The Bolivian military leader Andrés de Santa Cruz (1792-1865) was a supporter of a united Peru-Bolivia and was president of a short-lived confederation of the two.

Andrés de Santa Cruz was born on Dec. 5, 1792, in La Paz, the mestizo son of a Peruvian Creole and a Bolivian Indian heiress. After receiving a Church-directed education in La Paz and Cuzco, he elected to follow his father's army career. He was commissioned in a militia unit in 1809 and began active duty a year later, with the onset of the Wars of Independence. His royalist service lasted until early 1821 and included military action in Bolivia (then Upper Peru) and Peru, as well as an interval as a prisoner of war in Argentina. In January 1821, when once again a captive, he volunteered for the patriot army and served the cause of liberation through the remaining 3 years of fighting...