The Venezuelan general and president José Antonio Páez (1790-1873) was one of the leading heroes of Spanish American independence. He continued long afterward to play a dominant role in Venezuelan affairs.

José Antonio Páez was born on June 13, 1790, at Aricagua on the edge of the llanos, or plains, of Venezuela's Orinoco Basin. From a poor family, and largely uneducated, he worked for a time as a ranch hand but by the start of the independence movement in 1810 was in the livestock business on his own. He joined the patriot forces at an early date, and after 1814, when the Spaniards reoccupied the major population centers, he was instrumental in keeping resistance alive on the llanos. In this he was aided by his instinctive understanding of the tough llanero cowboys and his personal mastery of their skills of horsemanship and fighting. After Bolí...