José Mariano de la Riva Agüero and Sánchez-Boquete He was President of the Republic. He was born in Lima on May 3, 1783. Son of José de la Riva-Agüero y Basso della Rovere, superintendent of the Royal Mint of Lima, and María Josefa Sánchez-Boquete y Román de Aulestia, Lima. He traveled to Spain to complete his education, but the events resulting from the Napoleonic usurpation caught his attention and he moved to France for a time . Back in Madrid he took part in the battles against the French troops in Guipúzcoa, Burgos and Córdoba. He returned to Peru in 1810 with the appointment of computer accountant of the Royal Court of Accounts of Lima and with the predisposed spirit in favor of the independence movement. He was related to various groups of patriots in Lima and maintained active correspondence with those of Chile and Buenos Aires. He published in 1818 a “Historical and Political Manifestation of the American Revolution” , in which he exposed twenty-eight causes that justified the insurgency against the viceregal regime. He was confined in Tarma by order of Viceroy Joaquín de la Pezuela, until his transfer to Spain, but he managed to join the army of San Martín and, after the occupation of Lima (July 9, 1821), he was recognized as the rank of militia colonel and was named prefect of Lima . In September 1822, San Martín decided to remove him from that position for having expelled Minister Bernardo de Monteagudo in his absence.
Appointment of Riva Agüero as president of the republic
The army, led by General Andrés de Santa Cruz, pressured Congress to name him President of the Republic on February 28, 1823, and almost immediately thereafter, he was promoted to the rank of Grand Marshal. During his administration, he dedicated himself to organizing and improving the army and navy . He created the naval school, established a permanent blockade of the coast to defend it from royalist incursions, made effective the loan obtained by San Martín in England and requested the help of Colombia and Chile to consolidate the independence process. He ordered the embarkation of the second expedition to intermediates (May 14 to 25, 1823), under the command of General Santa Cruz, who reinforced his domain in Upper Peru. Before Canterac's attack on the city of Lima, he ordered the transfer of the government and troops to the fortresses of Callao (June 16, 1823). On June 19, the Spanish forces occupied Lima, so the Congress meeting in Callao decided to entrust the military command to General José Antonio de Sucre and transfer the executive and legislative powers to Trujillo.
Removal of Riva Agüero as president of the republic
A commission made up of deputies Olmedo and Sánchez Carrión traveled to Guayaquil to request Bolívar's personal collaboration and the dismissal of Riva Agüero was decreed, who declared Congress illegal (July 19, 1823). He was finally arrested by Colonel Antonio Gutiérrez de la Fuente and exiled to Guayaquil in November 1823 .
Appointments and exiles of Riva Agüero
He went to Europe where he sought support to destroy Spanish power in Peru “if Bolívar were to disappear” , remaining there until 1828. He established himself at that time in Santiago de Chile and only in 1831 was he able to return to Peru. He managed to regain his rank of grand marshal and be elected deputy for Lima, but at the same time encouraged his former ambition to regain power. Salaverry's government banished him to Chile again (1835), although Orbegoso almost immediately appointed him minister plenipotentiary. Upon his return, in 1838, he was named provisional president of the Nor-Peruvian state until the dissolution of the Peru-Bolivian Confederation. Banished to Ecuador, he remained there until 1843. Once again in Lima he withdrew from all public activity, devoting himself to agricultural work and writing his memoirs. He died in Lima on May 21, 1858.