Eloy Gaspar Ureta

Eloy Gaspar Ureta Montehermoso (Chiclayo, December 12, 1892 – Madrid, October 10, 1965) was a Peruvian army officer who led the Peruvian Armed Forces to victory in the Ecuadorian–Peruvian War of 1941 for which he was awarded the honorary rank of Grand Marshal of Peru in 1946. His first baptism by fire occurred a decade prior during the 1932 Trujillo uprising in which he was commander of the 1st and 3rd military regiments that participated in the conflict.

Biography Ureta was born in Chiclayo, a city in northern Peru, the son of the frigate captain of the Peruvian Navy Gaspar Ureta Ramírez and Mercedes Montehermoso.

He was the presidential candidate of the Independent Patriotic Legion in the 1945 general elections, in which he obtained second place with 33% of the votes.

In 1949, replacing Raúl Porras Barrenechea, the military government of Manuel A. Odría appointed him ambassador to Spain, a position he held until 1955, the year in which he withdrew from all public activity for health reasons.

He died at his residence in Madrid, Spain on October 10, 1965, at the age of 72. His remains were repatriated to his country and he was buried at the Presbítero Matías Maestro Cemetery in Lima in a mausoleum designed by sculptor Antonio Ocaña. He was married to Consuelo Ureta, with whom he had three children: Eloy, José Luis and Mercedes Ureta y Ureta.

A number of streets and places in Peru, as well as the 68th Promotion of Officers that graduated on December 16, 2011, from the EMCH, bear his name.

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