Ramón Blanco Erenas Riera y Polo, 1st Marquess of Peña Plata (September 15, 1833 – April 4, 1906) was a Spanish brigadier and colonial administrator.

Blanco permitted Rizal, who wished to dissociate himself from the Philippine Revolution, to serve in Cuba to minister to victims of yellow fever.

The governor had been attacked by conservative forces (which included the so-called frailocracia—the Dominican friars exercising more power than the civilian government) for being too conciliatory towards the Filipinos who sought independence; these parties had sent a complaint to Madrid.

Blanco had been defended by liberals such as Ramiro de Maeztu, who in an article dated July 24, 1898, declared: "But...Blanco, who in the Philippines, in the face of the opinion of the Junta of Authorities and the most illustrious and noble journalists, kept his troops in the capital for a long time, judging it more preferable to prudently remain in this position rather than die a glorious but pointless death...”[4] However, Blanco's reputation as a conciliatory figure led the government of Práxedes Mateo Sagasta to send him to Cuba, where he replaced the decidedly inflammatory Valeriano Weyler as Captain General of Cuba.

[6] After the sinking of the Maine on February 15, 1898, Charles Dwight Sigsbee had written that "many Spanish officers, including representatives of General Blanco, now with us to express sympathy.

"[7] In a cable, the Spanish Minister of Colonies, Segismundo Moret, had advised Blanco "to gather every fact you can to prove the Maine catastrophe cannot be attributed to us.

[9] On March 5, 1898, Blanco proposed to Máximo Gómez that the Cuban generalissimo and troops join him and the Spanish army in repelling the United States in the face of the Spanish–American War.

[6][11] During Blanco's governorship, the remains of Christoper Columbus were moved back to the Cathedral of Seville in Spain,[12] where they were placed on an elaborate catafalque.