Cosiata, La (1826)

La (1826) Cosiata, a politico-military movement for the secession of Venezuela from Gran Colombia. When Gran Colombia was formed in 1821, conflicts arose in the territory of Venezuela over political and administrative difficulties resulting from the location of the center of power in Bogotá. Rejection of the conscription system imposed by the government of Bogotá was widespread. Also, there were outright confrontations between entities of civil and military power, stemming both from their insufficiently defined powers and the lack of institutionalized authority.

Several factors contributed to the restless climate leading up to Venezuela's eventual decision to ignore Bogotá's authority and to the Municipality of Caracas's appointment of José Antonio Páez as chief of the department of Venezuela in 1826. One was the imprecision as to the authority and jurisdiction of the various local, departmental, and national entities of power. A second was the great distances between the various political and administrative bodies. A third was the newness of the Gran Colombia experiment, and a fourth involved tensions between political factions and problems brought about by the war.

The series of events that comprise La Cosiata began in the city of Valencia on 27 April 1826, when the municipal council expressed its regret over the suspension of Páez as military commander in chief of the department of Venezuela earlier in the year. Discontent spread rapidly throughout most of the territory formerly known as the captaincy general of Venezuela. An assembly of Venezuelan municipalities called for a convention and the adoption of a federal system. General Francisco de Paula Santander declared Páez a rebel and deployed troops. In December, Simón Bolívar entered Venezuela, declared an amnesty, and named Páez chief civil and military leader of Venezuela. The integrity of the Colombian Republic was thus provisionally maintained.

See alsoBolívar, Simón .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

José Antonio Páez, Autobiografía de José Antonio Páez, vol. 1 (1973).

Graciela Soriano De García-Pelayo, Venezuela, 1810–1830: Aspectos desatendidos de dos décadas (1990).

Additional Bibliography

Felice Cardot, Carlos. Mérida y la Revolución de 1826, o "La Cosiata." Meridá: Universidad de los Andes, 1963.

González, Eloy Guillermo. Dentro de la Cosiata. Caracas: Imprenta Nacional, 1907.

León de Labarca, Alba Ivonne, and Juan Carlos Morales Manzur. Venezuela y el ideario de la unidad continental. Maracaibo: FAMUSC, 2004.

Tarver Denova, Hollis Micheal, and Julia C. Frederick. The History of Venezuela. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2005.

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