Simón Bolívar (1783-1830)
Letter signed (‘Bolivar’) to Juan José Sarratea in Lima, Guayaquil, [Ecuador], 19 March 1823
In Spanish. One page, 245 x 203mm, bifolium, integral address leaf, seal remnants. Provenance: Sotheby’s, 12 May 1981, lot 38.

An important Bolívar letter, apparently unpublished: ‘I believe that in Moquegua, Peru has been saved’. Bolívar writes to the wealthy Argentinian merchant and patriot, José de Sarratea, affecting to celebrate a defeat of the patriot army and the change of government in Peru. Bolívar congratulates his correspondent for the change of government in [Lima] ‘carried out by the liberators. Now everything will proceed with certainty, energy and intelligence. Now you can count on the restoration of your fortune so nobly spent in the service of Peru’, asking him to send his compliments to Generals Necochea and Martinez, and to all his companions whose patriotism in Lima has made amends for the battle of Moquegua: ‘I believe that in Moquequa, Peru has been saved, because being the administration opposed to the general good should be feared’.

José de la Riva Agüero was proclaimed ‘President of Peru’ on 28 February 1823 – the first to use such title – in a bid by the Congress of Lima to quell the social instability prevailing in the country following the departure of San Martin and the defeat of the patriot army at the Battle of Moquegua on 21 January 1832. Bolívar’s supposition that Agüero’s installation, which he attributes directly to Moquegua, would bring about further change for Peru was well founded: the day before the present letter was written, Agüero asked Bolívar to enter Peru with his army.

José de Sarratea (1775-1862) was a wealthy Argentinian merchant who joined the liberation campaign for Chile – where he supplied ships and provisions to the army – and then for Peru. Bolívar’s compliments to Sarratea’s two fellow Argentinians, Generals Necochea and Martínez, ring a little hollow: the Argentinian contingent were regarded with some ambivalence, perhaps justifiably as Necochea was involved in the July 1826 plot to murder Bolívar.