Quintín Quevedo
Quintín Quevedo Ferrari (31 October 1825 – 24 August 1876) was a Bolivian military officer who rose to prominence after aiding Mariano Melgarejo in the overthrow of President José María de Achá in 1864. He was also a famous and early explorer of the Bolivian Amazon, exploring the Madeira River and the Beni savannah frontier. In 1872 he launched an invasion from Valparaíso, Chile, resulting in an international crisis which is believed to have led to a secret alliance treaty between Peru and Bolivia against Chile. Said alliance became effective with the Chilean occupation of Antofagasta and the Bolivian Litoral Department, leading to the War of the Pacific.
In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Quevedo and the second or maternal family name is Ferrari.
Quintín Quevedo
Modesta Carrasco
3
Rafael Quevedo Laira
Carmen Ferrari García
After the overthrow of Melgarejo, Quevedo would relentlessly conspire against the governments of Agustín Morales, Adolfo Ballivián, and Tomás Frías. He was only finally defeated when the elderly Frías himself led his pacifying army to victory at the Battle of Chacoma, where Quevedo was soundly defeated. However, much like Quevedo's earlier expedition to Cobija, his rebellion in 1875 greatly affected Bolivian politics, as only a few months later revolts broke out throughout the country, even resulting in the burning of the Government Palace that same year. The fractured and weak state of the country and its government allowed for Hilarión Daza's coup in 1876 to easily succeed. Without a doubt, Quevedo played a crucial role in Bolivian history, affecting so much of the nation's destiny in a period of only four years.
Early life[edit]
Quevedo was born in the town of Caminiaga, near the city of Córdoba, Argentina, on October 31, 1825, the son of Rafael Quevedo and Carmen Ferrari. His father had supported the patriot cause in Upper Peru during the Spanish American wars of independence, leading to his exile to the Argentine Republic. With the independence of the Bolivia achieved, his family returned to Bolivia, and in 1836 he was sent to Chile to study at the Instituto Nacional General José Miguel Carrera. Quevedo returned to Bolivia in 1841, the same year the Battle of Ingavi took place. He wrote a poem about the battle called the Canto a Ingavi. Many praised this work and when José Ballivián was touring the major cities of Bolivia, he invited Quevedo to join the garrison of the city as a second lieutenant.[1]
Military career[edit]
Quevedo would accept and chose to join as an artillery officer. He was commissioned with opening an academy specialized in training artillery units in Viacha. This was, however, ended by the sudden rebellion of Fructuoso Peña in 1843. Nonetheless, Quevedo continued rising rapidly through the ranks. By 1844, Quevedo had risen to the rank of captain.[2] In 1846, he married Modesta Carrasco, the only child of General Manuel Carrasco.[3]
In 1847, President Ballivián faced rebellion throughout the country. One of his main detractors was General José Miguel de Velasco, whose cause Quevedo would join. The Santo Domingo rebellion of Cochabamba, in which he played a role, declared itself against Ballivián and in support of Velasco. Seeing his support waning, Ballivián decided to resign. Velasco would reward Quevedo with the rank of lieutenant colonel[2] and allowed him to create El Independiente, a newspaper based in Cochabamba. It was in this newspaper that Quevedo published many of his poetic works, which proved to be successful and popular. In 1848, he was made Consul to Peru in Tacna. Later that year, however, Manuel Isidoro Belzu ousted Velasco after the bloody Battle of Yamparaez, on December 6 of that year. Although Belzu offered him to keep his position as Consul, Quevedo declined and remained exiled in Tacna.[4]
Political career[edit]
Commutation of the death sentence of Mariano Melgarejo[edit]
During his exile, Quevedo founded a trading company and would support the Legalista Party of José María Linares. However, in 1850, he stopped his support after a failed attempt to oust Belzu headed by Linares and Ballivián. On September 6, 1850, the legalistas launched an insurrection after an attempt on the life of President Belzu had been made. To the plotter’s dismay, not only had their rebellion been crushed by the military, but Belzu still lived. In 1852, Quevedo returned to Bolivia under the pretext of his mercantile business. At the time of his return, Mariano Melgarejo, then a colonel, was under arrest and had been sentenced to death for treason. Quevedo put his several connections to use in hopes of saving the life of Melgarejo. The cause was successful and, in 1854, Melgarejo was spared by Belzu.[5]
A jubilant Melgarejo wrote to those that had pleaded for his life, including Quevedo, a pamphlet dated February 14, 1854, stating the following:[6]
Death and burial[edit]
His excessive ambition for power and bad luck in his revolutionary enterprises took a toll on him, leading to the poor health which ended his life. Quevedo died on August 24, 1876, at 51 years old. By supreme decree, promulgated on November 21, 1878,[36] his remains were repatriated from the city of Puno to Cochabamba, arriving in La Paz on December 9 of the same year, where a military funeral with full honors, corresponding to his rank, was held.[37]