José Tomás Ovalle

Infobox_President | name=José Tomás Ovalle


order=President of Government Junta of Chile
term_start=December 24, 1829
term_end=February 18, 1830
predecessor=Acephalous executive
successor=Francisco Ruiz-Tagle
birth_date=birth date|1787|12|21|mf=y
birth_place=Santiago, Chile
death_date=death date and age|1831|3|21|1787|12|21|mf=y
death_place=Santiago, Chile
order2=President of Chile
term_start2=April 1, 1830
term_end2=March 8, 1831
predecessor2=Francisco Ruiz-Tagle
successor2=Fernando Errázuriz
spouse=Rafaela Bezanilla

José Tomás Ovalle y Bezanilla (c. 1788 - March 21, 1831) was a Chilean political figure. He served twice as provisional president of Chile.

Early life

He was born in Santiago, the son of Vicente María Ovalle Guzmán and of María del Rosario Bezanilla y Noriega. He studied in the Convictorio Carolino and law at the Universidad de San Felipe, where he obtained his doctorate in both laws in 1809. He married his cousin, Rafaela Bezanilla on April 1, 1812, and had eight children.

Ovalle was twice elected deputy for Santiago (1823 and 1824-1825), supplementary senador (1824), Vice presidente of the Provincial Assembly of Santiago and was a delegate to the Plenipotenciaries Congress of 1830, being elected Vice president.

Civil War of 1829

When the Chilean Civil War of 1829 broke out between the conservative centralists and the liberal federalists, President Francisco Antonio Pinto was forced twice to leave the post of president to Francisco Ramón Vicuña. First, from July 14 to October 19, when Vicuña assumed as President Delegate, and then finally when he resigned on November 2 and Vicuña assumed power.

On December 7, 1829 the conservative troops under General José Joaquín Prieto, commander of the southern army, approached Santiago from the South. The conservative army decided to halt the march onto Santiago for a while and camped a few miles outside the city. The government under Vicuña fled northward to Coquimbo. On December 14, 1829 General Prieto and his troops met the liberal army under Francisco de la Lastra and defeated them at the Battle of Ochagavía. Then, the two military leaders signed a peace treaty, which complicated the political situation further. Meanwhile President Vicuña and his ministers where imprisoned by the victorious conservative troops in Valparaiso.

First administration

Chile was without a leader for a few weeks (from December 7 to 24, 1829) until a Government Junta was organized and took control, in order to avoid the continuance of hostilities, under a neutral José Tomás Ovalle who was acceptable to both sides. This junta ruled the country from December 24, 1829 to February 18, 1830. Finally an agreement was found with the involvement of Ramón Freire which nominated Francisco Ruiz-Tagle as acting president.

econd administration

Because of internal dissent with his ministers, Ruiz-Tagle resigned six weeks later on March 31, 1830 and was succeeded by vice-president Ovalle who assumed as a transitional president, and held the position until the advanced state of his tuberculosis forced him to ask for a constitutional leave on March 8, 1831. He died a few days later, on March 21, 1831, at 9 AM, and his remains were interred under the altar of the Santiago Cathedral, where they were lost during the renovations of the 19th century and found again in 2004.

After José Tomás Ovalle died, he was replaced by the President of the Plenipotentiaries Congress, Fernando Errázuriz, who took over on March 31, 1831 with the title of "Accidental Vice President of the Republic". Errázuriz called new elections, were General José Joaquín Prieto was elected. General Prieto was installed on September 18, 1831, and thus began the era of the decade governments.

Cabinet

Infobox Chile Cabinet Historical
align=Center
Name=Ovalle
President= José Tomás Ovalle
President start=1 April 1830
President end=8 March 1831
Interior Foreign Affairs=Diego Portales
Interior Foreign Affairs start=5 April 1830
Interior Foreign Affairs end=31 August 1831
War Navy=Diego Portales
War Navy start=5 April 1830
War Navy end=25 September 1830
War Navy 2=Colonel José María de la Cruz
War Navy start 2=25 September 1830
War Navy end 2=24 March 1831
Finance=Pbtro. Juan Francisco Meneses
Finance start=18 March 1830
Finance end=15 June 1830
Finance 2=Manuel Rengifo
Finance start 2=15 June 1830
Finance end 2=9 November 1835

Trivia

On 2004, his remains were found during restoration work on the Santiago Cathedral, where they had been buried (and lost track of) in 1831.

External links

* [http://www.genealog.cl/Chile/O/Ovalle/#OvalleBezanilla,JoseTomas Genealogical chart of Ovalle family] es icon