Background
Diego Portales Palazuelos was born on 16 June 1793 in Santiago.
Diego Portales Palazuelos was born on 16 June 1793 in Santiago.
Before entering politics, Portales had a business career of varying success. After overthrow of the Liberal government in the Battle of Lircay in April 1830, he dedicated himself to politics.
From April 1830 until his death, Portales held various cabinet positions in the governments of Presidents Tomas Ovallc and Manuel Bulnes Prieto, sometimes handling more than one portfolio at a time. For a while he was also governor of Valparaiso and commanding officer of the navy.
Portales was assassinated. Reviewing troops that were to confront the Confederation of Peru and Bolivia on which Chile had recently declared war, Portales was seized by the regiment Maipo and shot without trial.
He established a political organization that became the Conservative Party, dedicated to bringing into existence, in Portales’ words, a government “obeyed, strong, respected and respectable, impersonal, superior to the parties and to the prestige of individuals.”