Royalist commander in the army of the Spanish Empire
1770 CE
to 1825 CE
Pedro Antonio Olañeta (1770 in Elgueta, Gipuzkoa, Spain – April 2, 1825 in Tumusla (Potosí Department), Bolivia) is a Royalist commander in the army of the Spanish Empire who fights against the South American insurgency led by Simón Bolívar.
His support for Spanish absolutism and rebellion against the moderate Royalists creates conflicts within the Royalist army that aid the rebels.
After the defeat of the main Royalist armies, he continues the resistance, becomingthe last Royalist commander to hold out.
Upper Peru is relatively quiet by 1817 and under the control of Lima.
The Conservative Party criollos after 1820 support General Pedro Antonio de Olañeta, a Charcas native, who refuses to accept the measures by the Spanish Cortes (legislature) to conciliate the colonies after the Liberal Party revolution in Spain.
Olañeta, convinced that these measures threaten royal authority, refuses to join the royalist forces or the rebel armies under the command of Simon Bolivar Palacios and Antonio Jose de Sucre Alcala.
Olañeta does not relinquish his command even after the Peruvian royalists include him and his forces in the capitulation agreement following their defeat in the Battle of Ayacucho in 1824, the final battle of the wars of independence in Latin America.
Olañeta continues a quixotic war until Sucre's forces defeat his forces, and he is killed by his own men on April 1, 1825, in a battle that effectively ends Spanish rule in Upper Peru.