GUAYAQUIL CONFERENCE

(July 2627, 1822), meeting between Simn Bolvar and Jos de San Martn, leaders of the South American movement for independence from Spain. Late in 1821, when San Martn's campaign for the liberation of Peru was faltering, he wrote to Bolvar, whose army was then in possession of Ecuador, that the two of them must join forces if the struggle for independence was to succeed. Bolvar agreed enthusiastically, and the two met at Guayaquil, Ecuador, but they failed to agree. Both men had eagerly anticipated their first encounter, but their mutual respect and common cause did not obscure their rivalry. The flamboyant and self-assertive Bolvar stood in sharp contrast to the reflective and self-effacing San Martn. Bolvar wished to accomplish the liberation of Peru himself in spite of San Martn's previous efforts there, and as a republican he rejected San Martn's contention that the disruptive political factions in Peru would be best contained for the national good by a monarch. No record of the Guayaquil conversations was retained, except for a few details that were given in subsequent correspondence between the two men. Apparently, San Martn offered to serve under Bolvar's command, but Bolvar seemed to be unwilling to share the task of liberation. The result was that San Martn retired from active service in the wars of liberation and from the political imbroglio in Peru, and Bolvar's forces delivered the final blow to the Spanish colonial regime in South America at the Battle of Ayacucho two years later.