José Manuel Pareja

José Manuel de Pareja y Septien (8 February 1813 – 28 November 1865) was a Spanish Navy officer who commanded the Spanish forces during the Chincha Islands War.

Biography Youth and early career Pareja was born in Lima in 1813, the son of Brigadier José Antonio Pareja (1757–1813) and Josepha Septien. After the independence of Peru (1821), his family returned to Spain and he joined the Spanish navy. He made the corresponding ships of his class and traveled almost the entire planet, arriving in one of them to the Philippines. In 1831 he made the instructional cruise aboard the frigate Perla, which was at that time the midshipman school ship.

The Chincha Islands War Pareja was sent to the Pacific in 1864 to relieve Admiral Luis Hernández-Pinzón Álvarez, whose seizure of the Chincha Islands was disapproved in Madrid.

On January 27, 1865, he signed the Vivanco-Pareja Treaty which was considered derogatory to Peruvian national honor. A general uprising followed in Peru and the government of General Juan Antonio Pezet fell on July 7, 1865.

After Chile, in support of Peru, had refused to sell supplies to the Spanish fleet, Pareja went with his fleet to Valparaíso on September 17, 1865 and demanded a public apology. As his demands for satisfaction were refused, he declared war against Chile on the 24th, and proceeded to blockade the principal Chilean ports.