José Gervasio Artigas

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Image:Juan Manuel Blanes - Artigas en la Ciudadela.jpg

José Gervasio Artigas (June 19 1764 - September 23 1850) was a national hero of Uruguay and is sometimes called "the father of Uruguayan independence".

1 His life
2 Quotes
3 Ideals
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] His life

Born in Montevideo to a wealthy family, at the age of twelve he moved to the countryside and devoted himself to rural tasks in his family's fields. Observing the local inhabitants - especially the gauchos - he became good at handling weapons and riding, and entering in not quite legal dealings in the nearby border with Brazil.

At the age of thirty three, seeking protection in an amnesty for those who had not committed violent crimes, he entered the Regiment of Blandengues to protect the border with Brazil.

In 1810, Spain moved the headquarters for the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata to Montevideo after the May Revolution forced them to abandon Buenos Aires. On February 15 1811 he left the Regiment of Blandengues and moved to Buenos Aires to offer his military services. The people of Spanish America were fighting for their freedom and Artigas wanted to defend these ideals in the Banda Oriental. At the beginning of April he returned to his country with approximately 180 men provided by the Government of Buenos Aires; on April 11, he made the Mercedes Proclamation, assumed control of the revolution and in May 18th defeated the Spanish in the Battle of Las Piedras. He then began the siege of Montevideo and was acclaimed as The First Chief of the Orientals (the full name of Uruguay was Eastern Bank of the Uruguay, thus Uruguayans refer to themselves as Orientals).

In 1814 he organized the League of the Free People, of which he was declared Protector. On the following year he liberated Montevideo of the control of the "Unitarians" installed in Buenos Aires. In 1815 he meets in Creek of the China (current Concepcion of the Uruguay) at the Proto-congress of the Independence of Argentina, and along the provinces of the Banda Oriental (current Uruguay), Córdoba, Corrientes, Entre Ríos, Misiones and Santa Fé declare themselves independent from Spain and from any other foreign power and invited other provinces of the United Provinces of the River Plate (such was the name of Argentina in those days) to join within a federal system. In this congress Artigas ratifies the use of the flag created by Manuel Belgrano adding a diagonal festoon in red, red being the sign of the federalism in Argentina since.

The constant growth of influence and prestige of the Federal League frightened Buenos Aires (for its federalism) and Portugal (for his republicanism), and in August, 1816 the later invaded the Oriental Province (with Buenos Aires's tacit complicity), with the intention of destroying the commander and his revolution.

The Portuguese forces supervised by Carlos Federico Lecor thanks to his numerical and material superiority conquered Artigas and his deputies and occupied Montevideo on January 20th, 1817, but the struggle continued for three long years in the countryside. Infuriated about Buenos Aires's passiveness, Artigas declared the war at the time that he faced the Portuguese with armies that were decimated by successive defeats. His subordinates, members of the Federal League--Francisco Ramírez, governor of Entre Ríos, and Estanislao López, governor of Santa Fe--managed to end the victorious struggle against the centralism of Buenos Aires. But any hope of a new nation was short-lived; both commanders entered agreements with Buenos Aires which went against the principles of Artigas. They finally rebelled against him and left him to be squashed by the Lusitanians.

Without resources and without suitable men for the struggle, Artigas withdrew to Paraguay on his own in September, 1820 and disappeared from the political life of the region. (B. Nahum).

After a long exile he died in Paraguay in 1850. It is said that Artigas, feeling near to death, asked for a horse and died as a gaucho, mounting astride.

[edit] Quotes

I will not sell the rich heritage of Orientals at the low price of necessity ("No venderé el rico patrimonio de los Orientales al bajo precio de la necesidad")
My authority comes from you, and it ceases before your sovereign presence ("Mi autoridad emana de vosotros, y ella cesa ante vuestra presencia soberana")
Mercy for the defeated ("Clemencia para los vencidos")
Let the Orientals be as cultured as they are brave ("Sean los Orientales tan ilustrados como valientes")

[edit] Ideals

He admired the United States of America and was said to always carry a copy of the United States Constitution with him. He wanted the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata government to be based on the same federalist ideas as the United States of America. These ideals went against what the Buenos Aires government of the time wanted (a centralised state; some even supported the idea of putting an European monarch in charge of the newly independent lands), but he managed to gain the support of some other provinces. Because of this, the Buenos Aires government supported the Portuguese invasion of the Banda Oriental.

A statue of him stands in Washington, DC; it is located at the corner of 18th and Constitution (http://www.pbase.com/glenneroo/image/17449230).