Punishment, Forgiveness and Justice at the Beginning of the Peruvian Republic

Abstract

After the Independence from the Spanish Empire, the Spanish-American countries plunged into a stage of political upheaval. The military leaders spoke out against the established governments, unleashing civil wars that ended with the consolidation of the previous regime or the imposition of a new one. At the end of the wars, the problem of what to do with the defeated remained. The objective of this article is to analyze the exceptions that were made to the normal course of justice, regarding sedition, in the context of the Peruvian civil wars of the 19th century. For this we have used the review of the memories of generals and important figures of the time. From whose review, we have as a result, verify that these extralegal mechanisms of commutation of the sentence, not contemplated in the legal system in force at that time, were used in a diverse way depending on the power of the victorious leader, the circumstances in which he obtained his victory, the importance or influence of the defeated and the project he had for them. The main conclusion obtained is that, on occasions, the Peruvian rulers used means not contemplated in the legislation to divert the regular application of the law in such a way that the seditious are not tried. This in order not to exacerbate the political arena and achieve social peace.