José Gervasio Artigas
José Gervasio Artigas Aznar (June 19 1764 - September 23 1850) was a national hero of Uruguay and is sometimes called "the father of Uruguayan independence". This is an interesting turn of events, considering that during his life he never sought the absolute independence of Uruguay as a separate State, but the forging of a Federation of Provinces that would include his country, "the Eastern Province" as it was known at the time.
His Life
Born in Montevideo to a wealthy family, at the age of twelve moved to the countryside and devoted himself to rural tasks on his family's farms. Observing the local inhabitants - especially the gauchos - he became good at handling weapons and riding, and entering into quasi-legal activities, especially smuggling, on the border with Portuguese-controlled Brazil.
At the age of thirty three, seeking protection in an amnesty for those who had not committed violent crimes, he entered the Regiment of Blandengues to protect the border with Brazil. In 1806-1807, he participated in the Spanish resistance to the British invasions of the River Plate. He formed part of the force which, under Santiago de Liniers, Montevideo contributed to the liberation, ("Reconquista") of Buenos Aires from Beresford's occupation, in 1806, and also in the Battle of Montevideo (1807). Following the Spanish defeat in the latter, he was, as an officer in the regular Spanish forces, made prisoner and about to be shipped to Britain as a prisoner of war. He was spared due to his ill health, having been wounded in the battle.
In 1810, Spain moved the headquarters for the Viceroyalty of the River Plate to Montevideo after the May Revolution forced them to abandon Buenos Aires. On February 15 1811 he left the Regiment of Blandengues and moved to Buenos Aires to offer his military services. The people of Spanish America were fighting for their freedom and Artigas wished to defend these ideals in the Eastern Bank. At the beginning of April he returned to his country with approximately 180 men provided by the Government of Buenos Aires; on April 11, he issued the Mercedes Proclamation, assumed control of the revolution and on May 18 defeated the Spanish in the Battle of Las Piedras. He then began the siege of Montevideo and was acclaimed as The First Chief of the "Orientals" (the first names of current Uruguay being Banda Oriental (Eastern Bank) and later Provincia Oriental (Eastern Province), Uruguayans thus refer to themselves as 'Orientales').
In 1814 he organized the Liga de los Pueblos Libres (League of the Free Peoples), of which he was declared Protector. In the following year, as a federalist, he liberated Montevideo from the centralizing control of the "Unitarians", installed in Buenos Aires.
In 1815 he attended the Proto-congress of the Independence of Argentina, held in Arrollo de la China (today known as the town of Concepción del Uruguay). It was at this congress that the provinces of the Eastern Province (today the country of Uruguay), Córdoba, Corrientes, Entre Ríos, Misiones and Santa Fe declared themselves independent from Spain and from any other foreign power and formed the Liga Federal (Federal League). The Liga Federal invited the other provinces of the former Viceroyalty of the River Plate to join them under a federal system.
In this congress Artigas ratified the use of the flag created by Manuel Belgrano (which would later become the flag of the Argentine Republic), but added a diagonal festoon in red, this color being a symbol of federalism in Argentina at that time.
The continued growth of influence and prestige of the Federal League frightened Buenos Aires (due to its federalism) and Portugal (because of its republicanism), and in August, 1816 the latter invaded the Eastern Province (with Buenos Aires' tacit complicity), with the intention of destroying the protector Artigas and his revolution.
The Portuguese forces, led by Carlos Frederico Lecor, thanks to his numerical and material superiority, conquered Artigas and his deputies and occupied Montevideo on January 20, 1817, but the struggle continued for three long years in the countryside. Infuriated by Buenos Aires's passivity, Artigas declared war at the same time that he faced the Portuguese with armies that were decimated by successive defeats. His subordinates, members of the Federal League--Francisco Ramírez, governor of Entre Ríos, and Estanislao López, governor of Santa Fe--managed to end the victorious struggle against the centralism of Buenos Aires. But any hope of a new nation was short-lived; both commanders entered agreements with Buenos Aires which went against the principles of Artigas. They finally rebelled against him and left him to be crushed by the Lusitanians.
Without resources and without suitable men for the struggle, Artigas withdrew to Paraguay on his own in September, 1820. In Paraguay, Dr. Francia, the dictator, banished him to Candelaria. He then disappeared from the political life of the region. (B. Nahum).
After a long exile he died in Paraguay in 1850. It is said that Artigas, feeling near to death, asked for a horse and died in the saddle, as a gaucho.
Quotes
- I will not sell the rich heritage of Orientals at the low price of necessity ("No venderé el rico patrimonio de los Orientales al bajo precio de la necesidad")
- My authority comes from you, and it ceases before your sovereign presence ("Mi autoridad emana de vosotros, y ella cesa ante vuestra presencia soberana")
- Mercy for the defeated ("Clemencia para los vencidos")
- Let the Orientals be as cultured as they are brave ("Sean los Orientales tan ilustrados como valientes")
Ideals
He admired the United States of America of his day and was said to always carry a copy of the United States Constitution with him. He wanted the United Provinces of the River Plate government to be based on the same federalist ideas as the United States of America. These ideals went against what the Buenos Aires government of the time wanted (a centralised state; some even supported the idea of putting a European monarch in charge of the newly independent lands), but he managed to gain the support of some other provinces. Because of this, the Buenos Aires government supported the Portuguese invasion of the Eastern Bank.
A statue of him stands in Montevideo, Minnesota, Newark, New Jersey, Lower Manhattan, New York, as well as Washington, DC; it is located at the corner of 18th and Constitution (http://www.pbase.com/glenneroo/image/17449230).
Trivia
An extinct giant rodent genus, whose fossils where first found in San José Department, Uruguay, was named Josephoartigasia, after José Artigas.
See also
External links
- Biblioteca Artiguista (in Spanish)