Eduardo Abaroa Hidalgo (13 October 1838 – 23 March 1879) was

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

's foremost hero of the

War of the Pacific The War of the Pacific ( es, link=no, Guerra del Pacífico), also known as the Saltpeter War ( es, link=no, Guerra del salitre) and by multiple other names, was a war between Chile and a Bolivian–Peruvian alliance from 1879 to 1884. Fought ...

(1879–1883), which pitted

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the eas ...

against

and

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = National seal , national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...

. He was one of the leaders of the civilian resistance to the Chilean invasion at the Battle of Topáter. Abaroa was an engineer by trade, working in a silver mine located in the coastal region of Litoral, which Chile took from Bolivia during the

. During the Battle of Topáter (23 March 1879), the first armed clash of the war, Colonel Abaroa was part of a badly outnumbered Bolivian force defending a bridge that crossed the Topáter River and gave access to the city of Calama, an important desert oasis on the road to Bolivia. Refusing to surrender, after the outnumbered Bolivian military forces withdrew, he fought to his last breath, a feat that later transformed him into a revered national hero. When, injured and surrounded, he was asked to surrender by the Chilean forces, he provided an answer that has gone into Bolivian folklore: "¿Rendirme yo? ¡Que se rinda su abuela, carajo!" ("Surrender? Your grandmother s whoshould surrender, you bastard!", or "Surrender, me? Let your grandmother surrender, dammit!", or, more literally, "Surrender, me? That your grandmother surrender herself, fuck!"), equivalent to saying "Surrender? Surrender my ass!". According to Chilean folklore, he answered: "¿Quién, yo?" ("Who, me?")

Legacy and critical discussion

In 1952, on the 73rd anniversary of his death, the Bolivian Government repatriated Abaroa's body, burying it with full honors and in the midst of an impressive crowd (numbering in the tens of thousands) in the popular

La Paz La Paz (), officially known as Nuestra Señora de La Paz (Spanish pronunciation: ), is the seat of government of the Plurinational State of Bolivia. With an estimated 816,044 residents as of 2020, La Paz is the third-most populous city in Bol ...

square that bears the hero's name. Plaza Abaroa (''Abaroa Square'') also contains a large bronze statue of the Bolivian martyr, presented in full pose and defiance, as he would have looked the moment before his death. His country honored him with a series of stamps (Scott#365-370 and C157-162). The stamps quoted his last words, eliding ''"carajo"'' with an

ellipsis The ellipsis (, also known informally as dot dot dot) is a series of dots that indicates an intentional omission of a word, sentence, or whole section from a text without altering its original meaning. The plural is ellipses. The term origin ...

Eduardo Abaroa Province Eduardo Abaroa, also Eduardo Avaroa, or Challapata is a Provinces of Bolivia, province in the southeastern parts of the Bolivian Departments of Bolivia, department of Oruro Department, Oruro. Its seat is Challapata. The province was named after Col ...

is named in his honor, as is

Eduardo Avaroa Andean Fauna National Reserve The Eduardo Avaroa Andean Fauna National Reserve (''Reserva Nacional de Fauna Andina Eduardo Avaroa''; Spanish acronym: REA) is located in Sur Lípez Province. Situated in the far southwestern region of Bolivia, it is the country's most visite ...

. The anniversary of Abaroa's heroic death (March 23) is the national holiday in Bolivia ''Día del Mar'', or the Day of the Sea. His granddaughter, Elena Abaroa Córdova, married Croatian immigrant in Chile Policarpo Lukšić, with whom she had businessman Andrónico Luksic Abaroa, father of Andrónico Luksic Craig and founder of the Luksic family, one of the richest families in the world.

References

*Jack Child, "The Politics and Semiotics of the Smallest Icons of Popular Culture: Latin American Postage Stamps", ''Latin American Research Review'', Vol. 40, no. 1, February 2005. {{DEFAULTSORT:Abaroa, Eduardo 1838 births 1879 deaths People from El Loa Province Bolivian people of Basque descent Bolivian military personnel of the War of the Pacific Bolivian engineers Military personnel killed in the War of the Pacific