Contexts - The Rough Guide to Bolivia - page 465

With Napoleon's brother Joseph crowned king of Spain, a radical “Junta Central” claiming
to rule on in the name of the abdicated Fernando VII, and others supporting the claim to the
throne of Fernando's sister Carlota, the elite classes throughout the Spanish empire were
confronted with conflicting loyalties. Surprisingly, it was in Alto Peru that the first moves
towards open revolt against Spanish rule took place. On May 25, 1809, the judges of the
Audiencia de Charcas refused to recognize the authority of the Junta Central, arguing the
colonies owed loyalty to the person of the king (now abdicated) rather than to Spain. In July,
the citizens of La Paz declared an independent government - the first declaration of inde-
pendence by a Spanish colony in America. These revolts were put down, but this only fuelled
the growing criollo enthusiasm for independence. Though Spain controlled the main cities,
pro-independence guerrilla forces quickly established control of six rural areas that became
known as Republiquetas .
Argentina attacks
In May 1810, the citizens of Buenos Aires successfully rebelled against Spain, and the same
year sent an army to drive the Spanish from Alto Peru. Supported by the Republiquetas and
revolts in several cities, the Argentine army liberated the whole region before being routed
by a Spanish force from Cusco. Over the next seven years three further Argentine armies
were sent to Alto Peru, but each failed to permanently drive out the Spanish forces. Most ma-
jor cities changed hands and were sacked several times, with the retreating Argentine armies
showing the same contempt for local citizens as the Spanish. The forces unleashed by the
independence struggle proved difficult to control, as both sides came to rely more and more
on arming the indigenous population to provide troops, which led to growing violence and
social conflict.
Though it was the first South American region to declare independence from Spain, Alto
Peru was the last to achieve it. In 1817 the Argentine General José de San Martín liberated
Chile, and by 1821 the great Venezuelan independence leader Simón Bolívar - El Liberta-
dor - was advancing south through Ecuador having finally freed Venezuela and Colombia.
The two forces converged on Peru: Lima was occupied and, in 1824, Bolívar's general, Gen-
eral Antonio José de Sucre , destroyed the last Spanish army at Ayacucho in the southern
Peruvian Andes, securing Alto Peru's freedom early the following year.
Despite its new freedom, Alto Peru 's fate remained uncertain. Bolívar himself initially op-
posed the creation of an independent state there, and handed control of the region over to
General Sucre. In 1825, Sucre called a constituent assembly in the city that would later be
renamed in his honour. The delegates unanimously rejected union with either Peru or Argen-
tina, and on August 6 adopted a declaration of independence . Five days later they resolved
to name the new republic Bolivia , rightly guessing that Bolívar would be less likely to ob-
struct the independence of a country named in his own honour.