Cisneros, Baltasar Hidalgo de (1755–1829)

Baltasar Hidalgo de Cisneros (b. 12 June 1755; d. 9 June 1829), viceroy of Río de la Plata (1809–1810). A military man and the last viceroy of the Río de la Plata, Cisneros was born in Cartagena, Spain, the son of a high-ranking naval officer. Following in his father's footsteps, Cisneros entered the navy, progressing through the ranks and serving in the Pacific, in Algeria, and in the Spanish campaigns against the revolutionary government of France. He arrived in Buenos Aires in June 1809, sent by the Seville junta that was ruling Spain in the name of the deposed king. His nine months in office were marked by a disintegration of the political scene and a worsening of economic conditions. He also was unable to bring the local militia, emboldened by their victories in repelling two British invasions (1804, 1806–1807), under his control. By May 1810, forced into an emergency created by the fall of Seville to the French, Cisneros decided to call an open town council meeting (cabildo abierto). Although the viceroy believed that he would be called upon to form a new government, the cabildo abierto voted to depose Cisneros; however, he was allowed to return to Spain.

Able to absolve himself of any blame for the loss of Buenos Aires, Cisneros was successively named commandant general of Cádiz, minister of the navy, and director general of the fleet. Appointed captain-general of Cartagena by the Constitutionist government during the 1820 uprising, he held this post until his death.

See alsoRío de la Plata, Viceroyalty ofxml .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Enrique Udaondo, Diccionario biográfico colonial argentino (1945), pp. 442-443.

Additional Bibliography

Martínez Urrutia, Luis. El virrey Cisneros en la Revolución Argentina de 1810. Buenos Aires: Editorial Dunken, 2003.

Szuchman, Mark D., and Jonathan C. Brown, eds. Revolution and Restoration: The Rearrangement of Power in Argentina, 1776–1860. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1994.

                                   Susan M. Socolow