Santiago Marino

Santiago Mariño Carige (El Valle del Espíritu Santo, July 25, 1788 - La Victoria, September 4, 1854), was a Venezuelan soldier and politician, General in Chief of the Venezuelan Army and hero of the Independence of Latin America.

Biography

Born in the city of the Valley of the Holy Spirit on Margarita Island. His father, Santiago Mariño de Acuña, who was a captain in regulated militias, and his mother, Atanasia Carige Fitzgerald, of Irish descent. He studied in Trinidad, where his parents had settled when Mariño was still a child. At the age of 22, following the events of April 19, 1810, he went to Trinidad to carry out a mission entrusted to him by the Cumaná City Council to seek support from the English for the patriot cause and to protest against the governor of that colony, Thomas Hyslop, for the counterrevolutionary activities of Andrés Level de Goda, starting a verbal confrontation between him and Mariño in the presence of English officials. Level de Goda was suspended from his duties and given the city of Port of Spain for imprisonment. Two years later, he was part of the expedition that, under the orders of Colonel Manuel Villapol, left Cumaná with the task of dominating the insurrection that emerged in the province of Guayana. After the First Republic was lost, he emigrated to Trinidad in the company of several patriots and from there, taking into account the situation prevailing in Venezuela with the government of the Spanish leader Domingo Monteverde, he decided to move to the islet of Chacachacare, the place where his sister's hacienda was located. Concepción Mariño.

Then he was one of the main opponents of the separation of Venezuela from Gran Colombia by José Antonio Páez, he was president of Venezuela for a short period of time after leading the Reform Revolution.

Political life

On January 11, 1813, together with 44 patriots who had emigrated with him to Trinidad, he formed a meeting in which an offensive to free eastern Venezuela from Spanish rule was discussed and decided; For this purpose, the document known as the Chacachacare Act was drawn up, signed by Mariño on the estate of his sister Concepción. He served as secretaries: Francisco Azcue, José Francisco Bermúdez, Manuel Piar and Manuel Valdés. The day after the signing of the document, Mariño, with the rank of colonel, and his soldiers invaded eastern Venezuela where he conducted military operations that, over the course of six months, resulted in the liberation of the provinces of Barcelona. and Cumaná. In February 1814, he went with his army to the aid of Bolívar, who was operating in the center and west of the country. In La Victoria, after having defeated the royalist leader José Tomás Boves in Bocachica, Mariño and Bolívar met on April 5, to discuss the plans that the eastern and western armies would develop respectively; In accordance with this, Mariño marched with 2,300 men towards San Carlos against Brigadier José Cevallos, who commanded 4,000 men, he was defeated by the royalist leader. The next action was the first battle of Carabobo (May 28) in which Bolívar defeated field marshal Juan Manuel Cajigal. From Carabobo, Mariño went to the site of La Puerta where he, together with Bolívar, confronted José Tomás Boves with an unfavorable outcome for the Republicans.

After the fall of the second republic, Bolívar went to Cartagena, Jamaica and Haiti. He participated in the first Los Cayos expedition and arriving in Venezuela he was named second to the Liberator. He inspired the Cariaco Congress with José Cortés de Madariaga, in which federalism was revived in Venezuela, which caused a clash with Bolívar that disavowed said Congress. As a deputy, Mariño represented the province of Cumaná in the second Congress of Venezuela, meeting in Angostura on February 15, 1819, from which he had the license to return to the army. That same year, he triumphed over Colonel Eugenio Arana in the battle of Cantaura; and while Bolívar operated in New Granada he took part in the movement that displaced Francisco Antonio Zea from the vice presidency of the Republic. In his place, General-in-Chief Juan Bautista Arismendi was appointed, and Mariño remained as Commander-in-Chief of the Eastern Army. Once Bolívar arrived in the city of Angostura, Mariño was assigned to the General Staff. Later, on May 30, 1821, he was appointed chief of the General Staff of the Liberation Army, and with that position he fought in the battle of Carabobo (June 24). In 1824, he was appointed in Caracas president of the War Council of General Officers that was to judge the conduct of Brigadier General Lino de Clemente in the loss of Maracaibo in 1823. In 1826 the Congress of Colombia appointed him with the important position of minister judge. of the High Court, a function that he could not exercise when the La Cosiata separatist movement broke out in Venezuela, in which he was one of the main leaders along with José Antonio Páez.

The separatist movement of La Cosiata or revolution of the Morrocoyes, broke out in Valencia on April 30, 1826, which brought General Páez to power, ignoring the constitution and rejecting New Granada and the Santander government. As Mayor and General Commander of Maturín he stood out in the separation of Venezuela and was its representative before the Granadinos led by Marshal Sucre in the Cúcuta meeting of 1830. During the first Páez government as Minister of War and Navy, General Mariño founded the Military Academy of Mathematics in 1832. Defeated by Dr. José María Vargas in the presidential elections of 1835, he led the "Revolution of the Reforms" on July 8, 1835, which had the objectives of establishing military jurisdiction, the religion of the State, vindicating the name of the Liberator Simón Bolívar and rebuilding Gran Colombia. On July 9, 1835, President Vargas and Vice President Andrés Narvarte were exiled to the island of Saint Thomas.

Although the members of the Revolutionary Junta would recognize General Santiago Mariño as Supreme Chief, until the new Constitution was promulgated, the revolutionaries, in an attempt to maintain power, also proclaimed José Antonio Páez as Superior Chief, and the expelled president José María Vargas did the same, when he appointed him Chief of Operations, acting as an arbitrator. Páez decided to support the Constitutional Government, arguing that: I did not hesitate to fly in defense of the Constitution. In reality, what he does is defend the power that he would lose with the triumph of the reformist revolution, led by his most serious military and political opponent, but in the end he succumbs and is defeated by General Páez himself. Mariño leaves power and is expelled to the Antilles. Doctor Vargas was restored to the first magistracy on August 20, 1835 and continued as President of the Republic until April 1836, date on which he irrevocably resigned from said position. He participated in the War of the Supremes in the Republic of the Republic. New Granada on the side of the rebels.

Mariño returned in 1848 and the President of the Republic, José Tadeo Monagas, entrusted him with the direction of the army to confront the uprising of General Páez, following the events of January 24, 1848, which led to the assault on Congress by Monagas. Years later in 1853, he was reduced to prison for his participation in the so-called May Revolution, which broke out on the night of May 24 to 25 of that year, but he was released some time later. The last days of his existence were spent in La Victoria, retired from public and political activities. His remains rest in the National Pantheon since January 29, 1877.

Some consider that part of the fame and historical prestige that Simón Bolívar holds is due to the faithful work of Mariño, being the one who promoted various victories and feats of independence. Bolívar himself recognized on more than one occasion the relevance of Mariño for Venezuela. Like many characters in the history of Venezuela, he was linked to Freemasonry, being a member of this order in the 33rd degree.

Ancestry, marriage and offspring

Santiago Mariño belonged to one of the most distinguished families in the colony, which had settled in New Granada in the 17th century in the town of Santa Rosa de Viterbo. The Mariño family had influence, wealth and power; among their properties was the land of San Judas Tadeo located today in the state of Táchira. His father, Santiago Mariño y Acuña, was born there in 1760, son of Pablo Ángel Mariño de los Reyes Urdos, captain of the Spanish navy and knight of Santiago, who died in the events of Mirador Solano and was born in the city of Tunja in 1738.

Santiago Mariño was married twice, the first to Ana Teresa Malpica Hidalgo and the second to Rafaela Linero y Campo, a native of the city of Tunja.

Children from first marriage:

• Santiago Mariño Malpica.
• Eusebio Mariño Malpica.

Children from the second marriage:

• Leonídas Mariño Linero.
• Pablo Mariño Linero.
• Luisa Mariño Linero.

Brothers of Santiago Mariño

• Concepción Mariño and Carrige. Married with José María de Sanda.