Background
Manuel Isidoro Belzu was born in La Paz on 14 April 1808. He was a cholo (person of mixed parentage) of humble origins.
Manuel Isidoro Belzu was born in La Paz on 14 April 1808. He was a cholo (person of mixed parentage) of humble origins.
He had a limited primary education.
He joined the army at 13 and spent most of his life in the barracks. He fought in the independence Battle of Zepita in 1823 and became adjutant to Peruvian General Augustin Gamarra. When the Peruvians invaded Bolivia, he defected to the Bolivian Army.
Belzú became president in December 1848, at the end of a brief civil war. He remained in office until constitutionally replaced by his son-in-law. General Jorge Córdova, in August 1855. Despite over 30 military uprisings against him and a nearly successful assassination attempt in 1850. his was the first peaceful constitutional transfer of power since the presidency of Antonio Jose de Suore Alcala.
After having served as ambassador to various European courts, Belzú returned to Bolivia. In 1865 he briefly seized the presidency but was deposed and assassinated by President Mariano Melgarejo and his supporters in the presidential palace on March 27, 1865.