José Rufino Echenique

{{Short description|President of Peru from 1851 to 1855}}

{{family name hatnote|Echenique|Benavente|lang=Spanish}}

{{Infobox Officeholder

|name = José Rufino Echenique Benavente

|image = 1851joseechenique.jpg

|order = 12th President of Peru

|term_start = April 20, 1851

|term_end = January 5, 1855

|predecessor = Ramón Castilla

|successor = Ramón Castilla

|birth_date = November 16, 1808

|birth_place = Puno, Viceroyalty of Peru, Spanish Empire

|death_date = June 16, 1887 (aged 78)

|death_place = Lima, Peru

| allegiance = {{flag|Peru|1825}}

| branch = Peruvian Army

| rank = Brigadier general

| serviceyears = 1821–1854

| battles = Peruvian War of Independence

• Second Intermedios Campaign

1828 Peruvian–Bolivian War
1834 Peruvian Civil War
Gran Colombia–Peru War

• Battle of Tarqui

1843–44 Peruvian Civil War

• Battle of Carmen Alto

Liberal Revolution of 1854

|}}

José Rufino Pompeyo Echenique Benavente (November 16, 1808 – June 16, 1887) served as the 12th President of Peru from 1851 to 1855.

He participated in the Peruvian War of Independence and the Peruvian Civil Wars of 1834 and 1843–44. Echenique won the 1851 Peruvian presidential election to succeed Ramón Castilla. Under his government, the first civil laws of Peru were promulgated, and slavery was abolished. The finalizing phase of the construction of the Tacna-Arica railroad was also completed.

Echenique was overthrown by a liberal revolution led by Ramón Castilla in 1855 after a ball hosted by his wife, Victoria Tristán. He served as the President of the Chamber of Deputies in 1864, and President of the Senate from 1868 to 1871.{{Cite web|url=http://www.congreso.gob.pe/participacion/museo/congreso/presidentes/Jose_Echenique|title=JOSÉ RUFINO POMPEYO ECHENIQUE BENAVENTE|website=www.congreso.gob.pe|access-date=Sep 28, 2020}}

His son, Juan Martín Echenique, was also active in Peruvian politics.

Echenique hosted the Post-Impressionist painter Paul Gauguin and Gauguin's mother in his presidential home in central Lima from 1849 to 1854, during Gauguin's childhood.

Echenique is credited with stating that the country ought to change its racial demographics to "improve the race", which was reflected in the immigration efforts promoted under his government that brought a number of Germans and Austrians, Irish, Spaniards and other Europeans to Peru.{{Cite news |title=Semblanza de cómo creció Lima en sus 482 años de mestizaje continuo |date=2017-01-18 |url=https://andina.pe/agencia/noticia-semblanza-como-crecio-lima-sus-482-anos-mestizaje-continuo-649937.aspx |work=Andina}}