Quentin Quevedo to the people of La Paz, January 3, 1875

General Quevedo to the people of La Paz

Citizens of La Paz: Full of effusion and gratification, I salute you. A child of duty and a servant or slave of the law, I have marched always in the path that she marks out till the moment in which treachery has been unchained against me. One man who hunted or sought my sacrifice as the price of national service, which was lent to restrain troops in insurrection, and liberated Cochabamba from the horrors of unrestrained soldiery. My manifesto, which you will soon see, will discover to you the details of the events to which I refer.

Called by the army of the north, and believing that perhaps my presence might be able to avoid some hours of anguish to this noble city, I have not hesitated in coming and throwing myself in your arms and giving you the kiss of peace, and offering to you the securities (sureties) of my respect for the constitution of 1871, and the guarantees social from my love of order, and prosperity of the country from my most earnest desire for the national unity and Bolivian fraternity, making to disappear that sad excision which has divided the Bolivian people, carrying with it misfortune to the country.

From to-day, citizens of La Paz—from to-day these will have no other political banner than the beautiful tri-color; no other interests than national interests; nothing less than the common welfare, and the free and independent concurrence of all political parties for the guarantees of public affairs.

Sons of privileged Choqueyapa, receive my fraternal salutation, and my formal promise, which I give before God and the country, to respect and make practical the constitution of 1871, and to consecrate all my energies for the benefit of the Bolivian people, and more especially for this noble city, the cradle of American independence, and mother of the proto-martyrs of the sublime epopee of the last fifteen years.

That this may defend you from the heavens and make you worthy of a magnificent inheritance are the prayers of your friend,