Short answers, pulled from the story.
José de San Martín was an Argentine general born on the 25th of February 1778, nicknamed "the Liberator of Argentina, Chile and Peru." He led the military campaigns that freed Argentina, Chile, and Peru from Spanish rule, and served as the Protector of Peru after declaring its independence on the 28th of July 1821. He is regarded as a national hero in all three countries.
San Martín was born in Yapeyú, Corrientes, in present-day Argentina, a Guaraní reduction established to administer indigenous communities after the expulsion of the Jesuits. The exact year of his birth is disputed due to missing baptismal records, with most documents pointing to either 1777 or 1778.
The Crossing of the Andes was a military operation in early 1817 in which San Martín led the Army of the Andes across the mountain range to liberate Chile from royalist rule. He divided the force into six columns taking different passes, with the army carrying dried food and consuming garlic and onions against altitude sickness. Of the 10,000 mules and 1,500 horses that set out, only 4,300 mules and 511 horses survived the crossing.
The Guayaquil conference took place on the 26th of July 1822. San Martín and Bolívar held two private meetings with no witnesses and no written minutes, so the content of their discussions can only be inferred from later actions and letters. Shortly after the meeting, San Martín resigned as Protector of Peru and returned to Valparaíso, leaving Bolívar to complete the liberation of Peru.
San Martín resigned because of several converging pressures: his army's military discipline was deteriorating, Buenos Aires had cut off support, Admiral Cochrane had taken the navy, O'Higgins was about to be deposed in Chile, and the joint command with Bolívar posed political difficulties for both sides. San Martín also refused to rule as a dictator, which he believed was the only form of authority strong enough to prevent the new nations from fragmenting.
San Martín died at three o'clock on the 17th of August 1850, in his house in Boulogne-sur-Mer, France. His remains were temporarily buried in the Basilica of Notre-Dame de Boulogne and repatriated to Argentina on the 29th of May 1880, during the presidency of Nicolás Avellaneda. They are now held in a mausoleum inside the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Cathedral.