José de Garro
Marcos José de Garro Senei de Artola, nicknamed "El Santo" ("The Saint"), (1623–1702) was a Spanish military man who served in many positions in the colonial administration of the Spanish Empire. He served as governor of Tucumán from 1675–1678, governor of Buenos Aires from 1678–1682 and governor of Chile from 1682-1692. In Spain, he was military commander of the garrison at Gibraltar and Captain General of the Basque Country, a charge which he held until his death in 1702. In the colonies, his nickname was "El Santo" ("The Saint") for his religious piety. He is most well known for his successful attack on the competing Portuguese settlement at Colonia del Sacramento, constituting the first Spanish capture of the town. Beginning of his military career Garro was born in Mondragón, Guipúzcoa. As a youth, Garro enlisted in the Spanish Army and participated in campaigns in Catalonia and Portugal, until he reached the rank of colonel (maestre de campo, the rank immediately below Captain General) of a tercio. His career in Spain then suffered a setback: according to historian Diego Barros Arana, "Due to a violent altercation with a General who had rank of Grandee in Spain, Garro was subjected to the vengeance of a powerful enemy. Preferring instead to live away from the Court, he requested a post in the Indies and obtained the governorship of the province of Tucumán." In Argentina For four years, from 1675 to 1678, Garro served as governor of the isolated province of Tucumán, dependent to the Real Audiencia de Charcas and part of the Viceroyalty of Peru. During his tenure, he organized three punitive expeditions to Chaco, with no major consequences except the foundation of Fort El Pongo to the east of Jujuy to protect that city. After this, Garro was promoted to become the governor of Buenos Aires, a province of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata. Expulsion of the Portuguese from Uruguay In 1680, Garro undertook the expulsion of the Portuguese from Colonia del Sacramento, founded in 1679-1680 in present-day Uruguay by Manuel de Lobo, governor of Río de Janeiro. In that campaign, Garro surprised the Portuguese garrison with a militia including 3,000 Guaranían Indians from the Jesuit Reductions. The city was captured after a battle in which 100 of the Portuguese colonial army of 1000 were killed, with the Spanish army taking enemy troops and residents prisoner and seizing Lobo himself, who was later remitted to the custody of Chile. The seizure of Colonia del Sacramento, as it was undertaken without his permission, was disavowed by the king of Spain, and the settlement was returned to Portugal the next year, in 1681, following a provisional treaty made in the expectation of further negotiations including the setting up of a boundary commission, eventually concluding with the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713. Governor of Chile Garro was Royal Governor of Chile in 1682-1692. As Royal Governor of Chile, Garro could not embark on the major campaigns against the Mapuches that he desired,