José Tadeo Monagas

Born Oct. 28, 1784, in Maturín; died Sept. 18, 1868, in Caracas. State and military figure of Venezuela. A descendent of a bourgeois landholding family.

Monagas participated in the war against Spanish rule in Venezuela and Peru from 1813 to 1821. He was president of Venezuela from 1846 to 1851 and from 1855 to 1858; he virtually ruled the country even when his brother J. G. Monagas was president (1851–55). The policy of Monagas, which corresponded to the interests of the Liberal Party, promoted the country’s capitalist development, but the dictatorial nature of his rule led to an exacerbation of the political struggle. After an armed uprising of the Conservatives and some of the Liberals in 1858, Monagas resigned and was exiled. In 1868 he tried to seize power by armed force.