Oribe, Manuel

Manuel Oribe y Viana was the son of Captain Francisco Oribe; Manuel's mother was Maria Francis Viana, a descendant of the first Spanish governor of Montevideo, the Basque of . Manuel was the brother of and .

At the beginning of the War of Independence in Rio de la Plata, Manuel Oribe joined the ranks of independence supporters as a volunteer.

The baptism of fire of Manuel Oribe occurred at the Battle of Cerrito, on December 31, 1812, during the second siege of Montevideo, a feat that ended in the victory of the patriots. Together with Jose Artigas , Oribe participated in the resistance to the invasion of the Portuguese-Brazilian forces in 1816 . At the end of 1817, when Montevideo was already in the hands of the Portuguese-Brazilians, Manuel Oribe, his brother Ignacio Oribe and Colonel Rufino Bauza left the East Bank of Rio de La Plata and brought a freedman battalion to Buenos Aires , with an artillery division.

It is believed that from then on, the hostility of Oribe, who left to the west, to Rivera , who remained in the east and went to serve the Portuguese commander Lekor, originates .

Buenos Aires First Period

In Buenos Aires, Oribe, together with and other people from the Eastern strip, created the secret Sociedad de los Caballeros Orientales Society. So there were two political groups that subsequently took shape in political parties: those who joined Oribe, who had left Buenos Aires, subsequently formed the National Party , and those that joined the remainder in the east of the River formed the Colorado party .

Return to Montevideo

In 1821, Oribe returned to Montevideo. Just at that time, a split broke out among the Portuguese-Brazilian forces: some supported Regent Pedro , who was more and more independent, others remained loyal to King Joao VI . The royalists tried to win over the people of the United Provinces of Rio de la Plata, and Oribe sided with the royalist general Alvara da Costa, who continued to hold Montevideo, while General Lekor , former governor of the province of Sisplatin , settled in Canelones and supported Pedra.

Yes, Costa did not intend to hold on to the last (especially after Brazil declared independence, and it became clear that Portugal would not wage war against it), and in February 1824 sailed with its troops to Lisbon , leaving those locals who supported it to the mercy of fate. Oribe and his people, conscious of what awaited them, if they fell into the hands of Lekora, again went to Buenos Aires. Lekor and Rivera entered Montevideo without firing a shot on the last day of February 1824 and demanded that local authorities swear allegiance to the Brazilian emperor Pedro I.

Second Period in Buenos Aires

The Orientales center (that is, people from the Eastern strip) in Buenos Aires was the Barracas district, whose administrator was , who came from the Eastern strip. Large livestock producers in Buenos Aires - including Bernardino Rivadavia and Juan Manuel de Rosas - were worried that Brazilians began confiscating the property of those who supported the anti-Brazilian movement in the Eastern lane, as well as the fact that cattle from Sisplatin began to crowd out Buenos Aires to meat processing plants in Rio Grande do Sul . Roses became one of the main financiers and organizers of the liberation campaign to the east; José de San Martín also supported Oribe (the South American democrats saw the Brazilian emperor as a typical old-style European monarch who personified everything bad in the Old World, which they rebelled against in their time). The purpose of the planned expedition was to reunite the Eastern province, which became the Brazilian state of Sisplatin, with the United Provinces of South America.

Thirty-three Orientales

On the night of April 19, 1825, a small group of people, which included Manuel Oribe and Juan Antonio Lavalleja , landed on the east bank of the Uruguay River on , where they hoisted the Flag of the Thirty-Three Orientales . Moving inland and raising the people along the way against the Brazilian government, they arrived in Montevideo on May 20, 1825.

On June 14, 1825, the Florida Congress gathered in the town of Florida , which on August 25 proclaimed the independence of the Eastern Province from Brazil and its entry into the United Provinces of Rio de la Plata . On September 19, 1825, Oribe was promoted to lieutenant colonel, and after the battle of Sarandi on October 12 he received the rank of colonel.

December 10, 1825 Brazil declared war on the United Provinces. On January 1, 1826, the United Provinces declared war on Brazil. Thus began the Argentine-Brazilian war , the result of which was the formation of an independent Uruguay. In this war, Oribe distinguished himself by defeating the powerful Brazilian column at the Battle of Serra on February 9, 1826, and defeating February 20, 1827 at the Battle of Itusingo.

In independent Uruguay

In accordance with the preliminary peace convention of 1828, the former Sisplatina became the Eastern Republic of Uruguay. The head of the country was Fructuoso Rivera Fructuoso Rivera, who spent most of his time in the city of Durasno founded by him in 1821. He surrounded himself with a clique known as the “ ” ( and his brothers). This triggered two attempts at the rebellion led by Juan Antonio Lavalleja - in 1832 and 1834 - which were easily suppressed.

Despite the fact that Oribe was considered to belong to the Lavalleja faction, he did not take part in these uprisings, and made a normal military career. On October 9, 1833 he was appointed Minister of the Army and Navy, and on February 24, 1835 he was promoted to Brigadier General. It is ironic that Rivera himself nominated Oribe as his successor in the presidential election on March 1, 1835.

Oriba's First Presidency

Nationalist historiography usually criticizes Rivera’s first presidency, considering it an example of administrative inefficiency compared to the first Oribe presidency. However, they acted in completely different conditions. Rivera’s term came at the time of the Provisional Peace Agreement of 1828, which allowed the intervention of Argentine or Brazilian troops if the governments of these countries find the political situation in Uruguay threatening their interests. In 1835, the Agreement expired, and it was time to bring the into full force which until then had practically no effect.

In July 1836, Rivera tried to raise an armed rebellion, but by September 19 he was crushed, and Rivera fled to Brazil. There, meanwhile, the Farropiglia revolution began, and Rivera joined the forces of the Rio Grande republic , which included some of his former comrades in the Portuguese army (including Bento Golsalvis da Silva ).

With the help of the Rio-Grand troops, Rivera invaded Uruguay in 1837, and in 1838 took control of the country. Oribe was forced to flee again to Buenos Aires.

Third Period in Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires captain general, federalist Juan Manuel de Rosas , actively supported Oribe as the legitimate president of Uruguay, as a result of which the civil war in Uruguay merged with the events in Argentina into a single South American conflict. In 1840 and 1841, Oribe fought against the North Coalition. After the captured governor of the northern province of Tucuman, was decapitated by his order, and his head set on the peak was put on public display, the Argentinean opposition ^[1] and their allies from the Uruguayan party Colorado began to portray Oribe a butcher and a killer like Roses. At the end of 1842, Oribe defeated Rivera, who came to the aid of the Argentinean opposition, and he was forced through Salto to urgently retreat to Montevideo, where, formally transferring power to Joaquin Suarez , he began to assemble a new army.

The Great Siege of Montevideo

Having received news of the defeat of the Rivera, in Montevideo they began to quickly assemble troops from immigrants and make supplies; The defense was led by Argentinean Jose Maria Paz and Uruguayan . On October 16, 1843, Oribe troops launched a siege of Montevideo, which lasted eight years. Having placed his headquarters in Cerrito, Oribe began to rule the country, as if nothing had happened since 1838: there was a parliament, ministers were appointed and laws were enacted; in the hands of Rivera’s supporters were only Montevideo and Colonia del Sacramento . Oribe based his actions on the Constitution of 1830.

In 1845, Rosas proposed that Oribe cancel the 1828 Convention and reunite Uruguay with Argentina. Oribe did not want to make a decision himself, and referred the matter to the parliamentary commission, which drowned him in the debate.

After the 1848 revolution in France overthrew the monarchy of Louis Philippe , who supported the government in Montevideo, the military-political situation in the La Plata area changed. In 1850, the ambassador of French President Louis Napoleon Lepredur signed a peace convention with Argentine Foreign Minister . After that, the government in Montevideo, in the last hope, appealed for help to the emperor of Brazil, and to the main Argentinean opponent of Roses, Justo José de Urquis .

In August 1851, Urkis rebelled against Roses and, moving east, crossed the Uruguay River, advancing on Serrito. Oribe ordered his troops to stop the enemy, but they suddenly refused to comply. Soon, Urkis approached Serrito, and Oribe was forced to capitulate. The winners saved Oribe's life, but in return he had to give up all political activity, retiring to a rural farm.

After retiring, Manuel Oribe lived for another six years, having died in 1857.

On February 8, 1829, Manuel Oribe married his niece . They had four children. Even earlier, in 1816, he had a daughter, Carolina, from actress .

1. ↑ Argentinean unitaries, out of hatred for Rosas, supported Rivera.