Ezequiel Zamora

Ezequiel Zamora
Ezequiel Zamora
Born	(1817-02-01)February 1, 1817 Cúa, C. G. de Venezuela, Spanish Empire
Died	San Carlos, Venezuela
Rank	General en Jefe
Commands held	Jefe de Operaciones de Occidente (1859 -1860)
Battles/wars	1846 peasant insurrection Federal War

Ezequiel Zamora (Spanish pronunciation: [eθeˈkjel θaˈmoɾa]; 1 February 1817 - 10 January 1860) was a Venezuelan soldier and leader of the Federalists in the Federal War (Guerra Federal) of 1859-1863. His life was marked by the romanticism that characterized liberals of the time.

Biography

Zamora was born in Cúa, Miranda State. His parents were Alejandro Zamora and Paula Correa, modest landowners belonging to the white social class. During the early years of his childhood, he received basic education, typical of a rural area still disrupted by the struggles for independence from Spain.

Later, Zamora moved to Caracas, where he continued his primary school studies, the only formal education he received. However, thanks to the influence of his brother-in-law John Caspers, he received informal political training, influenced by the revolutionary movements in Europe. Zamora completed his education thanks to his friendly relationship with the lawyer José Manuel García. Zamora learned modern philosophy and the foundations of Roman law, and soon advocated the "principles of equality" and the need for their implementation in Venezuela.

Military life

In 1846, as a member of Liberal Party, is presented to the elections of that year, as a candidate for "elector" to the canton of Villa de Cura, but his nomination was opposed by conservatives, typically using fraudulent methods he and all his friends together and his supporters saw as compulsive and illegal. This was a reflection of the tense situation between Liberals and Conservatives nationally, whose bloody denouement intended avoided by a meeting between José Antonio Páez and Antonio Leocadio Guzman father of Antonio Guzmán Blanco. However, the meeting of the two leaders is frustrated by spontaneous uprisings of peasants in the central region. Zamora immediately calls to "make war with the Goths" to benefit the poor, while Paez was appointed Chief of the Army.

Statue of Ezequiel Zamora, Railway Station, Cúa

Finally, Zamora gets up in arms on September 7, 1846, in the town of Guambra; "land and free men", "respect the peasant," "disappearance of the Goths" are the essential slogans of people who started calling "General of the Sovereign People". After ridding the victorious actions Catfish and The Lions, is defeated and captured at the Battle of the Laguna de Piedra March 26, 1847. He is sentenced to death by the courts of Villa de Cura on July 27 of the same year, but José Tadeo Monagas will cut the sentence to 10 years in prison. He escapes from prison of Ottawa on the way to the prison of Maracaibo, found work as a laborer on a farm. The following year he was pardoned.

Sometime later joined the liberal army of José Tadeo Monagas who fought against the landlords. In 1849 captured Páez and took him chained to Caracas. In 1851 he was promoted to colonel. The defeat of the landowners was temporary and Zamora was exiled to the Caribbean. In October 1858 the Patriotic Meeting was formed and began a rebellion head the general Juan Crisostomo Falcon, brother in law of Zamora.

Federal War

February 23, 1859, under the Federal War disembarks from Curaçao to La Vela de Coro. It is named Chief Operating the West, making Coro becomes a federal state (February 25, 1859). And organizing a provisional government of Venezuela (February 26, 1859).

The March 23 triumphs in El Palito, from which plans its moves toward the western plains. Take San Felipe on March 28 and reorganizes the province as a federal entity with the name Yaracuy. The December 10, 1859, develops the Battle of Santa Inés , which defeats the centralist army; being considered this action as central to the process of the Federal War and testimony of the exceptional qualities of Zamora as a driver of troops. After Santa Inés, Zamora is directed toward the center of the country with 3,000 infantry and 300 cavalry, through Barinas and Portuguesa, but before approaching Caracas, resolved to storm the city of San Carlos, whose main square was defended by Major Benito Figueredo, with 700 men.

During the preliminary actions for taking the square, January 10, 1860, gets shot in the head that caused his death. The cause remains a mystery. Some say that the bullet came out of his own field, obeying orders Falcon and Guzmán Blanco. His unexpected passing changed the positive direction carrying the war to the Federalists and resulted in the loss, which for many was the most important popular leader of 19th-century Venezuela, his remains rest in the National Pantheon in Caracas.

Legacy

In 2001, a new land reform program under President Hugo Chávez, Mission Zamora, was named after Ezequiel Zamora.

References

• Biography at venezuelatuya.com (in Spanish)