Pinto Díaz, Francisco Antonio (1775–1858)

Francisco Antonio Pinto Díaz (b. 1775; d. 18 July 1858), patriot general and Liberal president of Chile (1827–1829). An early adherent of the national cause, Pinto Díaz was sent to Buenos Aires in 1811 as Chilean representative and to England in 1813 on a similarly fruitless mission. Once back in South America, he took part in campaigns in Upper Peru and Peru, returning to Chile in 1824 with the rank of brigadier general. Politics swiftly claimed him: after holding ministerial office (1824–1825), he took over from Ramón Freire Serrano as acting president in May 1827.

Pinto's administration saw the most serious attempt yet made in Chile to consolidate a stable, liberal political order. Important administrative changes were instituted, and a new constitution (drafted with the help of Spanish liberal José Joaquín de Mora) went into effect in August 1828. A year later, at a time of mounting political tension, Pinto resigned, on grounds of ill health. Though reelected president in September 1829, he returned to power for no more than two weeks, sensing that there was no way of stopping the Conservative revolt then under way. The victorious Conservative regime in fact cashiered him in May 1830 in a spiteful measure that was only rescinded nine years later. Pinto Díaz was persuaded to run as the Liberal candidate in the presidential contest of 1841, but there was no chance he would win. In fact, he became largely reconciled to the Conservative regime, during which he served as a senator from 1846 until his death. Both his son-in-law, Manuel Bulnes Prieto, and his son, Aníbal Pinto Garmendia, also served as presidents of Chile.

See alsoBulnes Prieto, Manuel; Chile: The Nineteenth Century; Chile, Political Parties: Liberal Party; Pinto Garmendia, Aníbal.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Collier, Simon. Chile: The Making of a Republic, 1830–1865. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003.

                                       Simon Collier