Luis La Puerta (25 August 1811-21 October 1896) was President of Peru from 18 to 23 December 1879, succeeding Mariano Ignacio Prado and preceding Nicolas de Pierola.
Biography[]
Luis La Puerta was born in Cusco, Peru in 1811, and he came from an aristocratic family. He joined the Bolivian Army in 1827 and served under Jose de la Mar during the 1828 Peruvian-Bolivian War and the Gran Colombian-Peruvian War. He later served under Agustin Gamarra and Felipe Santiago Salaverry during the civil wars of the 1830s, and he fought at the Battle of Ingavi in 1841. Back in Peru, he helped organize the defense against the Bolivian invasion. La Puerta backed Juan Francisco de Vidal during the war with Juan Crisostomo Torrico in 1842, and he was exiled under Manuel Ignacio de Vivanco before backing Domingo Nieto and Ramon Castilla's liberal revolution, fighting at the 1844 Battle of Carmen Alto. La Puerta went on to serve as a deputy from 1845 to 1851, as a regional prefect during the 1850s, and as chief of the general staff during Ramon Castilla's 1854 revolution. He served as Castilla's Minister of War in 1855, and he fought at the Battle of Callao in 1866. La Puerta assumed the presidency of Peru during the War of the Pacific after Mariano Ignacio Prado moved to Arica to direct military operations in the south, but Nicolas de Pierola deposed La Puerta and Prado in a coup in December. La Puerta died in 1896.