Piura Armistice

Relations between Gran Colombia and Peru had deteriorated alarmingly. On the one hand, certain Peruvian sectors distrusted Bolívar's intentions towards the country and, in some cases, were openly hostile to him. On the other hand, both Bolívar and his supporters resented these attitudes and wanted to take possession of the Peruvian department of Tumbes by force and refused to renounce their claims to the disputed territories of Jaén and Maynas.

The incident that unleashed the events was the Peruvian intervention in the overthrow of the pro-Bolívar government in Bolivia in mid-1828. Peruvian President José de La Mar then received authorization from the Congress of Peru to march to confront the Gran Colombian Army.

Peru planned and executed an extensive but successful naval blockade of the Gran Colombian coasts, between the current south of Ecuador and the southern coasts of Panama, which prevented the use of the naval units of Gran Colombia in the Pacific.

The Peruvian naval campaign culminated in the taking of the main port that Gran Colombia had in the Pacific Ocean, Guayaquil, on February 1, 1829. The Peruvian Army, for its part, initially had rapid and successful military campaigns.

On November 28, 1828, La Mar entered Colombian territory and occupied Loja and almost the entire department of Azuay; later, La Mar also occupied Guayaquil, evacuated by Colombian general Juan Illingworth while waiting for reinforcements. Given the situation, Antonio José de Sucre, then back in Quito after resigning the Bolivian presidency, and Juan José Flores, governor of the department of Ecuador, concentrated the army of southern Colombia near Cuenca to pressure the Peruvian troops, who had occupied the area on February 10, 1829.

However, Peru's victorious military campaign came to a halt when the Battle of Tarqui took place, where after a brief encounter near the town of Saraguro, the Colombian vanguard faced a Peruvian detachment on February 27. In the aftermath of the event the Girón Agreement was signed, but hostilities nevertheless continued.

On the morning of June 7, 1829, a coup occurred in the Government Palace of Lima. General Agustín Gamarra, together with other high Peruvian officials, decided to overthrow President La Mar.

After this coup, the new de facto government of Gamarra travelled to Piura where he called for an immediate cessation of military activities and signs the Armistice with Gran-Colombian General Juan José Flores. This new armistice was intended to restore peace between the two new countries.[1] The treaty also implied the recognition of the annexation of Guayaquil to Colombia, while the rest of the border was to be determined by both parties.[2]

After the signing of the Armistice of Piura, the Peruvian government delivered the port of Guayaquil back to Gran Colombia on July 20. Later, it was signed in the Treaty of Guayaquil, on September 22, 1829, by the Peruvian José Larrea and the Colombian Pedro Gual, considered the first border treaty between the two countries. According to the treaty, Peru kept Tumbes, Jaén and Maynas and Gran Colombia kept Guayaquil. In other words, the status quo ante bellum was maintained,[3] adding that each country could make small concessions in order to establish a more natural and exact dividing line to avoid new conflicts. Likewise, it was agreed to appoint a binational Boundary Commission, to set the dividing line later. The Guayaquil Treaty was ratified by the Congress of Peru and by Simón Bolívar.