Nazario Benavídez

[2] When Benavídez was born in 1802, San Juan was a sleepy provincial town in the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, part of the Spanish Empire.[3] In the May Revolution of 1810 the leaders in Buenos Aires, the main city of the viceroyalty, declared independence of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata from the Bonaparte dynasty of Spain.[5] This was followed by a long series of civil wars in which caudillos, or military strongmen emerged in control of the provinces, fighting for a liberal and centralized Unitarian country or a more conservative and decentralized Federalist organization for the new republic.At the age of seventeen Nazario began working as a carrier, taking loads of goods by mule train and traveling widely in the other provinces.[10] In 1826 Benavídez was among fifty men from San Juan that Facundo Quiroga led in his successful campaign against Gregorio Aráoz de Lamadrid.[15] While some of his troops accepted the pact, others under Benavídez split away and marched to San Juan, where he joined an unsuccessful revolt against the Unitarian General Nicolás Vega.The tide started to turn in favor of the Federals, with Quiroga winning a victory over José Videla Castillo at the Battle of Rodeo de Chacón on 28 March 1831.[19] In 1833 Benavídez fought with Colonel Martín Yanzón on the staff of the second Auxiliary regiment of the Andes in the desert campaign, gaining victory over the local Mapuche chief Yanquetruz.[11] Benavídez fought in this campaign under the command of General José Félix Aldao, participating in fierce fighting on 31 March and 1 April 1833 in which the Spanish gained victory but suffered considerable losses.[8] In February 1835 Quiroga was assassinated, and the next month Juan Manuel de Rosas was elected Governor of Buenos Aires, with extraordinary powers.When Gregorio Aráoz de Lamadrid attacked La Rioja, occupying the city on 22 July 1841, he sent Colonel Acha with the Unitarian vanguard towards San Juan.He dispersed the cavalry, but Acha returned to the city with his infantry and established a strong position in the plaza and in the church tower from which he fought off the Federal forces of Benavídez for three days before surrendering.The next year he took to the field again in a campaign against the montoneras raised by Colonel Ángel Vicente Peñaloza, defeating them decisively on 18 July 1842 at the Battle of Manantial de Tucumán.[23] While Benavídez was absent from San Juan, his enemies in the government declared his office was vacant on 6 June 1852 and deposed him as commander in chief.The old divisions between Unitarians and Federals had broken down, and in San Juan the split was now between supporters and opponents of Benavídez, who was seen as a threat to the constitutional government.[citation needed] The Liberal minister Saturnino María Laspiur used his newspapers La Tribuna and El nacional to agitate for removal of the "tyrant" Benavídez.Benavídez fought them despite the heavy iron fetters on his feet, and killed one man, but a sword was thrust through his body and he took two shots to the chest.He was dragged from the cell, half dead and almost naked, and thrown from the building to the balustrade of the square, where a group of officers finished him off with sword thrusts.