Ezpeleta y Galdeano Dicastillo y del Prado, José Manuel de (1742–1823)

José Manuel de Ezpeleta y Galdeano Dicastillo y del Prado (b. June 1742; d. 23 November 1823), captain-general of Cuba (1785–1789), viceroy of New Granada (1789–1797).

Born in Barcelona of Basque parentage, Ezpeleta came to Havana in 1779 as colonel of the Regiment of Navarre. During the American Revolution, he commanded the advance on Pensacola from Mobile (1780–1781). Later, after serving with distinction as captain-general of Cuba, he was promoted to viceroy of New Granada. An enlightened, effective administrator, Ezpeleta ranked among the best of New Granada's viceroys. He faced the monumental tasks of soothing the political tensions that had lingered since the Comunero Revolt (1781) and reducing the colonial debt through curtailing the size of the army and eliminating unproductive programs.

He was acutely embarrassed when Antonio Nariño published the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen, obtained from his own personal library. Replaced by Pedro Mendinueta y Muzquiz at the end of his term, Ezpeleta returned to Spain, becoming governor of the Council of Castile and captain-general (1797–1798) and, later, councilor of state (1798), captain-general of Catalonia (1808), and viceroy of Navarre (1814–1820).

See alsoNariño, Antonio; New Granada, Viceroyalty of.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Beerman, Eric. "José de Espeleta." Revista de historia militar (1977): 97-118.

Kuethe, Allan J. Military Reform and Society in New Granada, 1773–1808. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 1978.

F. De Borja Medina Rojas, José de Ezpeleta, gobernador de La Mobila, 1780–1781. Sevilla: Escuela de Estudios Hispano-Americanos de Sevilla, 1980.

                                        Allan J. Kuethe