Gran Colombia–Peru War

The issues that led to war were Gran Colombian claims, dating from colonial times, concerning control of the territories of Jaén and Maynas. The Royal Audience of Quito (Spanish: Real Audiencia de Quito) was established in 1563 by a royal decree of the King of Spain. Its territories included, to the north, Pasto, Popayán, Cali, Buenaventura, and Buga in what is now Colombia. The Royal Audience of Quito was initially part of the Viceroyalty of Peru until 1717, when it became part of the Viceroyalty of New Granada. Borders at the time were imprecise, especially in the eastern unsettled areas, beyond the Andean cordillera, because of a lack of geographical knowledge and the low importance accorded to these unpopulated and largely inaccessible territories.[3][2]

The first controversy between the Viceroyalty of Peru and the Real Audiencia de Quito erupted in 1802, when the military and ecclesiastic administration of Maynas was transferred to the Viceroyalty of Peru by royal decree. To this day, there is some dispute as to whether this was a territorial concession as well. This lack of clarity formed the basis for territorial disputes between Ecuador and Peru when, a few years later, these two nations obtained their independence from Spain. Jaén and Tumbez were not included in this royal decree of 1802.[1]

A similar event occurred in 1803, when the Spanish crown decided that the military affairs of the Province of Guayaquil, whose capital was the port city of the same name, would be run from Lima, Peru. Further, in 1810, all administrative and economic affairs for the Province of Guayaquil were turned over to the Viceroyalty of Peru, a situation that would endure until 1819 (and the formation of Gran Colombia, which included Guayaquil.)[2]

Even before the battles for the freedom of the South American colonies were over, Simón Bolívar established the uti possidetis juris principle as the basis for the territorial demarcation of the new nation-states that were to be born of the ancient colonial jurisdictions. In essence, the principle, as it applied to the international borders of that time, meant that the borders of the new countries should correspond to the Spanish administrative borders as they were in 1809. This presented considerable difficulty due to a lack of geographical knowledge, and also because much of the territory in question was unpopulated (or sparsely populated) and unexplored. According to the principle, the territory of the Viceroyalty of Lima would then become part of Peru, and the territory of the Viceroyalty of New Granada part of Colombia. However, much of what would become Ecuador fell into a "gray area" with plausible claims by both Peru (successor to the Viceroyalty of Peru) and Colombia (successor to the Viceroyalty of New Granada) still in conflict.[1]

The federation of Gran Colombia, formed in 1819, was the kernel of Bolívar's grander scheme to unite the former Spanish colonies in Central and South America. Prior to becoming the titular head of Gran Colombia, Bolívar had been, briefly, the president of the newly independent state of Bolivia, his namesake. Bolivia had formerly been a part of the Viceroyalty of the "Rio de La Plata", known as Upper Peru, and, once Bolívar relinquished the presidency of Bolivia to his revolutionary compatriot, Antonio José de Sucre Alcalá, in 1826, the Peruvians saw an opportunity. Early in 1828, Peru launched a campaign against Bolivia to end the Bolivarian influence where it finally forced Colombians to leave Bolivia.[1]

Furious about the news from Bolivia (that the Colombian army had been expelled), President Bolívar resolved to declare war against Peru on 3 June 1828. Antonio José de Sucre, who had been the President of Bolivia since 1826, resigned his office (under duress) and was appointed Commander of the Gran Colombian Army.[2]

The declaration of war occurred on July 3, 1828, when President José de La Mar and President Simón Bolívar ordered mobilizations of their land and naval forces. The first confrontation of the conflict took place on August 31 of that year in the Malpelo naval battle, which ended with a Peruvian victory when the Peruvian corvette Libertad, under the command of Carlos García del Postigo, patrolled in international waters west of the Gulf of Guayaquil. The Peruvian corvette blocked that port, but was attacked by the Gran Colombian ships, Pichincha and Guayaquileña, in Punta Malpelo. The Colombians were forced to retire with great loss of life on board their ships.

Then, on November 22, 1828, the Naval Combat of Cruces happened. This naval confrontation took place between the Peruvian ships Presidente, Libertad and Peruviana and the Gran Colombians Guayaquileña and Adela during the Great Colombian-Peruvian War. The blockade of Guayaquil by the Navy of Peru was decisive in gaining maritime superiority and marks the end of the naval campaign of the war.

The Peruvian squadron, commanded by Admiral Martin George Guisse, made a number of raids in the area of Guayaquil before directly attacking the defenses of that city from 22 November to 24 November 1828. In this campaign, he managed to eliminate the Colombian defenses afloat and to silence much of the enemy artillery, but, on the night of 23 November, the Peruvian frigate Presidente ran aground, and the Colombians took advantage of the situation to counterattack.[2]

At dawn, with the arrival of high tide, the frigate was refloated under fire. One of the last enemy sniper shots hit Guisse, mortally wounding him. Control of the squadron was assumed by his first lieutenant, José Boterín, who continued the siege. The city finally surrendered on 19 January 1829. After this victory, the corvette Arequipeña and the brig Congreso repaired to Panama to rescue a Peruvian merchant ship that had been captured by the Gran Colombians. Guayaquil would remain under Peruvian occupation until 21 July 1829.[1]

battle of porte de tarqui

Peruvian President José de La Mar had been born in the city of Cuenca, in present-day Ecuador, which was, in 1828, part of the disputed territory and de facto part of Gran Colombia. Shortly after the Peruvian Navy's siege of Guayaquil was concluded, the Peruvian Army seized the city of Loja by winning the Battle of Saraguro on the 13 February 1829, and then it pushed north into Guayas, the district surrounding the city of Guayaquil. En route, forces under La Mar and General Agustín Gamarra occupied Cuenca as well.[2]

Holding Cuenca was, however, short-lived. The Venezuelan general, Antonio José de Sucre, and his compatriot, General Juan José Flores, mounted a counterattack and defeated the Peruvians near the city of Cuenca, at the Battle of Portete de Tarqui on the 26 February and the 27 February 1829.

It is necessary to point out that at the Battle of the Portete de Tarqui, only one advance guard of the Peruvian troops was beaten. The 900 Peruvian infantry had been surrounded by the entire Grancolombian army of more than 4,500 men. The bulk of the Peruvian forces remained intact and managed to retreat in order and form their divisions in the plain with their cavalry and artillery at the exit of the gorge, pending a new confrontation with the army of Gran Colombia. The results of this battle were not decisive.[4]

Without reinforcement by land, the Peruvian occupation of Guayaquil was destined to fail, but the Gran Colombia's assertion of rights to the territories of Jaén and Maynas was similarly frustrated. On the 28 February 1829, La Mar and Sucre signed a conditioning document that became known as the La Mar-Sucre Convention.[2]

La Mar, however, refused to give back Guayaquil or withdraw the Peruvian Navy, points that were part of the convention. La Mar proceeded to strengthen his army at his headquarters at Piura while Bolívar prepared to take command of the Colombian army, and hostilities seemed about to restart.[2]

The Girón Agreement between Peru and Gran Colombia recognized as borders the "same ones as the corresponding Viceroyalties before independence." Since this status quo ante solution was based on borders that had never been adequately defined, future territorial disputes between Peru and Ecuador and Colombia were virtually inevitable.[2][5]

On 10 July 1829, the Armistice of Piura recognised the annexation of Guayaquil to Gran Colombia, and the Gran Colombia recognized Tumbes, Jaén and Maynas as Peruvian territories.[6] On September 22 of that year, the war between Peru and Gran Colombia officially came to an end when the armistice was ratified. A formal peace treaty, known as the Larrea-Gual Treaty or the Gual-Larrea Treaty, was signed on the very same day, September 22, 1829. The uti possidetis principle was affirmed, but the text also acknowledged that small concessions by each side may become desirable in order to define a "more natural and precise border", which was the basis for avoiding further conflict. The parties agreed to form a binational commission to establish a permanent border.[1][2][5]

• Pérez Pimentel, Rodolfo. "Carlos Pedemonte y Talavera" Diccionario Biográfico Ecuador, Vol. 9. (Ecuadorian viewpoint) In Spanish.