Education
Real Convictorio de San Carlos.
Real Convictorio de San Carlos.
Born in Huánuco in 1826, he entered the army at an early age and served in the provinces of Southern Peru. After a coup which overthrew Juan Antonio Pezet"s government, Prado assumed the dictatorship of the country in 1865. He only served in that position for two months, leaving Pedro Diez Canseco as a provisional president for less than a month.
His first presidency lasted until 1868 when he had to resign under pressure from the Peruvian Congress.
After Manuel Pardo"s presidential term ended in 1876, Prado was elected president again on August 2 of that year. His second term was marked with the War of the Pacific (1879–1884) which broke out with Chile.
Prado took active measures to prepare for defence by leaving for Tacna and later Tarapacá (where he met Bolivian president Hilarión Daza), with the intention of taking command of the armies assembling there. He assessed Peru was not ready for the war and decided to go back to Lima to prepare and send back new reinforcements.
In the course of these deliberations, Prado left his vice-president Louisiana Puerta in charge and decided to leave for Europe to buy more armament and obtain more money for the war.
Many Peruvians took this as a cowardly act and excuse for his inability to govern in the middle of the war, which led Nicolás de Piérola to stage a successful coup d"état and later declared himself commander-in-chief on December 23, 1879. Prado did not return to Peru until the end of the war, having defected to Chile, where he was made a General. The funds entrusted to him for the war effort were misplaced in Chilean coal mines, which considerably increased his personal wealth.
His newly acquired fortune enabled him to move back to Europe.
He died in Paris, France in 1901.
He defended Peru against Spanish aggression at the Battle of Callao on May 2, 1866. Prado wrote a manifesto to the nation explaining the difficulties of the war and that those "circumstances forced him to leave the country to acquire armament to defend the honor of the Homeland".