Firstborn of the wealthy senator’s 12 children Manuel de Balmaceda Ballesteros and of Encarnacion FernandezHe was educated at the College of the Sacred Hearts of Santiago de los Padres Franceses, at the Conciliar Seminary, where he manifested an early priestly vocation, which he later put aside, completing his studies at the National Institute. He was a member of the Reform Club and was a liberal deputy and senator on several occasions. With the outbreak of the War of the Pacific (1879 – 1884) he was sent to Argentina to guarantee the neutrality of this country towards Chile; He was Minister of Foreign Relations (1881 – 1882) and of the Interior (1882).
Elected President of the Republic in 1886, and after a modest improvement in the economy, Balmaceda began an extensive program of public spending founding scientific and educational institutions, hospitals, railways and port infrastructure; it also carried out a program to recover land and strengthen the armed forces. He incorporated Easter Island into the national territory and reestablished regular relations with the Holy See, which was followed by the appointment of Mariano Casanova as Archbishop of Santiago.
In 1890, he began to confront the new conservative majority in Congress, which advocated a parliamentary reading of the Constitution of 1833, in addition to supporting the concession to private companies for the exploitation of nitrate deposits in the Atacama desert.
August 29 Balmaceda he had to cede his power to General Manuel Baquedano González, who had remained neutral, and sought asylum in the Argentine legation. Balmaceda committed suicide on September 18 of the same year, at the end of his constitutional term as president, leaving a political manifesto in which he defended his work, criticized the parliamentary system and defended the presidential system.