Francisco Antonio García Carrasco

García Carrasco was born in Ceuta, the son of the Artillery Lieutenant Antonio García Carrasco and of Rosa Díaz. He joined the Royal Spanish Army as an infantry cadet on September 29, 1757. He was promoted regularly, until Lieutenant Colonel of infantry and engineers on July 1, 1784.

In 1785 García Carrasco was sent to the

On February 26, 1802, he was promoted to Colonel of infantry and chief engineer, and on November 29, 1806 to Brigadier and director of the Army engineers corps of the Division of Indias. Governor Luis Muñoz de Guzmán charged him with the inspection of the fortification system in southern Chile, and he was living in Concepción when Gov. Muñoz de Guzmán suddenly died in February 1808.

As Governor of Chile

Background

At the start of 1808, the Captaincy General of Chile—one of the smallest and poorest colonies in the Spanish Empire—was under the administration of Luis Muñoz de Guzmán, an able, respected and well-liked Royal Governor. In May 1808 the overthrow of Charles IV and Ferdinand VII, their replacement by Joseph Bonaparte and the start of the Peninsular War plunged the empire into a state of agitation.

When Gov. Muñoz de Guzmán suddenly died on February of that year, the crown was unable to appoint a new governor. After a brief interim regency by

In 1809 Governor García Carrasco himself was implicated in a flagrant case of corruption that managed to destroy whatever remnants of

After his deposition, García Carrasco settled to a quiet life in a rural property near Santiago. On April 1, 1811 the Figueroa mutiny broke out in Santiago. Though the revolt soon sputtered, and Figueroa was arrested and summarily executed, García Carrasco was arrested and speedily deported. He left Valparaíso on July 4 and arrived to Lima, Peru on August 27, where he died two years later, in 1813.

Additional information

See also

• Chilean War of Independence
• Scorpion scandal
• Figueroa mutiny

Sources