Ana María del Rosario Pérez Cotapos y de la Lastra de Carrera

Other names/titles:
Gender: F
Ethnic origin: White

Biographical details

Born on 18 February 1794, she married Juan José Carrera (brother of Javiera Carrera). She organised tertulias in Santiago de Chile to promote national sovereignty. She may also have fought in battles along with Javiera Carrera. (Guiñazú, 37)

Juan José Carrera was executed on 8 April 1819, Pérez Cotapos later married Justo Salinas, a wealthy landowner with a large estate "at the foot of the mountains of Angostura". She had several children. She died suddenly, a result of a fall around 1832. (Sutcliffe, 322, 330-331.)

Grez quotes Mary Graham's description of Pérez Cotapos when the latter was aged 32. More than a women, she was "un sueñode esos que aparecen en la fantasía del romance. Sus ojos cautivaban y seducían a la vez; poseía una boca que ningún pintor ni el cincel de la esculotra habría igualado en las Hebes y Gracias imaginadas por el arte". (Grez, 53.)

After the battle of Rancagua (1814) the Carreras were sent to San Luis, escorted by San Martín's troops. Cotapos was with them. After the Carrera brothers´ imprisonment, she petitioned San Martín and O'Higgins for their release and pardon. She managed to convince O'Higgins to order a stay of execution, but the news of it reached Mendoza after the brothers had been executed. (Clissold, 93, 133-135, 169)

Life Events

Born	1794	She was born on 18 February 1794.
Other	1814	She fled Chile with her family and was escorted to San Luis by San Martín's troops.
Other	1819	Her husband was executed in Mendoza on 8 April 1819.
Died	1832	She died after a fall around 1832.