In Peru and Bolivia (1834–1843): From Lawyer to Free Trade Apostle

The anonymous nature of Mora’s economic articles during his period in Lima and Bolivia makes Mora’s scholars believe that Mora had devoted his time in Peru and Bolivia to literature, education and moral philosophy. This chapter shows the opposite: that Mora wrote more pieces on political economy than any other topic while in Peru, that his activity as a populariser of the discipline was unceasing and that he attempted to influence the government’s economic policy through his numerous articles in the official publications like Mercurio peruano, El conciliador y La verdad. In contrast to Mora’s discourse in Chile, in Peru, he began to veer clearly towards the issue that would monopolise most of his work in the political economy field from then on: free trade. Once in Bolivia, Mora played a crucial role as personal secretary to General Santa Cruz, president of the Bolivian Republic and future Supreme Protector of the Peru-Bolivian Confederation. Mora was the editor of El eco del Protectorado, the Confederation’s official mouthpiece and channel for disseminating the decrees, official documents, and principles on which the new government was based. The main economic issues addressed by Mora in the paper were the funding of the Confederation’s new political conglomerate, the consolidating of its public accounts and free trade, which was linked to the desire to create an economic space in the Pacific area that was free of barriers to trade.