fired his pistol, killing his rival on the spot. To the shock of the crowd gathered at the Plaza Murillo, Melgarejo appeared on the Palace balcony and declared: "Belzu is dead. Who lives now?" and the crowd gave a bestial cry: "Long live Melgarejo!" According to Narciso Campero's memoirs, Belzu's corpse was left on the first floor of the Palacio Quemado. Later, Belzu's now widow, Juana Manuela Gorriti, the famous Argentine writer, came to claim him. After these events, Narciso Campero was appointed prefect of La Paz. Brief retirement Campero would later distance himself from Melgarejo and retire to private life. In 1871, he was appointed Minister of War and moved to Sucre, where he married Lindaura Anzoátegui Campero. In July 1872, he was appointed Minister Plenipotentiary of Bolivia before the governments of Great Britain, France and Italy. The War of the Pacific The outbreak Upon his return, he was appointed Prefect of Potosí and, later, imprisoned for a few months as a result of the fall of President Tomás Frías. The outbreak of the war with Chile in 1879 motivated him to offer his services to President Hilarión Daza, who ordered him to raise a military division with recruits from the southern departments of Bolivia, mainly Tarija and Potosí. Campero was given the mission to reconquer Calama from the hands of the Chilean Army, with the intention of recovering Antofagasta. The 5th Division and Daza's downfall His performance in this mission is the subject of controversy among historians. Alcides Arguedas maintains that Campero wandered through the southern Bolivian mountain range as a result of Daza's contradictory orders and whims. Other authors such as José Mesa, Teresa Gisbert and Carlos Mesa Gisbert claim that Campero did not order the entry into action of his forces because he was in collusion with the mining businessmen headed by Aniceto Arce, who had commercial interests in partnership with Chilean investors in the Pacific coast. The interpretations of Mesa, Gisbert and Mesa Gisbert have fed revisionist interpretations of this historical moment, which were reflected in the 1989 Bolivian film, Bitter Sea by Antonio Eguino. Given the lack of military coordination within Campero's division, it was called the "Wanderer" or "Israelite", as it wandered aimlessly in the desert, and without a precise military objective. The only relevant military action this division saw was the Battle of Tambillo, where Bolivian soldiers defeated a Chilean advance guard,