Buenos Aires (13)


Source: See Buenos Aires Index.
Image: Statue of José de San Martín on the Plaza de Mayo.
Comments: José Francisco de San Martín Matorras (1778-1850) is known as the liberator from Spain of Argentina and the entire southern half of South America. In 1785 he went to Madrid, Spain, to begin his education. There he met Bernardo O'Higgins who would become the hero of Chilean independence. In 1808, he was a Spanish military officer when he fought in the famous Battle of Bailén against the invading French army of José Napoleón. In 1812 he returned to Buenos Aires, where he began fighting in Argentina's War of Independence. Among his major exploits is the extraordinary feat in 1817 of leading his army over the Andes in winter to undertake a surprise attack against the Spanish royalist forces in the famous battles of Chacabuco and Maipú, Chile. In 1821, he and his army captured part of Spain's stronghold of Lima, Perú, and thereupon he was named Protector of Perú. In 1822, in Guayaquil, Ecuador, San Martín held a secret meeting with Simón Bolívar, the liberator of the northern half of South America, the result of which meeting left Bolívar in charge of the united rebel forces. San Martín left Perú, resigned from the army, returned to Buenos Aires, and left South America for good in 1824. He lived the rest of his life in England, Belgium, and France. His remains are now interred in a side chapel in the Cathedral of Buenos Aires (see: => Buenos Aires #17). For close-up photos of this statue see: => Buenos Aires #13a and => #13b.