Juan Domingo de Monteverde

Juan Domingo de Monteverde y Rivas (born Juan Domingo de Monteverde; 2 April 1773 in San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain – 15 September 1832 in San Fernando, Cádiz, Spain), commonly known as Domingo de Monteverde, was a Spanish soldier, governor and Captain General of Venezuela from June 1812 to 8 August 1813. Monteverde was the leader of Spanish forces in the Venezuelan War of Independence from 1812 to 1813. Monteverde led the military campaign that culminated in the fall of the First Republic of Venezuela in 1812. One year later in 1813, Monteverde was defeated by Simón Bolívar during the Admirable Campaign.

Monteverde was born in the Canarian town of San Cristóbal de la Laguna on 2 April 1773. With well won prestige and the rank of Frigate Captain, he was sent to Venezuela from Puerto Rico. He arrived at Coro in early March 1812 along with other Spanish marines. Monteverde was ordered by the governor of Coro, with a small force of 1550 men with soldiers and officers, to aid the small town of Siquisique, which had sent Fr. Andrés Torellas with news that it intended to defect from the Republic. As a nineteenth-century historian described, "with Spaniards and residents of Coro, a priest named Torellas, a surgeon, ten thousand cartridges, a howitzer, and ten hundredweights of food." Monteverde's military force was not prepared to begin a successful military campaign. The scarcity of resources is understandable, considering how Spain found itself fighting the Peninsular War against the Napoleonic forces in order to regain control over its own territory, and had spent the previous decade fighting mostly as an ally of France. There were no resources to send to the New World, in fact, Spain had been asking for donations and increased revenues from America.

However, there was one crucial factor which aided Monteverde and the royalist cause: the social dissatisfaction of the people with the new rulers. (This lack of support for the republican leadership would later instigate Bolívar to begin a "Social War" during his Admirable Campaign.) After a seven-day march, he occupied the town on 17 March, and Monteverde found it easy to recruit new soldiers from the local population. With a growing force, he decided to continue marching into republican territory, despite having no authorization to do so. His successful advance was helped by the social support offered it by the lower classes, which viewed the mantuano (aristocratic) republican rulers as their enemies. He created an integrated military force of pardos, zambos, Canary Islanders, and other lower-class peoples. Middling and upper-class people also joined his cause.

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