Juan Antonio Sotillo

General Juan Antonio Sotillo (1790 - 1878) was a nineteenth-century military leader from Venezuela. During his long life, uncommon for a military leader at the time, he served under the army of Venezuelan general Simón Bolívar, as well as in most of Venezuela's 19th century civil wars and military revolts.

Juan Antonio Sotillo was born in Santa Ana of Anzoátegui, Venezuela, in 1790. Born to a family of humble means, the young Juan Antonio Sotillo started his military career in 1815 as a soldier in the Santa Ana cavalry squadron, under the orders of general José Tadeo Monagas. On 27 September 1816, he participated, still under general Monagas' orders, in the battle of El Juncal, against the Spanish royalist general Francisco Tomás Morales.

In 1824, Sotillo reached the rank of general, after fighting in several important campaigns during Venezuela's emancipation war. Later, after the withdrawal of Spanish royalists from Venezuelan territory, he became an important military leader in the recently created Republic of Colombia.

After the failure of Gran Colombia, Venezuela became an independent Republic in 1830. In 1833, Sotillo became Commander of the Province of Barcelona, in eastern Venezuela. Then, in mid-1849, he accompanied general José Laurencio Silva in the Campaign of Guárico, against a revolt headed by general José Antonio Páez.

Always close to the Monagas family clan, Sotillo was named second head of the army during the presidency of José Gregorio Monagas, brother of his compadre and former commander general José Tadeo Monagas. Later, in May, 1853, he was called on to fight an attempt to overthrow the government of José Gregorio Monagas. Despite his efforts, the Monagas government fell in 1858 and he was forced into exile afterwards. From the island of Trinidad, he attempted to organize, without success, an expedition against Venezuela. In 1859, he joined the Federal cause, taking up arms along with his two children, Miguel Sotillo and José Antonio Sotillo, with whom he commanded the campaigns of El Banco de Los Pozos (18 March 1859) and Las Piedras (16 April 1859), where they were defeated by the troops of general José Maria Zamora.

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