Following his tenure from 1821 to 1822 as Head of State of the Protectorate of Peru, General San Martín returned to Mendoza and, in January 1823, planned to journey to Buenos Aires, where his wife lay bedridden. Misgivings in Buenos Aires towards the Liberator remained, however, from his 1820 refusal to intervene militarily on behalf of the besieged Directorate prior to their downfall. Receiving San Martín's petition for safe conduct in his journey to visit his dying wife, Minister of Government Bernardino Rivadavia refused. Undaunted, San Martín left for Buenos Aires, although upon his arrival, was informed that his wife had recently died; she was 25.