Martín Miguel de Güemes

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Martín Miguel de Güemes (8 February 1785 – 17 June 1821) was a military leader and popular caudillo who defended northwestern Argentina from the Spanish during the Argentine War of Independence.

Güemes was born in Salta to a wealthy family, and was sent to study at the Royal College of San Carlos in Buenos Aires. At 14 he joined the military career; he took part in the defense of Buenos Aires during the British invasions of the Río de la Plata. After the formation of the first local government junta in the May Revolution of 1810, he joined the army destined to fight the Spanish troops at the Alto Peru, which came out victorious in the Battle of Suipacha (in present-day Bolivia). He then returned to Buenos Aires and collaborated in the siege of Montevideo.

Güemes returned to Salta in 1815, and organized the resistance against the royalists (forces loyal to Spain) employing local gauchos trained in guerrilla tactics. He was appointed Governor of Salta Province. In November of that year, General José Rondeau, appointed leader of the Peru campaign to replace José de San Martín, suffered a defeat and attempted to take weapons from Salta's gauchos. Güemes refused. The Supreme Director of the Provinces of the Río de la Plata, Ignacio Álvarez Thomas, sent troops to help Rondeau. Eventually an agreement was reached, by which Güemes would continue to lead his forces and would help the armies sent from Buenos Aires.

Days later, the new Supreme Director Juan Martín de Pueyrredón had to address suspicions about Güemes's ability by travelling to Salta, and was so pleased about it that he promoted Güemes to colonel major. Generals José de San Martín and Manuel Belgrano supported Güemes as well. A letter by the royalist general Joaquín de la Pezuela to the Viceroy of Peru explains that Güemes's army was waging, "almost with impunity, a slow but tiring and harmful war".

At the beginning of 1817, the royalist Marshal José de la Serna marched on Salta Province with a large force of experimented soldiers. Güemes organized a popular army and, on 1 March, retook Humahuaca. The royalist army of 5,400 men, with newly arrived reinforcements, was met with a scorched earth retreat combined with continuous guerrilla attacks. De la Serna arrived on Salta City on 16 April, but the population resisted. Faced with lightning skirmishes, declining morale and the news of San Martín's victory in the Battle of Chacabuco, the royalist troops retreated to the north.

Güemes was then left to his own devices, as San Martín was forced to stay in Chile for three years and Belgrano was recalled to Santa Fe Province to fight the federalist supporters of José Gervasio Artigas on behalf of the centralist government of Buenos Aires, now presided by Rondeau. In March 1819 a new royalist army invaded the northwest of Argentina. Güemes did not obtain reinforcements and resorted to extract money by force from the upper-class landowners of Salta. In February 1820 another wave of Spanish troops reclaimed San Salvador de Jujuy and Salta, but were eventually repelled.

The year 1820 marked the beginning of a long civil war in Argentina, with provinces fighting among themselves and with Buenos Aires, after the fall of the central government caused by the Battle of Cepeda. Güemes found himself with enemies on two fronts: the royalist troops in the north, and Bernabé Aráoz, governor of Tucumán, in the south. Aráoz had struck an alliance with Salta's rich landowners, opposed to Güemes, and defeated him on 3 April 1821. The Cabildo of Salta, dominated by conservatives, deposed Güemes from the governorship. His gauchos retook the power in May. Soon, however, colonel José María Valdés, a local military in the service of Spain, took advantage of his knowledge of the terrain, promised the landowners to respect their properties, and with their support he occupied Salta again on 7 June. Güemes fled the city, but was shot in the back. He managed to get to his camp at Chamical, and gave the last orders to his army. He died on 17 June. His men retook Salta from the royalists, this time permanently, on 22 July.

[edit] Referencia

• (Spanish) El Historiador. Martín Miguel de Güemes, by Felipe Pigna.
• (Spanish) Chamber of Deputies of Salta. Biography of Martín Miguel de Güemes.