Juan Paz del Castillo

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Juan Paz del Castillo
BornSeptember 19, c. 1776/1778
Caracas, New Granada, Spain
DiedAugust 28, 1828
near Guayaquil, Colombia
Allegiance Venezuela
Army of the Andes
 Colombia
 Peru
Battles/warsSpanish American wars of independence

Juan Paz del Castillo y Díaz Padrón (Caracas; September 19, c. 1776/1778 — near Guayaquil; August 28, 1828)[1] was a Venezuelan soldier who participated in the Venezuelan War of Independence, reaching the rank of Divisional general during the conflict.[2]

Biography

He was born on September 19—circa 1776 or 1778—in Caracas to Blas Francisco Paz del Castillo y Juana Isabel Díaz Padrón y Hernández Caraballo de Acosta,[3] who were important people in Venezuela, then part of New Granada. In 1823, he married Micaela Llona, with whom he had three children.[1]

He entered Caracas as

Military Governor of Caracas, returning to the Army at his own request.[1]

In 1812, after the First Republic of Venezuela was disestablished with the signing of the capitulation treaty in San Mateo, Paz del Castillo was imprisoned in La Guaira by Manuel María de las Casas and deported to Cádiz under the orders of Juan Domingo de Monteverde, where he arrived on November 19. He was sent to Ceuta on May 5, 1813, and briefly managed to escape to Gibraltar on February 17, 1814, with the assistance of Canon José Cortés de Madariaga, Doctor Juan Germán Roscio and Colonel Juan Pablo Ayala, but was deported back to Ceuta by the Duke of Kent, then governor of Gibraltar.[1]

He was released after 20 months by

Jamaica and left for the Les Cayes, from where Simón Bolívar had launched an expedition [es] to take Venezuela from the Spanish. Paz del Castillo had arrived by the time Bolívar had left, now leaving for New Spain with Roscio, where he arrived to Philadelphia. Once there, he heard of José de San Martín's success at Chacabuco, and left for Buenos Aires.[1]

In January 1818 he joined the

Major General. Once in Lima, he left to find Bolívar, carrying an important mission from San Martín and the Venezuelans from the Numancia Battalion.[1]

In July 1821, he was in

Battle of Bomboná [es], later continuing with General José de Jesús Barreto [es] as his second-in-command. He returned from Popayán as the Chief of the division located there.[1]

He was promoted to

Brigadier General by Antonio José de Sucre for his actions in Quito, Guayaquil and Pichincha. After the Guayaquil Conference, he left for Peru with the Auxiliary Division. He successfully recruited foreign volunteers in Lima before leaving for Colombia, being lauded by Bolívar.[1]

From January 1823 to 1824 he was put in charge of the Intendancy of Guayaquil, where he organised troops that were later of vital importance to the battles of

Due to his explicit support of

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Dávila, Vicente (1955). Investigaciones históricas. Vol. 2. Imp. Colegio "Don Bosco". pp. 5–6. Nació en Caracas el 19 de Setiembre de 1778
  2. ^ La Rosa Werner, Luis Augusto (1984). A. La Rosa Castro: biografía (in Spanish). Ediciones del Congreso de la República. p. 72.
  3. .