Oscar R. Benavides Larrea, was President of the Republic between 1914-1915 1933-1939 . The son of José Miguel Benavides y Gallegos and Erfilia Larrea y Loredo, Óscar Raymundo Benavides Larrea was born on March 15, 1876, in the traditional environment of the Barrios Altos, and died on July 2, 1945. He began his studies at the Colegio Our Lady of Guadalupe (1884) and culminated in Chincha due to the upheavals caused by the war with Chile. He enrolled in the Military School (1890) as a cadet and was honored sword of his promotion. He was soon commissioned to serve in the “2 de Mayo” artillery brigade of the Bellavista barracks (1895). He belonged to the “Callao No. 5” and “Ayacucho” No. 3 battalions, until he studied at the Higher School of War and Mathematics at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of San Marcos (1905). Due to his qualifications he was promoted to sergeant major (1906) and sent to France to complete his military training (1907) . Already as a lieutenant colonel (1909) he participated in maneuvers with the French army and was in charge of managing an arms purchase in Austria and Germany (1910). Upon his return, he was commissioned to the battalion No. 9 of Chiclayo. From there he had to go to Iquitos, via Cajamarca and Chachapoyas, to defend La Pedrera, on the left bank of the Caquetá River, where he was victorious with his troops. He was promoted to colonel (1911) and, affected by some tropical diseases, left to reestablish himself in Europe; on his return he was received as a national hero .
Collaboration in the coup against President Billinghurst
Oscar R. Benavides was Army chief of staff and refused to support President Billinghurst's attempt to close Congress (1914). For this reason he was deposed and led, with the help of the civilistas, the coup that brought down that government, inaugurating a transitory governing board that held elections in 1915; Thus, the constitutional order was restored and José Pardo y Barreda assumed the presidency of the Republic for the second time. He then traveled to Europe as an observer in the First World War and defended Peru's rights over the problem of Tacna and Arica at the Versailles Conference (1919).
Exile of Oscar R. Benavides
He was opposed to and persecuted the regime of Augusto B. Leguía, for which he resigned his position as plenipotentiary minister of Peru in Italy (1921) and withdrew from all public activity, even upon his arrival in Lima. He was accused, however, of conspiring against the regime and, with other opponents, was banished to Australia . With the help of the other exiles, he led an uprising forcing the ship of exile to head towards Costa Rica. He went to Guayaquil, but faced with the impossibility of seeing Leguía overthrown and of acting in Peru, he traveled to Europe, always maintaining contact with opponents of the Leguía regime. When the revolution of Luis M. Sánchez Cerro triumphs and Leguía falls (1930), he is appointed minister plenipotentiary in Spain . For family reasons he returns to the country, observes the 1931 elections and, seeing Sánchez Cerro triumphant, he returns to Madrid to resume his diplomatic functions (1931); then he held the same diplomatic post in London (1932).
Appointment of Oscar R. Benavides as President of Peru
he was called by the Peruvian government due to the conflict with Colombia and appointed director of the National Defense Council (1933) but, before the assassination of President Sánchez Cerro, the Constituent Congress elected him constitutional president of the Republic . His government motto was “Order, Peace and Work”. He decreed a general amnesty, freeing political prisoners, allowing the circulation of closed newspapers and reopening the University of San Marcos; APRA, however, refused to collaborate with his regime's intentions, considering them alien to the party's ideology. In the international field he signed an agreement with Colombia without undermining national dignity (1934), the same that was ratified in Lima during the Eighth Pan-American. The government of Oscar R. Benavides was to last until December 8, 1936, but the elections took place in such a climate of violence and serious complications, that they led to its nullity and the extension of the mandate of Oscar R. Benavides for three years, by law of November 13 of the aforementioned year . He provided modern weapons to the Army, Navy and Aviation, built barracks and regulated the Mobilizable Service in the face of any danger of national security. Among other works of his government we have the reestablishment of foreign credit; construction of the Callao maritime terminal and dry dock; the construction of the Pan-American Highway and the Central Highway to Tingo María, declaring free transit through the national territory; the construction of the current Government and Justice Palaces, both in Lima; the construction of working-class neighborhoods and popular restaurants; the creation of the Workers' Social Security; the promulgation of the Civil Code of 1936; and the preparation of the General Census that was carried out only in 1940 during the following government.
Political participation after President of Peru
At the end of his mandate he was honored with the title of Marshal of Peru by President Manuel Prado (1939) and was soon accredited as Peruvian ambassador to Spain (1940) and Argentina (1941).
Upon his return to the country (1944) he collaborated in the formation of the National Democratic Front that launched the candidacy of José Luis Bustamante y Rivero for the presidency of the Republic ; he died when Bustamante's triumph had been confirmed (1945). He married Francisca Benavides Diez Canseco and had Francisca, María, Oscar and José Benavides y Benavides as children.