Grito de Asencio

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Grito de Asencio

Grito de Asencio, popular uprising in Uruguay that took place on 28 February 1811 on the banks of the Asencio River, near Mercedes, in the present-day department of Soriano. Inspired by José Artigas, who was in Entre Ríos, Argentina, at the time, two inhabitants of the area, Pedro Viera and Venancio Benavídez, led the revolt. Although the uprising was against the government in Montevideo and in support of the junta in Buenos Aires, with the problem of independence from Spain yet to be addressed, the Grito de Asencio is traditionally taken to signify the starting of the revolution in the Banda Oriental.

See alsoArtigas, José Gervasio; Uruguay: Before 1900.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

John Street, Artigas and the Emancipation of Uruguay (1959).

Washington Reyes Abadie and Andrés Vázquez Romero, Crónica general del Uruguay, vol. 2 (1984).

Additional Bibliography

Narancio, Edmundo M. La independencia de Uruguay. Madrid: Editorial MAPFRE, 1992.

                               JosÉ de Torres Wilson

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