Notes on Tadeo Gárate (La Paz, 1774–Madrid, 1858): The Last intendente of Puno (1817–1824)

Abstract

As a counterpoint to the image of “creole patriotism” during the Wars of Independence (1809-1825), we present the “loyalist” trajectory of the Paceño lawyer Joaquín Tadeo Narciso Gárate y Cañizares: his studies of Law in Cuzco, his relationship with bishop Las Heras and viceroy Abascal, his appointment as ‘subdelegado’ of Chucuito, his participation as legal assistant of Goyeneche against the “Junta Tuitiva” of La Paz, his election as representative from Puno to the Cortes in Cadiz, his trip to Spain and his decided support of the absolutism of Fernando VII, his appointment as intendant of Puno, position he held until the royalist defeat in Ayacucho, and his Spanish exile of three decades. His case contributes to a more complex study of the Peruvian independence process, focusing on a “godo” (loyalist creole) which consistently practiced the values of a conservative Catholicism and an absolutist monarchism typical of the Bourbon “Ancien Régime” during the terminal crisis of such political system.