José María España Rodríguez del Villar y Sáenz (28 February 1761 – 8 May 1799) was a Venezuelan military officer and politician. Alongside Manuel Gual, he led the pro-independence Gual and España conspiracy of 1797. Following the discovery of the plot, he was captured and executed by Spanish authorities in Caracas. He advocated for the abolition of slavery and social equality among whites, indigenous people, mestizos, and pardos.[1]
José María España | |
|---|---|
 Portrait of José María España | |
| Born | 28 February 1761 |
| Died | May 8, 1799 (aged 38) Caracas, Captaincy General of Venezuela |
| Occupations | Military officer, politician |
| Known for | Gual and España conspiracy |
| Spouse | Josefa Joaquina Sánchez |
Early life and career
editEspaña was the third child of José de España and Anastasia Rodríguez.[2] His father was a Spanish military officer who worked as the sargento mayor of the La Guaira garrison.[2] Shortly after his birth, his family moved to Bayonne, France, where España spent his childhood. During his adolescence, he read philosophical and political works in English and French. He owned a library containing approximately 130 volumes in these languages.[2] He returned to La Guaira as a teenager to join the local military forces.[3]
On 27 June 1783, España married Josefa Joaquina Sánchez Bastidas.[4] They had eight children: Bernardino María, Germana María, Valentina Soledad, Francisca Josefa, José María Eufemio, Prudencio José, Cosme Damián, and José Asunción.[5] Following his father's death, España and his brothers managed a cacao estate named El Carmen, located near Naiguatá.[2] He also worked in local commerce. In 1793, the Governor and Captain General of Venezuela, Pedro Carbonell, appointed España as the teniente de justicia mayor (chief magistrate) of Macuto.[2]
Gual and España conspiracy
editEspaña used his administrative authority in Macuto to coordinate revolutionary plans with Manuel Gual, an army captain.[1] They designed a republican flag for their planned state, which featured yellow, blue, red, and white stripes to represent Caracas, Maracaibo, Cumaná, and Guayana.[4] Their program included the overthrow of Spanish administration, the establishment of free trade, and the abolition of slavery.[2]
Prison escape of 1797
editIn late 1796, Spanish authorities sent several political prisoners to the San Carlos fort in La Guaira.[3] These prisoners, led by Juan Bautista Picornell, Manuel Cortés Campomanes, Sebastián Andrés, and José Lax, had been arrested in Madrid for leading the republican San Blas conspiracy.[4] España and Gual made contact with the prisoners and incorporated their republican ideas into the Venezuelan plot.[4]
On the night of 4 June 1797, España used his position as magistrate to assist Picornell, Andrés, and Cortés Campomanes in escaping from the fort.[2] Lax was not included because he had been transferred to Puerto Cabello the day before.[6] España hid the escapees in Macuto and facilitated their flight to Curaçao on 25 June.[6]
Betrayal and flight
editThe conspirators scheduled their uprising for 16 July 1797, the feast day of the Virgen del Carmen.[4] However, on 11 July, merchant Manuel Montesinos told his barber, Juan José Chirinos, about the plot to gain his support.[6] Chirinos, a militia officer, reported the conversation to his superiors.[6]
Spanish authorities began arresting conspirators on 13 July.[4] España and Gual escaped across the mountains to Macuto and fled by sea to Curaçao.[4] España then traveled through several Caribbean islands, including Guadeloupe, Saint Barthélemy, Saint Thomas, Saint Croix, and Martinique, before settling in Trinidad, which was then under British control.[2]
Return and capture
editEspaña returned clandestinely to Venezuela in early 1799 to restart the rebellion.[2] He stayed with former family slaves near La Guaira and Macuto.[3] His wife, Josefa Joaquina, concealed him in their house, despite being pregnant.[4] While in hiding, España attempted to organize a slave rebellion on the plantations of Naiguatá.
Authorities grew suspicious of Josefa Joaquina's pregnancy and interrogated her. They tortured Rafael España, an enslaved laborer from España's estate, who revealed España's hiding place.[7] On 29 April 1799, royalist soldiers searched the house. España tried to escape to a neighboring house belonging to María Josefa Herrera by climbing down a chimney, but she discovered him and alerted the soldiers, who took him into custody.[3]
Execution
editA special tribunal led by Captain General Manuel de Guevara y Vasconcelos sentenced España to death. On 8 May 1799, España was taken from his prison cell in Caracas. He was tied to a horse's tail, dragged to the Plaza Mayor (now the Plaza Bolívar), and hanged. He was 38 years old.[1]
Following the hanging, the executioner decapitated and quartered España's body.[1] The government placed his head in an iron cage at the Puerta de Caracas in La Guaira.[4] His limbs were displayed on wooden beams at the entrances of Macuto, Chacón, and Quitacalzón, where he had met with the conspirators.[4]
Josefa Joaquina Sánchez was sentenced to eight years in prison for failing to denounce her husband. Her properties were confiscated.[8] She was exiled to Cumaná in 1808 after completing her sentence.[8] On 14 July 1811, twelve years after España's death, his sons Prudencio and José María, serving as republican cadets, raised the first national flag of Venezuela in the same Plaza Mayor where their father had been executed.[4]
The conspiracy of Gual and España reflected widespread social discontent in the late colonial period.[1]
References
edit- 1 2 3 4 5 Lynch, John (2006). Simón Bolívar. Yale University Press. pp. 17–18. ISBN 9780300115031.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "España, José María". Diccionario de Historia de Venezuela (in Spanish). Fundación Empresas Polar. Retrieved 26 June 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 "José María España". EcuRed (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 June 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 "Josefa Joaquina Sánchez Bastidas". Academia de la Historia del Estado Carabobo (in Spanish). 8 January 2026. Retrieved 26 June 2026.
- ↑ "Heroína Venezolana: Josefa Joaquina Sánchez". Scribd (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 June 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 Sanz, Luis (4 June 2022). "Relaciones (muy) peligrosas". Prodavinci (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 June 2026.
- ↑ "José María España". Sutori. Retrieved 26 June 2026.
- 1 2 Quintero, Inés (13 November 2020). "Josefa Joaquina Sánchez, comprometida en la rebelión de Gual y España". Blog Banesco (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 June 2026.