Carlos Pereyra (writer)


Carlos Hilario Pereyra Gómez was a Mexican lawyer, diplomat, writer and historian. His background was highly influenced by late 19th century Positivism, so this influence is denoted in his works. He was also a Hispanist, defender of the historical and cultural legacy of Spain in Spanish America and critic of the American Interventionism policy in Latin America.

Lawyer and columnist

He was the son of Miguel Pereyra Bosque and María de Jesús Gómez Méndez. As a lawyer, he was an ex officio defender in Mexico City, agent of public ministry and member of the state treasury commission of Coahuila.
He directed the newspaper El Espectador in the city of Monterrey, collaborated in the newspaper El Norte of Chihuahua, as well as in the Positive Revista magazine, El Imparcial 'and El Mundo Ilustrado in Mexico City. Due to his positivist ideology he collaborated with Justo Sierra, but he was ideologically contrary to Francisco Bulnes.

Teaching, diplomat and thinker

He taught at the National Preparatory School and at the National School of Jurisprudence of the University of Mexico; he was deputy and Secretary of the Mexican Embassy in Washington, in charge of business in Cuba, plenipotentiary minister in Belgium and the Netherlands; He was a member of International Court of Arbitration of The Hague in 1913.
As a plenipotentiary minister of Mexico, he participated as a delegate of the Mexican Government, in the First Congress of the International Judicial Police, the first antecedent of what is now the International Organization of the Criminal Police, Interpol, held in Montecarlo, Monaco, April 14-18, 1614.
He made an analysis of the relations between the United States and Mexico, he criticized the ideology of American expansionism, which he considered cynical and unfair, reflected his criticisms in the books devoted to the analysis of the Monroe Doctrine. Together with the Argentine Manuel Ugarte and other Latin American thinkers, he spoke up against the growing influence of the United States in Latin America.
Without considering himself an anti-liberal, he did not agree with the ideas of the Mexican Revolution, and criticized the revolutionary leaders Francisco I. Madero, Pancho Villa, Venustiano Carranza, and Plutarco Elías Calles..

Writer and historian

As historian, he started with his home state when he wrote Historia de Coahuila, far from pronouncing himself as an indigenist or regionalist, the work aims to lean towards a Hispanist and Americanist style. The feats of Fernando de Magallanes, Juan Sebastián Elcano, Francisco Vázquez de Coronado and Pánfilo de Narváez are indirectly described; however, Pereyra criticized the actions of Nuño de Guzmán and highlighted the extermination of the indigenous population of Coahuila, which was, in comparison to other regions, a particular situation in the northeast of Mexico, which is attributed not only to the Spanish colonizers, but also to the permanent state of war between different indigenous groups, sparsely population, displacement and diseases.
In 1916 he settled in Spain, despite not applying for nationality, he considered this country of residence as his new homeland; He met the Venezuelan Rufino Blanco Fombona and collaborated for the Editorial América.
In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, there was a strong anti-Spanish sentiment, mainly as result of the Spanish Black Legend, as the investigations of English-speaking historians such as Scots William Robertson, and the American William H. Prescott had caused a great impact of a negative nature towards the actions of the Spanish conquerors. Authors such as the English economist William Cunningham or the French historian Charles Seignobos severely judged the period of domination of Spanish Empire.
Pereyra set the goal of reinvigorating everything Latin American and Iberian, so he was given the task of reviewing the history of Spain's work in America, becoming a recognized Hispanist, to the point that it was said that "He was a Hispanist more Hispanist than the Spaniards themselves".
He specialized in maritime explorations, in the foundations in America and in Latin American social life, making comparisons with the English civilization in North America. In his work he expressed his great admiration for Vasco de Gama and Vasco Núñez de Balboa. He defended the work of Bernal Díaz del Castillo from the criticisms of Robertson and Prescott. He knew how to value the different historical factors according to the time in question. The economic, political and ideological causes did not always intervene with equal intensity. Each historical time offers its peculiar dimension that must be studied without prejudices elaborated beforehand. Pereyra maintained a constant openness towards all those people who approached with the noble desire to learn. Among his students, was Vicente Rodríguez Casado, founder of the School of Hispanic-American Studies and the Hispano-American University of Santa María de La Rábida. In addition, he pronounced himself in favor of Paraguay in the maximum war between Latin American nations, the Triple Alliance War and wrote several works in this regard.

Academic and awards

He was elected a notable corresponding member of the Mexican Academy of Language. He was a member of the Mexican Academy of History, occupied the seat 23, from 1933 to 1942. By 1934, by way of recognition, the Spanish government granted him a position in the Institute «Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés», where he worked with the Salvadoran Rodolfo Barón Castro; He made several publications in the "Magazine of the Indies." He died on June 29, 1942, his widow gave the writer's personal library to the Institute. His remains rest in the Roundabout of the Illustrious Men of Coahuila.

Publications and works

Among his works and publications are: