José Domingo de La Mar y Cortázar , soldier and statesman. He is the son of Marcos de La Mar and Josefa Cortázar. He was born in 1778 in the city of Cuenca (in present-day Ecuador), where his father was administrator of the royal boxes. At an early age he traveled to Spain in the company of his uncle, Francisco, and, thanks to his connections, obtained a place in the famous Savoy regiment. His uncle's influences not only earned him his income, but also the rank of second lieutenant. In 1794 he participated in the Roussillon campaign against the French, fighting under the command of the Count of Conquest, after which he was rewarded with the rank of captain. He later participated in various military actions and, at the time of the national war against the Napoleonic invasion, he already held the rank of lieutenant colonel. he was present in the defense of Zaragoza, fighting alongside Colonel Palafox (1808-1809) ; he fell seriously wounded here and, although the Zaragoza square had to capitulate, he deserved the title of "heroic merit of the country". Transferred to the Valencia front, led by the English general Blake, he led a column of 4,000 veteran grenadiers (the so-called “La Mar column” ), being wounded again and receiving care at the Tudela hospital. Taken prisoner and driven to France, he was confined to the castle of Saumur, Burgundy, where he spent his days studying the classics of French language and culture . After a time he managed to escape, in the company of Brigadier Juan María Muñoz, heading for Switzerland, the Tyrol and the port of Trieste, on the Adriatic Sea. From here he returned to Spain, where King Ferdinand VII had already resumed the Bourbon monarchy; Due to his remarkable merits, the sovereign promoted him to the rank of brigadier (1815) and made him a knight of the Royal and Military Order of San Hermenegildo. Immediately he was assigned to Lima with the position of deputy inspector general of the Peruvian viceroyalty.
José de La Mar arrives in Peru
Upon arriving in our country, in November 1816, he assumed the governorship of the plaza and presidio of Callao . During Pezuela's viceroyalty government he was present at all the war councils assembled to organize the military defense. In view of his protection of the capital during the blockade maintained by Lord Cochrane's naval expedition in 1819, he deserved promotion to field marshal. In September 1820 he met with Pezuela and with generals La Serna and Llano to determine the defense plan for Lima and the way to receive the deputies of the liberating army of San Martín. Charged with remaining in the Chalaca fortress of Real Felipe, La Mar faced a new blockade by Cochrane's squad and the occupation of Lima by the patriot ranks. Finally, his lack of supplies and weapons, his feelings as a Creole and his old friendship with San Martín moved him to sign the capitulation of Callao, on September 19, 1821 . The Protector, who knew our character from Spain, immediately offered him the office of division general (equivalent to field marshal that he had in the royalist ranks).
José de La Mar and the road to the Independence of Peru
Already decided on the cause of independence, he traveled to the city of Guayaquil to visit his family and, while there, the Guayaquil junta, with a Peruvian inclination, appointed him in January 1822 as commanding general of the province . From this position he obtained the capitulation of the royalist commander Villegas, as well as the delivery of the frigates "Test" and "Venganza" and the corvette "Alejandro", being proclaimed grand marshal by the Peruvian delegate in the northern provinces, Torre Tagle ( March 22, 1822). He then joined the Congress of the Republic as a deputy for Huaylas. He was entrusted with the presidency of the governing board appointed when San Martín retired, in September 1822; he organized the first expedition to intermediate southern ports, but was blamed for its failure and relieved of his duties. he then went to Chile and then to Ecuador, until Bolívar appointed him general in chief of the Peruvian army (January 26, 1824), with the mission of reorganizing the patriotic forces from Trujillo . He took part in the successful campaign in the sierra, fought in the battle of Junín and, in the fields of Quinua (near Ayacucho), his intervention was decisive for the final victory over the royalists , which was recognized by Sucre in the battle report (December 9, 1824). As a reward for his bravery, he was given the "Ocucaje" hacienda, but the great marshal did not accept it and returned it to its owner. Instead, he agreed to join the government council constituted by the Liberator Bolívar (February 1825) to take charge of the executive power during his absence in Bolivia.A year later, due to his poor health, he requested leave to retire to their agricultural properties in Guayaquil. He immediately suffered the death of his wife, Doña Josefa Roca-fuerte, with whom he had married in 1823 , and he settled on the farm that a sister of his had in Bujío, with the intention of getting away from political life.
In April 1827 he was elected deputy for Lima to the Congress of Peru, which appointed him to assume the presidency of the Republic . It was not until August 19 of that year that La Mar arrived in Chancay and went to Lima incognito, seeking to avoid a lavish reception. From the first moment of his government, the military officers Gamarra, Gutiérrez de la Fuente and Santa Cruz emerged as great enemies of the new president. His regime had to face not only the opposition that was concentrated in the capital, but also the uprising of the indigenous people of Iquicha (in Ayacucho) and, above all, the confrontation with Gran Colombia. On a war footing, La Mar embarked for Paita in September 1828, in order to organize the sea and land campaigns. The confrontation with the neighbor to the north ended in defeat and the president fell into disgrace, annihilated by a political-military coup by his enemies . Our character was shipped with Colonel Bermúdez and some slaves to Central America. He arrived in San José de Costa Rica on June 24, 1829, went to Cartago and established his residence here. Bent over by bitterness, even before he died he contracted a marriage by proxy with his niece Angela Elizalde, who traveled in vain to meet again with La Mar. The brave strategist of the campaigns of Spain and Peru expired on October 11, 1830 in the city of San José, at 52 years of age . Only in 1843 were his remains transferred to Piura, and two years later they received an honorable burial in the cathedral of Lima.