POLITICAL HISTORY OF PERU. 097 
and banished him to Costa Rica, in Central America, where he 
shortly afterwards died. 
Lafuente ejected all the officials, and assumed the government in 
the name of Gamarra. 
Gamarra and Lafuente, having thus secured the army and govern- 
ment, overlooked Santa Cruz, and got themselves confirmed, the 
former as President, the latter as Vice-President of Peru. This 
is the secret and chief cause of the great animosity and personal 
hatred which existed between Gamarra and Santa Cruz, and which 
has led to several years of revolutions and counter-revolutions in 
Peru, as well as to the wars of Bolivia. 
In 1829, Gamarra was elected President for four years, and is the 
only chief magistrate who has retained his office to the end of the 
term for which he was chosen. Lafuente was at the same time 
elected Vice-President. During the administration of Gamarra, 
there were several attempts to revolutionize the country, but they 
were suppressed. 
In the year 1831, Gamarra being on the frontiers of Bolivia, with 
the army, he became suspicious that Lafuente was concerned in some 
of the movements, and gave orders to seize him. Lafuente had little 
notice of it, but when the party detached for the purpose arrived at 
his quarters at night, Senora Lafuente, his wife, bolted the door, to 
give time for her husband to escape. The officer in command, 
before going to the apartment, had stationed guards around the square 
with orders to shoot any one whom they saw escaping. On arriving 
at the door of the chamber he found it bolted, and ordered it to be 
opened. This was done by Senora Lafuente, after her husband had 
effected his escape through the window. The officer, eager in pur- 
suit, followed, but mistaking the course of flight, got upon the roofs 
of the houses, where he was seen by his own soldiers, who, true 
to their orders, fired and shot him dead. Lafuente, thus saved by 
the good management of his wife, escaped to Callao, where he found 
an asylum on board the United States' ship St. Louis, then lying in 
the, roads. Thence he went to Chili, and from Chili to Bolivia, 
where he became reconciled to Santa Cruz, and endeavoured to 
obtain aid from him to overthrow Gamarra. 
Another conspiracy is said to have been discovered by Gamarra in 
1832, in which Major Rosel was suspected of being the leader. He was 
then commander of a regiment, and the plot was believed to involve 
the seizure of the President's person. Some colour is supposed to 
