Ramon Castilla (31 August 1797-30 May 1867) was President of Peru from 20 April 1845 to 20 April 1851 (succeeding Manuel Menendez and preceding Jose Rufino Echenique), from 5 January 1855 to 24 October 1862 (succeeding Echenique and preceding Miguel de San Roman), and from 3 to 9 April 1863 (succeeding San Roman and preceding Pedro Diez Canseco).
Biography[]
Ramon Castilla was born in Tarapaca, Viceroyalty of Peru in 1797, and he was educated in Lima and Concepcion before joining the Spanish Army in 1817. He fought against Jose de San Martin's Argentine army before deserting the Royalist ranks in 1821 and serving under San Martin during the Peruvian War of Independence. After fighting for Simon Bolivar at the Battle of Ayacucho, he was made governor of Tarapaca. He fought for the Restoration Army of Peru during the War of the Confederation, and he served as Agustin Gamarra's Minister of War and Finance. Castilla and Domingo Nieto overthrew Manuel Ignacio de Vivanco at the Battle of Carmen Alto, and Castilla served as President from 1845 to 1851, presiding over a guano boom and the construction of the Lima-Callao railroad. In 1854, he led a liberal rebellion against Jose Rufino Echenique, and he seized power once again and abolished slavery. In 1859, he failed to secure a border treaty with Ecuador, and he left office in 1862. He led another rebellion in 1863 after refusing to recognize Pedro Diez Canseco as President, but he was soon exiled to Gibraltar. In 1867, he attempted to liberate Peru from Mariano Ignacio Prado by invading from Chile, but he died during his final attempt to pass through southern Peru.