José Ramón Rodil, 1st Marquis of Rodil

Don José Ramón Rodil y Campillo, 1st Marquis of Rodil and 3rd Viscount of Trobo (February 5, 1789 in Santa María de Trobo, – February 20, 1853 in Madrid) was a Spanish Liberal general and statesman. Originally a law student at the University of Santiago de Compostela, he enlisted in the Spanish army and went to Peru in 1817 as one of the commissioned officers in the fight against the pro-independence nationalist forces. He also served as Prime Minister of Spain from 17 June 1842 to 9 May 1843.

He led the Carabineros Corps, established by a royal decree issued by King Fernando VII in 1829 at the time that Luis López Ballesteros was Minister of Finance.

Early life Rodil was born on 5 February 1789 in Santa María de Trobo, near Lugo in Galicia. His early studies were at the Mondoñedo Seminary, later studying at the University of Santiago de Compostela. Following the outbreak of the Peninsular War however, he enlisted in the Literary Battalion. In October 1816, he was sent to South America to fight against the "insurrectionists", where he served under Viceroy Joaquín de la Pezuela who ordered him Military Governor of Huamanga and then Lima. Despite being informed in January 1825 about the capitulation at Ayacucho and its terms, the Spanish chief rejected the surrender proposal and insisted on defending Callao, hoping at some point to receive military reinforcements from Spain that never arrived.

The Patriots, despairing at the resistance of the Spaniards, threatened reprisals against the defenders of Callao but were countermanded by Bolívar: "Heroism does not merit punishment. How we would applaud Rodil if he were a patriot!". Nevertheless, in the long run, resistance proved futile; two of Rodil's trusted comrades who commanded other forts nearby, and their forces, jumped to the nationalist side, thus revealing Rodil's potential defensive plans. The siege came to an end with the inability of the besieged to continue, with many of them dying as a result of the conditions in the port, themselves the result of a lack of resources and hygiene. On January 22, 1826, Rodil surrendered to Venezuelan General Bartolomé Salom and was allowed to go back to Spain, which he did, accompanied by a hundred Spanish officers and soldiers who had served under him.

Return to Spain and later life Back in Spain, Rodil was more respected than his other Army colleagues, such as José de la Serna and José de Canterac, who had been defeated in the earlier Battle of Ayacucho. After Ferdinand VII's death, he supported Isabella II in the civil war against the Carlists. He later was viceroy of Navarra, which had not been fully incorporated in the Spanish Kingdom, and was President of the Government of Spain in 1842. He had a personal rivalry with Baldomero Espartero, Count of Luchana, who had attempted to divest him of his military honors. Rodil then retired from Spanish politics, and died at age 64 on February 19, 1853.