Juan de Torrezar Díaz Pimienta
Juan de Torrezar Díaz Pimienta (died 11 June 1782 in Bogotá) was a Spanish military officer and colonial official. He served as governor of Cartagena de Indias twice and was later viceroy of New Granada. He held the rank of brigadier in the royal army and was a knight of the Order of Carlos III. In 1779 he was promoted to field marshal.
His first term as governor of Cartagena was from 12 May 1774 to 14 September 1780, and his second from 1 May 1781 to 21 April 1782. During his time in office, Lieutenant Antonio de Latorre founded 43 pueblos, settling about 41,000 people, including Montería.
Torrezar Díaz took possession of his new office on 1 April 1782, still in Cartagena. Before leaving, he announced a generous amnesty for those involved in the Revolt of the Comuneros. On 21 April he left Cartagena to become viceroy in Santafé de Bogotá, the capital of the viceroyalty. He was old and in poor health, though he had just married 17-year-old María de Salas of Cartagena.
His predecessor, Manuel Antonio Flórez, had served more than eleven years and apparently resigned under pressure from José de Gálvez, the Spanish minister, and Archbishop Antonio Caballero y Góngora of Bogotá. Torrezar Díaz was greeted along the way at Honda by the archbishop, who hosted a banquet at which he did not eat; Torrezar Díaz did eat. He arrived in the capital a week later, on 7 June, very sick and died four days after his arrival. Some believed he had been poisoned by the archbishop, though the official report said he died of infection. A sealed royal document, opened only in the event of his death, identified Archbishop Caballero y Góngora as his replacement.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 13:04 (CET).