Roberto Silva Renard
| Roberto Silva Renard | |
|---|---|
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| Born |
February 27, 1855 Santiago, Chile |
| Died | July 7, 1920 (aged 65) Viña del Mar, Chile |
Roberto Silva Renard (February 27, 1855 - July 7, 1920) was a Chilean military and political figure who served in the War of the Pacific and the 1891 Chilean Civil War. He is mostly remembered as the military chief that carried out the Santa María of Iquique School massacre in 1907, where more than 2,000 striking saltpeter miners, along with their wives and children, were killed.
Silva Renard began his military career in 1879, when he joined the artillery corps at the beginning of the War of the Pacific. During that war he fought at the battles of Tacna, Chorrillos and Miraflores
After the war, Silva Renard was sent to study artillery in Europe, and served as an adjunct in the German Army for five years. During the 1891 Chilean Civil War, he was one of the few army officers to join the congressional army, with the rank of major, and fought with distinction at the battles of Concón and Placilla. After the war, he was rewarded with a promotion to lieutenant colonel.
Silva Renard was a firm believer in the absolute power of the central government. In 1903, Silva Renard was the military attorney in charge of the investigation into the deaths and injuries of striking workers at the port of Valparaíso. These workers had been fired upon by army soldiers sent to force them back to work. He absolved the soldiers from any misconduct, claiming that the real guilty party had been the workers by promoting disorders.
On September 17, 1904 he was in charge of the troops that put down another (unrelated) strike at the Chile nitrate works. As a consequence of his intervention, 13 workers died and another 32 were injured.
A march to protest against the high price of meat took place on October 22, 1905 in Santiago. By the time that the march arrived peacefully to La Moneda presidential palace, it had swelled to more than 40,000 people. The original intention of the organizers was to ask for an audience and hand a petition to president German Riesco, but the people started to grow impatient and when the President did not appear (he was not at the palace that day, being sick at home) this was the spark that started the violence. The police tried to disperse them, but they fought back and tried to storm the presidential palace. The police responded by shooting at the crowd, and riots ensued.
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