Jose Fernando Abascal, a Spanish statesman, born at Oviedo in 1743, died in Madrid, June 13, 1821. He entered the Spanish army in 1762, and distinguished himself as colonel in the war against the French republic. In 1796 he became governor of Cuba, and defended Havana against the British. Thence transferred to be governor of New Galicia, he was in 1804 appointed viceroy of Peru. On his journey thither he was captured by the English, but escaped and reached Lima. His administration was successful, and for some time he checked the movement for independence in Peru, the Plata states, and Chili. On returning home, in 1816, he was greeted as a national benefactor and made a marquis.