Jose de la Mar (12 May 1776-11 October 1830) was President of Peru from 22 August 1827 to 7 June 1829, succeeding Simon Bolivar and preceding Agustin Gamarra.
Biography[]
Jose de la Mar was born in Cuenca, Ecuador in 1776, and he was raised in Spain before serving in the Spanish Army during the War of the Pyrenees and the Peninsular War. He was wounded during the siege of Zaragoza in 1808-1809, and he was again wounded at Valencia in 1812 and captured by the French while recuperating in Tudela. He eventually escaped to Switzerland and Trieste, after which he sailed back to Spain and was appointed a brigadier and Governor of Callao, where he assumed office in 1816. He was initially loyal to the Royalist cause, repelling Thomas Cochrane's attacks in 1819 and 1820. In 1821, he fought off the first Siege of Callao, but he was captured on 19 September 1821 after losing his left foot to amputation. He then joined forces with the rebels and was made a Grand Marshal of Peru in March 1822. He was defeated by the Royalists at the Battle of Torata and the Battle of Moquegua in 1823 before losing Lima to the Royalists, but Simon Bolivar gave him command of a division in time for the Battle of Junin and the Battle of Ayacucho, in which he played a large part.
Following Peruvian independence, De La Mar served as President from 1827 to 1829, and he faced conflicts with Bolivia in 1828 and Gran Colombia in 1828-1829. He was deposed in a coup led by Agustin Gamarra and died in exile in Costa Rica in 1830.