César Canevaro

César Canevaro y Valega (1846–1922) trained in military engineering in Belgium before entering Peru’s diplomatic and military service. He served as a military attaché in France, returned to Peru to work in commerce and banking, and commanded a National Guard battalion. During the War of the Pacific he helped finance and equip troops, fought at the Alto de la Alianza, and took part in the defense of Lima, where he was wounded at Miraflores. ¹

Under occupation he became mayor of Lima and president of the Chamber of Deputies meeting at Chorrillos in 1881. He later joined Andrés Avelino Cáceres in the struggle against Miguel Iglesias and became a leading figure in the Constitutional Party. Repeated terms as mayor and senator were interspersed with diplomatic work in Bolivia and as minister in Washington. ¹

His Washington correspondence also touched scientific exchange. Historian Sven Schuster cites Canevaro’s August and September 1893 dispatches in reconstructing Peru’s participation in American scientific gatherings. These concerned, among other matters, Manuel Antonio Muñiz’s official mission to study military hospitals and attend the Pan-American Medical Congress, and the participation of Peruvian researchers and collectors in the Chicago fair’s anthropology congress. ²

He returned to national office as first vice-president under Cáceres in 1894 and, much later, under Leguía in 1919. He also served as army chief of staff and president of the Senate. His death in October 1922 preceded that of his wife, Ignacia Rodulfo, whose subsequent bequest established the charitable foundation associated with the Canevaro name. ¹