Manuel Mariano Melgarejo Valencia (13 April 1820 – 23 November 1871)[1] was a Bolivian military officer and politician who served as the fifteenth president of Bolivia from December 28, 1864, until his fall on January 15, 1871.

[2][3] He assumed power in 1864 after staging a coup d'état against president José María de Achá, thus beginning six-year dictatorship, popularly known as the Sexenio.

[4] He was of controversial personality and his dictatorship is remembered in Bolivia mainly for its poor government administration and its abuses against the indigenous population, in addition to having signed unfavorable border treaties with Chile and Brazil in 1866 and 1867, which proved to be devastating in coming years.

[5][6] On January 15, 1871, the Commander-in-Chief of the Army at the time, General Agustín Morales, along with the support of the people of La Paz, tired of the president's despotic actions for almost seven years, rose up against Melgarejo and deposed him.

Consequently, Melgarejo decided to leave for that country, but, once he arrived in Lima, he was shot to death on November 23, 1871, by Juana's brother, José Aurelio Sánchez.

[18] After Ingavi, Ballivián kept the young soldier Melgarejo by his side, with the aim of protecting his government against future military uprisings by the opposition.

It is worth mentioning that President Ballivián saw defects in the young soldier, which is why he kept him assigned to the borders, due to Melgarejo's conduct and dangerous behavior caused by his fondness and abuse of alcohol.

[15][1][7] When Melgarejo was awaiting his execution by firing squad (as befitted the military officers of that time), some ladies from the high society of Cochabamba (very close friends of his) met in person with President Belzu at the Palacio Quemado to plead for the life of the prisoner.

The governments of presidents Jorge Córdova (1855-1857) and José María Linares (1857-1861), considered him dangerous and kept him stationed at distant locations in the borderlands, far from the main cities.

Doing so, Córdova and Linares reigmes hoped to isolate Melgarejo and prevent him from influencing soldiers and officers with his alcoholism and immorality and, at the same time, also avoid future military uprisings.

[22] He crushed countless uprisings and rebellions on behalf of President Achá, who in return gave him his friendship and total trust, promoting Melgarejo to the rank of army general in 1862.

Having seized power only in December 1864, less than a month later Melgarejo clashed with rebel forces in Tacaquira, located in the southern area of the Chuquisaca Department, on January 24, 1865.

The rebels would win this encounter, facing government troops again in a bigger battle on the banks of the Oscara River on February 3 and ultimately retreating.

According to legend, when Melgarejo's presence was known, a crowd gathered in the Plaza Murillo, located in front of the Bolivian Government Palace, cheering Belzu's name.

Generals Ildefonso Sanjinés and Nicanor Flores had been competing for leadership, resulting in the forestalling of rebel operations and allowing Melgarejo to exploit this weakness.

The northern rebels, under the command of General Casto Arguedas, decided to launch an offensive which was ultimately defeated and hastily retreated to Viacha.

One of his first measures was to violently suppress the opposition and annul the traditional rights of the indigenous population, declaring that the communal lands of the native communities would be property of the State.

Shortly after assuming power, he was visited by a young woman who belonged to a wealthy family from La Paz named Juana Sánchez.

While the dictator spent much of his time in orgies with Juana Sánchez, who was as lustful as the general himself and also addicted to alcohol, her family dominated politics and the governing of the nation.

[37] In July 1870, when Prussia invaded France, starting the Franco-Prussian War, Melgarejo asked one of his high-ranking generals to immediately send Bolivian troops to help the French army defend Paris.

[37] Alarmed, Melgarejo attacked Potosí and crushed the revolt through a series of massacres and cruelties, but soon he learned that, taking advantage of his absence, La Paz, Cochabamba, and other major cities had also joined in a general uprising.

Bolivia jubilantly celebrated its liberation, taking in happily the awakening from a terrible nightmare, determined to return to normality, and to reverse the values invested in the dark and mournful times [of Melgarejo's regime] because the world has to regain its balance.

However, Juana Sánchez refused to receive the bankrupt Melgarejo at her residence, who spent days in front of the building crying out to be admitted by his former concubine.

Melgarejo worked on behalf of a new mining elite in Bolivia, during a period of resurgent silver production and investment from Chile, Peru, North America, England and European capitalists.

[38] Despite the rising prices of guano and nitrates on the international market, the government of Bolivia faced recurring financial problems throughout Melgarejo's tenure.

To show his appreciation, Melgarejo took a map of Bolivia, marked it with the horse's hoof, and gave that land, hotly contested by indigenous Bolivians, as a gift to the Brazilian government.

"[27] The loyalty that his subordinates had for him was mixed with fear: on one occasion, while at a social gathering on the second floor of the Palacio Quemado, he called his presidential guard and ordered them to march straight ahead.

We who judge him calmly - sine amore nec odio - and with the severe impartiality of history, do not see in Melgarejo a scheming and gloomy tyrant like Tiberius, nor the forlorn, suspecting and neurotic Dr. Francia, nor the madly bloodthirsty Rosas.

All we see in him is... an ingenuously good man in whom passion, sensual instincts and organic compulsion had driven out the seeds of virtue that a careful education might have salvaged.

[11]But this noble man for some, and despotic tyrant for others, had great signs of compassion and coldness: in the morning he could execute a simple soldier and in the afternoon he could spare the life of a traitor.