Peñaloza, Ángel Vicente (1799–1863)

Ángel Vicente Peñaloza (b. 1799; d. 12 November 1863), Argentine leader. Peñaloza was born in Guaja, La Rioja, Argentina, and received little education before he enrolled in the militia, where he developed a long-lasting relationship with Juan Facundo Quiroga. He served as a trusted officer during Quiroga's anti-Unitarist campaigns. Popular, especially among the poor, he succeeded Quiroga as a leader after the latter's assassination in 1835. Convinced by the Unitarists that Juan Manuel de Rosas was responsible for the death of Quiroga, Peñaloza turned against Rosas and fought the Federalists in the 1840s. He withdrew to his home once Governor Nazario Benavídez of San Juan promised to protect him. He did not participate in the Acuerdo de San Nicolás, but he was on good terms with Justo José de Urquiza. When Benavídez was assassinated (23 October 1858), Peñaloza invaded San Juan to punish the guilty. In 1862, while Peñaloza was away mediating a dispute between Santiago del Estero and Catamarca, Governor Marcos Paz of Córdoba, a Unitarist, invaded La Rioja, and the governor turned against his followers. The popularity with which Peñaloza was received on his return convinced President Bartolomé Mitre and General Wenceslao Paunero to sign a peace treaty with him on 30 May 1862. Angry Liberal leaders objected and persuaded Mitre to reopen the war.

Peñaloza, allied now with the Federalists, or "rusos," of Córdoba, urged Urquiza to resume leadership of the Federalist party. Mitre wanted the montoneros destroyed, and when Paunero defeated them at Las Playas (28 June 1863), he killed them without mercy. Peñaloza thrice sought peace before surrendering to his pursuers, who killed him despite a promise to spare his life. His body was mutilated; Domingo Sarmiento humiliated and robbed his wife. Mitre officially disapproved of the assassination, but he promoted the assassin.

See alsoArgentina, Movements: Federalists; Argentina, Movements: Unitarists; Quiroga, Juan Facundo.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Fermín Chávez, Vida del Chacho: Ángel Vicente Peñaloza, General de la Confederación, 3d ed. (1974).

Gerardo Pérez Fuentes and Pedro Ignacio Galarza, Ángel Vicente Peñaloza (El Chacho): Bosquejo biográfico (1963).

Leslie Bethell, ed., Argentina Since Independence (1933).

Comisión Central De Homenaje A Ángel Vicente Peñaloza, Ángel Vicente Peñaloza (1969).

Additional Bibliography

Aguirre, Gisela. Angel Vicente Peñaloza. Buenos Aires: Planeta, 1999.

De la Fuente, Ariel. Children of Facundo: Caudillo and Gaucho Insurgency During the Argentine State-Formation Process (La Rioja, 1853–1870). Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2000.

                                 Joseph T. Criscenti