Mosquera y Arboleda, Joaquín (1787–1878)

Joaquín Mosquera y Arboleda (b. 14 December 1787; d. 4 April 1878), Colombian president (1830), vice president, diplomat, and educator. The eldest sibling of southern Colombia's leading family, Mosquera studied in his native Popayán and in Bogotá, where he received his law doctorate in 1804. After supporting independence in 1810–1814, he traveled in Europe (1815–1817) and engaged in trade in Jamaica and Cartagena (1817–1818) before returning home. He and his father, forced to immigrate to Quito by royalists (1819–1820), became supporters of Bolívar (1821). Mosquera was named minister plenipotentiary for Colombia by Bolívar and negotiated treaties of alliance and friendship with Peru (6 July 1822), Chile (21 October 1822), and Buenos Aires (10 June 1823). He served in the Senate (1825–1826). In 1828 he was a moderating influence in the Ocaña Congress between the forces of Bolívar and Santander and was chosen president, succeeding Bolívar, by the 1830 ("Admirable") Congress. Mosquera proved to be a vacillating president (12 June-5 September 1830) and he was overthrown by General Rafael Urdaneta. He spent 1831–1832 and part of 1833 in Europe and the United States. His intercession with Bolívar (1828–1830) probably saved the life of General Francisco de Paula Santander, and may explain Mosquera's election as Santander's vice president (1833–1835). In that office, he promoted primary and secondary education. Back in Popayán, he served as rector of Cauca University (1835–1836). Mosquera died in Popayán.

See alsoBolívar, Simón .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

José M. De Mier, ed., Testimonio de una amistad. Francisco de Paula Santander y Joaquín Mosquera (1984).

Guillermo Valencia, "Joaquín Mosquera," in Colombianos ilustres, compiled by Rafael M. Mesa, vol. 1 (1916), pp. 243-268.

Additional Bibliography

Castrillón Arboleda, Diego. Tomás Cipriano de Mosquera. Bogotá: Planeta, 1994.

Lofstrom, William Lee. La vida íntima de Tomás Cipriano de Mosquera, 1798–1830. Bogotá: Banco de la República, 1996.

Reales Orozco, Antonio. Santander, fundador del estado colombiano. Bogotá: Tercer Mundo Editores, 1994.

                                        J. LeÓn Helguera