Víctor F. Pantoja y Castillo was a Peruvian corporal killed in action in 1904 during the

Ecuadorian–Peruvian territorial dispute The Ecuadorian–Peruvian territorial dispute was a territorial dispute between Ecuador and Peru, which, until 1928, also included Colombia.Ecuador and Colombia signed the Muñoz Vernaza-Suárez Treaty in 1916, ending their dispute, while Peru an ...

Early life

Pantoja was born in

Arequipa Arequipa (; Aymara and qu, Ariqipa) is a city and capital of province and the eponymous department of Peru. It is the seat of the Constitutional Court of Peru and often dubbed the "legal capital of Peru". It is the second most populated city ...

, Peru, where he entered the Peruvian Army and rose to the rank of ''Cabo''.

Death

Pantoja was deployed to a

disputed area A territorial dispute or boundary dispute is a disagreement over the possession or control of land between two or more political entities. Context and definitions Territorial disputes are often related to the possession of natural resources su ...

of the

Amazon rainforest The Amazon rainforest, Amazon jungle or ; es, Selva amazónica, , or usually ; french: Forêt amazonienne; nl, Amazoneregenwoud. In English, the names are sometimes capitalized further, as Amazon Rainforest, Amazon Forest, or Amazon Jungle. ...

known as Torres Causana by Peruvians. On July 28, 1904, at 1:40 p.m., Ecuadorian troops ambushed the border outpost, raising the Ecuadorian flag, before being pushed back by the Peruvians in a two-hour battle. When Pantoja attempted to take down the Ecuadorian flag to replace it with the

Peruvian flag The flag of Peru was adopted by the government of Peru in 1824, and modified in 1950. According to the article 49 of the Constitution of Peru, it is a vertical triband with red outer bands and a single white middle band. Depending on its use, ...

, he was fatally shot in the chest. By the time the battle was over, 20 Ecuadorian soldiers had been killed, with three wounded and two captured. On the Peruvian side, Pantoja and another soldier named Federico R. y Tarazona were killed, with other three soldiers wounded.

Legacy

His mother, Carmen Castillo, received a pension by the Peruvian government after his death. A Peruvian outpost, later town, was named after him. It saw action during several skirmishes the 1940s, and in the context of the Ecuadorian–Peruvian War during the Battle of Pantoja and Rocafuerte.

References

{{Reflist, 30em 1904 deaths