Bermúdez, José Francisco (1782–1831)

José Francisco Bermúdez (b. 23 January 1782; d. 15 December 1831), officer in the Venezuelan Emancipating Army. Bermúdez was involved with the cause of independence from 1810. In 1812 he participated in the Barcelona campaign, and with the fall of the First Republic that year, he left for Trinidad. With Santiago Mariño, he invaded Venezuelan territory in 1813 and participated in the liberation of eastern Venezuela. When the Second Republic fell in 1815, he went to Cartagena and the Antilles and joined the troops of Mariño to participate in the Guiana campaign (1816–1817). Simón Bolívar appointed him commander in chief of the province of Cumaná in 1817 and later commander in chief of the Army of the East. He participated in the Battle of Carabobo in 1821 and in the battles which finally consolidated the liberation of Venezuelan territory. With the creation of Gran Colombia, he was appointed intendant and commander of the department of Orinoco. Between 1828 and 1830, he put down various insurrections in eastern Venezuela. The following year he retired from public life.

See alsoVenezuela: The Colonial Eraxml .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Santos Erminy Arismendi, De la vida del General José Francisco Bermúdez (1931).

Ministerio De La Defensa, Próceres del ejército (biografías): Generales José Francisco Bermúdez, Francisco Mejía (1980).

José Francisco Bermúdez, General en jefe José Francisco Bermúdez: Bicentenario de su nacimiento (1982).

                                        InÉs Quintero