José Silverio Olaya Balandra (Chorrillos, 1782 or 1795-Lima, June 29, 1823) was a martyr in the

fight for the Independence of Peru. A fisherman by trade, he offered himself as a secret
emissary between the independent government taking refuge in the castles of Callao and the
patriots of Lima, a city then occupied by the royalists. He was discovered, imprisoned, and
subjected to torture to make him reveal the names of the patriots involved in the letters, but
he remained silent. He was shot and before tortured in a passage that today bears his name,
and which is in the vicinity of the Plaza Mayor in Lima.

José Olaya Balandra was born in the town of Chorrillos, in 1782, as the son of a Chorilla
fisherman named Olaya, and Melchora Balandra, his siblings being Cecilio, Mercedes, Narcisa,
Josefa and Manuela.

he was sentenced to death by firing squad on the charge of treason. At eleven o'clock in the
morning of June 29, 1823, he was taken to a passage next to the Plaza Mayor in Lima, then
called Callejón de los Petateros, and which now bears his name: Pasaje Olaya. His
executioners, according to custom, asked him if he had a last wish. Olaya asked that he be
buried with the red and white cockade, the emblem of his free homeland, a wish that was
granted. Then, he proceeded to be executed.