Rafael Urdaneta
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| Rafael José Urdaneta y Faría | |
 Urdaneta "The Brilliant" |
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Provisinal Chief of the Government of the Republic of Colombia
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| In office September 5, 1830 – April 30, 1831 |
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| Preceded by | Simón Bolívar |
| Succeeded by | Domingo Caycedo |
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| Born | October 24, 1788 Maracaibo, Venezuela |
| Died | August 23, 1845 (aged 56) Paris, France |
| Spouse(s) | Dolores Vargas Paris |
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
Rafael José Urdaneta y Faría (Maracaibo, Venezuela, October 24, 1788 – Paris, France, August 23, 1845) is a hero of the Spanish American wars of independence in several countries in northern South America.
Urdaneta was born in the province of Maracaibo in Venezuela to an elite family of Spanish descent. Prior to the independence war he was a student of Latin and philosophy, and a pay officer for the viceregal troops in Bogotá, New Granada.
After the establishment of a junta in Caracas, Urdaneta joined its military in the fight against royalist areas. After years of service to the patriotic cause, he became one of Simón Bolívar's closest collaborators and was promoted to general in the republican army.
Having served as Secretary of the Military and Defense and a senator on numerous occasions in Gran Colombia (a union which included today's Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador), Urdaneta notably took control of the presidency in September 1830, hoping, in part, of having saved the country from dissolution and have Bolívar return as president. (As the country teetered on the brink of civil war, Bolívar had resigned in May and embarked on a journey to exile in Europe. Bolívar would never set sail and instead would be dead of tuberculosis before the end of the year.) Urdaneta did not manage to accomplish this, and instead his government fell to forces allied to former Vice President Francisco de Paula Santander.
Urdaneta, often referred to as "The Brilliant" (el Brillante) in Venezuelan historiography,[citation needed] died in Paris in 1845 due to complications from kidney stones.
