Luis Miguel Sánchez Cerro (August 12, 1889 – April 30, 1933) was a high-ranking Peruvian army officer who served as the 41st President of Peru, from 1931 to 1933 as well as
Interim President of Peru, officially as the President of the Provisional Government Junta, from 1930 to 1931. On August 22, 1930, as a
lieutenant-colonel
Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...
, he overturned the eleven-year dictatorship of
Augusto B. Leguía
Augusto Bernardino Leguía y Salcedo (February 19, 1863 – February 6, 1932) was a Peruvian politician who served as President of Peru from 1908 to 1912 and from 1919 to 1930, the latter term known as ''El Oncenio de Leguía'' (Leguía's E ...
after a
coup d'état
A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, m ...
in
Arequipa
Arequipa (; Aymara and qu, Ariqipa) is a city and capital of province and the eponymous department of Peru. It is the seat of the Constitutional Court of Peru and often dubbed the "legal capital of Peru". It is the second most populated city ...
.
Following Leguía's resignation,
Manuel Ponce
Manuel María Ponce Cuéllar (8 December 1882 – 24 April 1948) was a Mexican composer active in the 20th century. His work as a composer, music educator and scholar of Mexican music connected the concert scene with a mostly forgotten traditio ...
was interim president until Sánchez was chosen on August 27. The new president flew to
Lima
Lima ( ; ), originally founded as Ciudad de Los Reyes (City of The Kings) is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rivers, in the desert zone of t ...
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.
Early life
Luis Miguel Sánchez Cerro was born in
Piura
Piura is a city in northwestern Peru located in the Sechura Desert on the Piura River. It is the capital of the Piura Region and the Piura Province. Its population was 484,475 as of 2017.
It was here that Spanish Conqueror Francisco Pizarro fou ...
on August 12, 1889, to Antonio Sánchez and Rosa Cerro. He was the first Peruvian President to have
Indigenous Peruvian ancestry as well as allegedly also being of
Afro-Peruvian
Black Peruvians or Afro-Peruvians are Peruvian of mostly or partially African descent. They mostly descend from enslaved Africans brought to Peru after the arrival of the conquistadors.
Early history
The first Africans arrived with the conque ...
Malagasy descent based on a rumour he was from a part of
Piura
Piura is a city in northwestern Peru located in the Sechura Desert on the Piura River. It is the capital of the Piura Region and the Piura Province. Its population was 484,475 as of 2017.
It was here that Spanish Conqueror Francisco Pizarro fou ...
populated by descendants of Malagasy slaves.
[El escritor ]Mario Vargas Llosa
Jorge Mario Pedro Vargas Llosa, 1st Marquess of Vargas Llosa (born 28 March 1936), more commonly known as Mario Vargas Llosa (, ), is a Peruvian novelist, journalist, essayist and former politician, who also holds Spanish citizenship. Vargas Ll ...
, piurano por adopción, dice al respecto en sus memorias: «La leyenda inventó que el general Sánchez Cerro —dictador que fundó la UR y que fue asesinado por un aprista el 30 de abril de 1933— había nacido en La Mangachería y por eso todos los mangaches eran urristas, y todas las cabañas de barro y caña brava de ese barrio de calles de tierra y lleno de churres y piajenos (como se llama a los niños y a los burros en la jerga piurana) lucían bailoteando en las paredes alguna descolorida imagen de Sánchez Cerro.» (''El pez en el agua'', 1993, pág. 27).
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 Billinghurst
Guillermo Enrique Billinghurst Angulo (ie. William Henry Billinghurst) (Arica, July 27, 1851 – Iquique, June 28, 1915) was a Peruvian politician of English descent who served as the 37th President of Peru. He succeeded Augusto B. Leguía, fro ...
, 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
For centuries, Spain recruited foreign soldiers to its army, forming the Foreign Regiments () - such as the Regiment of Hibernia (formed in 1709 from Irishmen who fled their own country in the wake of the Flight of the Earls and the penal ...
in
Morocco
Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...
, where he was wounded. He got a post at the ministry of war in 1924. He also served with the
Royal Army of Italy in 1925, and took advanced military studies in
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
in 1926.
President of the Junta (1930-1931)
In 1931, as president of the military junta, Sánchez awarded Prince
Edward VIII of Wales with Peru's Order of the Sun, and proceeded to escort the prince and his entourage in the voyage back to the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
. 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.
President of Peru (1931-1933)
210px, The commander Luis Miguel Sánchez Cerro.
![GabineteSanchezCerro](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ee/GabineteSanchezCerro.png)
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 Union
The General Workers' Union of Germany (german: Allgemeine Arbeiter-Union Deutschlands; AAUD) was a factory organisation formed following the German Revolution of 1918–1919 in opposition to the traditional trade unions.
The AAUD was formed by the ...
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 APRA or Apra may refer to:
Places
*Apra, Punjab, a census town city in Jalandhar District of Punjab, India
* Apra Harbor, the main port of Guam
Acronyms
* American Popular Revolutionary Alliance (Alianza Popular Revolucionaria Americana), a Peruvi ...
.
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".
In June 1932, another revolt against President Sánchez took place in
Huaraz
Huaraz () (from Quechuan languages, Quechua: ''Waraq'' or ''Waras'', "''dawn''"), founded as San Sebastián de Huaraz, is a city in Peru. It is the capital of the Ancash Region (State of Ancash) and the seat of government of Huaraz Province. The ...
. 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.
Conflict with Colombia and assassination
In September 1932, a group of Peruvian civilians and military dressed as civilians, staged a private raid and seized the
Colombia
Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...
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 Bernardino Leguía y Salcedo (February 19, 1863 – February 6, 1932) was a Peruvian politician who served as President of Peru from 1908 to 1912 and from 1919 to 1930, the latter term known as ''El Oncenio de Leguía'' (Leguía's E ...
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. In February 1933, at least three thousand Colombian troops with artillery and machine guns were deployed behind the
Putumayo River
The Putumayo River or Içá River ( es, Río Putumayo, pt, Rio Içá) is one of the tributaries of the Amazon River, southwest of and parallel to the Japurá River.
Course
The Putumayo River forms part of Colombia's border with Ecuador, as well ...
, 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 United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
.
The Council of the
League of Nations
The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference that ...
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."
= Assassination =
On April 30, 1933, while at Santa Beatriz racetrack in
Lima
Lima ( ; ), originally founded as Ciudad de Los Reyes (City of The Kings) is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rivers, in the desert zone of t ...
, 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 or Apra may refer to:
Places
*Apra, Punjab, a census town city in Jalandhar District of Punjab, India
* Apra Harbor, the main port of Guam
Acronyms
* American Popular Revolutionary Alliance (Alianza Popular Revolucionaria Americana), a Peruvi ...
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.
Now his great grandson Lorenzo Wiesner lives to tell the tale of his great grandfather Luis Miguel Sanchez Cerro.
Notes
References
Newton, M., Famous Assassinations in World History: An Encyclopedia, p. 506, LLC, 2014Kapiszewski, D.; Kazan, A., Encyclopedia of Latin American Politics, p. 273, Oryx Press, 2002
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sanchez Cerro, Luis Miguel
1889 births
1933 deaths
Presidents of Peru
Assassinated Peruvian politicians
Assassinated heads of state
Deaths by firearm in Peru
Fascist rulers
Peruvian Army officers
People murdered in Peru
Peruvian people of Malagasy descent
Revolutionary Union (Peru) politicians
Leaders who took power by coup
People from Piura