at Santa Beatriz racetrack, President Sánchez had just finished reviewing twenty thousand young recruits for Peru's undeclared war with Colombia, when Abelardo de Mendoza, a member of the suppressed APRA
Party, shot him through the heart.
Parliament proceeded to choose General Oscar R. Benavides
to succeed Sánchez as Provisional President. Benavides had already served a term as Provisional President in 1914.
Piura
Piura is a city in northwestern Peru. It is the capital of the Piura Region and the Piura Province. The population is 377,496.It was here that Spanish Conqueror Francisco Pizarro founded the third Spanish city in South America and first in Peru, San Miguel de Piura, in July 1532...
– April 30, 1933, Lima
Lima
Lima is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín rivers, in the central part of the country, on a desert coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Together with the seaport of Callao, it forms a contiguous urban area known as the Lima...
) was a high-ranking Peruvian army officer and President of Peru from 1931 to 1933. On August 22, 1930, as a lieutenant-colonel, he overturned the eleven-year dictatorship of Augusto B. Leguía
Augusto B. Leguía
Augusto Bernardino Leguía y Salcedo was a Peruvian politician who twice occupied the Presidency of Peru, from 1908 to 1912 and from 1919 to 1930.-Early life:...
after a coup d'état
Coup d'état
A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...
in Arequipa
Arequipa
Arequipa is the capital city of the Arequipa Region in southern Peru. With a population of 836,859 it is the second most populous city of the country...
.
Following Leguía's resignation, Manuel Ponce
Manuel María Ponce Brousset
Manuel María Ponce Brousset briefly occupied the Presidency of Peru in August 1930.After Luis Miguel Sánchez Cerro overthrew Augusto B. Leguía's eleven-year dictatorship in Arequipa, Ponce assumed the two-day interim presidency until Sánchez Cerro arrived in Lima and was designated as Leguía's...
was interim president until Sánchez was chosen on August 27. The new president flew to Lima
Lima
Lima is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín rivers, in the central part of the country, on a desert coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Together with the seaport of Callao, it forms a contiguous urban area known as the Lima...
and himself served as provisional president until the military with whom he had effected the coup forced him into exile after six months in office.
Birth Place
Luis Miguel Sánchez Cerro was born in PiuraPiura
Piura is a city in northwestern Peru. It is the capital of the Piura Region and the Piura Province. The population is 377,496.It was here that Spanish Conqueror Francisco Pizarro founded the third Spanish city in South America and first in Peru, San Miguel de Piura, in July 1532...
on Àugust 12th, 1889 to Don Antonio Sánchez and Doña Rosa Cerro. He was the first Peruvian president to have Indigenous Peruvian
Vicus (Peru)
Vicús culture was an important early culture in Peru from 1000/200 BCE to 300/600 CE. They lived in the Piura region in the northwestern coast of Peru.-Art:They were known for their work in ceramics , copper, and gold...
ancestry as well as being of Malagasy
Malagasy people
The Malagasy ethnic group forms nearly the entire population of Madagascar. They are divided into two subgroups: the "Highlander" Merina, Sihanaka and Betsileo of the central plateau around Antananarivo, Alaotra and Fianarantsoa, and the côtiers elsewhere in the country. This division has its...
descent (mangache or malgache, Afro-Peruvian
Afro-Peruvian
Afro Peruvians are citizens of Peru mostly descended from African slaves who were brought to the Western hemisphere with the arrival of the conquistadors towards the end of the slave trade.-Early history:...
with ancestry from Madagascar
Madagascar
The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...
).
Early career
Luis Miguel Sánchez was wounded in five places and lost three fingers of his left hand when he seized the spitting muzzle of a machine gun (with his bare hands) and turned it against government forces during the overthrowing of President Guillermo BillinghurstGuillermo Billinghurst
Guillermo Enrique Billinghurst Angulo was a Peruvian politician. He succeeded Augusto B. Leguía as President of Peru from 1912 to 1914. Billinghurst was of English descent...
, in 1914.
In 1921 he was again shot and injured when captured in Lima, in an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow President Leguía. During his exile abroad he served
Rif War (1920)
The Rif War, also called the Second Moroccan War, was fought between Spain and the Moroccan Rif Berbers.-Rifian forces:...
with the Spanish Foreign Legion in Morocco
Spanish Morocco
The Spanish protectorate of Morocco was the area of Morocco under colonial rule by the Spanish Empire, established by the Treaty of Fez in 1912 and ending in 1956, when both France and Spain recognized Moroccan independence.-Territorial borders:...
, where he was wounded. He also served with the Royal Army of Italy
Italian Army
The Italian Army is the ground defence force of the Italian Armed Forces. It is all-volunteer force of active-duty personnel, numbering 108,355 in 2010. Its best-known combat vehicles are the Dardo infantry fighting vehicle, the Centauro tank destroyer and the Ariete tank, and among its aircraft...
in 1925, and took advanced military studies in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
in 1926.
President of the Junta (1930)
In 1931, as president of the military junta, Sánchez awarded Prince Edward VIII of WalesEdward VIII of the United Kingdom
Edward VIII was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth, and Emperor of India, from 20 January to 11 December 1936.Before his accession to the throne, Edward was Prince of Wales and Duke of Cornwall and Rothesay...
with Peru's Order of the Sun, and proceeded to escort the prince and his entourage in the voyage back to the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. Sánchez was awarded in return with the Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire.
After six months in office, prominent Peruvian Navy officers held talks with Colonel Sánchez, and told him that only a single regiment in Lima remained loyal to his regime. As a result of this, Sánchez resigned, stating that he "only wanted to save his country," and that he "had no political ambition."
The Navy then selected Chief Justice Ricardo Leoncio Elías
Ricardo Leoncio Elías Arias
Ricardo Leoncio Elías Arias was a Peruvian soldier and politician who briefly occupied the Presidency of Peru between March 1 and March 5, 1931....
of Peru's Supreme Court as the new president of the Republic on March 1, 1931.
President of Peru (1931-1933)
In October 1931, the military Junta permitted a national election. Luis Sánchez was allowed to participate and won the elections by a majority of 19,745 votes, running as the candidate for the Revolutionary UnionRevolutionary Union (Peru)
Revolutionary Union was a political party in Peru. It was founded in 1931 by Luis Miguel Sánchez Cerro and became the governing party that same year. It took part in elections in 1931 and 1945. In 1933 the leadership was taken over by Raúl Ferrero Rebagliati who sought to mobilise mass support...
which he founded. President Luis M. Sánchez was inaugurated at Peru's Government Palace
Government Palace (Peru)
The Government Palace of Peru, also known as House of Pizarro, renoved in 1937, was the house of the Peruvian government headquarters and was built over a huge Indian burying ground Waka that had a shrine of Indian chief Taulichusco. It has been through many alterations...
as the forty-fifth President of Peru.
The results, however, were contested by the main opposition party, APRA
APRA
APRA or Apra may refer to:* American Popular Revolutionary Alliance , a Peruvian political party* Australasian Performing Right Association, a copyright collecting society...
.
In March 1932, as he was leaving Lima's socialite Church in Miraflores, an assassination attempt by an unknown individual – later identified as José Melgar – took place. Melgar attempted to shoot the president in the chest, but missed. The president himself was armed and almost shot his aggressor, but was stopped short of doing so by his bodyguards after they arrested the man.
Days after, the president commuted the death sentence of José Melgar to imprisonment for twenty-five years. He claimed that his "actions were entirely personal". The assassin claimed that his actions were not "politically motivated".
On June 1932, another revolt against President Sánchez took place in Huaraz
Huaraz
Huaraz is a city in Peru. It is the capital of the Departmento de Ancash and the seat of government of the Provincia de Huaraz . The urban agglomerations population is distributed over the districts of Huaraz and Independencia. It was estimated in 2007 to exceed 120,000...
. The President closed both the National College and the National University as "hotbeds of revolutions," and appealed for voluntary contributions to purchase three squadrons of bombing planes in order to put down further revolts.
Conflicto of Leticia, Assassination
In September 1932, a group of Peruvian civilians staged a private raid and seized the ColombiaColombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
n town of Leticia. They then expelled the town's Colombian officials and demanded the support of the Peruvian Government. The surge of patriotism was too strong to be resisted by Sánchez.
By the Saloman-Lozano Treaty of 1922, Peru ceded to Colombia a "Corridor to the Amazon" at the tip of which is Leticia. However, the Treaty was kept in secret until the end of the Augusto B. Leguía
Augusto B. Leguía
Augusto Bernardino Leguía y Salcedo was a Peruvian politician who twice occupied the Presidency of Peru, from 1908 to 1912 and from 1919 to 1930.-Early life:...
dictatorship, and it was considered null and unequal by the new authorities under Sánchez.
By the end of September 1932, both Colombia and Peru were mobilizing men, money and munitions. On February 1933, at least three thousand Colombian troops with artillery and machine guns were deployed behind the Putumayo River, facing roughly equal Peruvian military forces. At Peru's Military Aviation School near Lima, President Sánchez approvingly inspected a brand new fleet of Douglas combat planes, just arrived from the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
The Council of the League of Nations
League of Nations
The League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace...
sent Lima an important telegram, in which Peru was commanded by the Council "to refrain from any intervention by force on Colombian territory and ... not hinder the Colombian authorities from the exercise of full sovereignty and jurisdiction in territory recognized by a treaty to belong to Colombia."
On April 30, 1933, while at Santa Beatriz racetrack, President Sánchez had just finished reviewing twenty thousand young recruits for Peru's undeclared war with Colombia, when Abelardo de Mendoza, a member of the suppressed APRA
APRA
APRA or Apra may refer to:* American Popular Revolutionary Alliance , a Peruvian political party* Australasian Performing Right Association, a copyright collecting society...
Party, shot him through the heart.
Parliament proceeded to choose General Oscar R. Benavides
Óscar R. Benavides
Óscar Raymundo Benavides Larrea , prominent Peruvian field marshal, diplomat and politician, and was the President of Peru from 1914 to 1915 and from 1933 to 1939.- Early life :...
to succeed Sánchez as Provisional President. Benavides had already served a term as Provisional President in 1914.