Benito Pérez Brito
Encyclopedia
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
—August 3, 1813, Panama City
Panama City
Panama is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Panama. It has a population of 880,691, with a total metro population of 1,272,672, and it is located at the Pacific entrance of the Panama Canal, in the province of the same name. The city is the political and administrative center of the...
) was a Spanish military officer and colonial official. From March 21, 1812 to November 1812, he was viceroy of New Granada
Viceroyalty of New Granada
The Viceroyalty of New Granada was the name given on 27 May 1717, to a Spanish colonial jurisdiction in northern South America, corresponding mainly to modern Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, and Venezuela. The territory corresponding to Panama was incorporated later in 1739...
.
Background
Pérez entered the military in 1762 as a cadet in the Regiment of Navarre. He rose in rank to field marshal. He held various posts in America, among them lieutenant of the king in Puerto RicoPuerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
and in Havana
Havana
Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...
. Thereafter he was named captain general and intendant of Yucatán
Captaincy General of Yucatán
The Captaincy General of Yucatán was an administrative district of colonial Spain, created in 1617 to provide more autonomy for the Yucatán Peninsula, previously ruled directly by a simple governor under the jurisdiction of Audiencia of Mexico...
, a post that he occupied from 1800 to 1811.
As viceroy of New Granada
In August 1810 he was named viceroy of New Granada to replace Francisco Javier Venegas (who had never actually occupied the position). He stopped first in MéridaMerida
Places of the world named Mérida or Merida include:*Mérida, Spain, capital city of the Spanish Community of Extremadura*Mérida, Yucatán, capital city of the Mexican state of Yucatán*Merida, Leyte, a municipality in Leyte province in the Philippines...
and Havana to gather resources for the reconquest of Cartagena
Cartagena, Colombia
Cartagena de Indias , is a large Caribbean beach resort city on the northern coast of Colombia in the Caribbean Coast Region and capital of Bolívar Department...
, which was in rebel hands. He made his capital at Portobelo in Panama, because the capital of the viceroyalty, Bogotá, was also held by rebels. He arrived in Portobelo on February 19, 1812, without bringing any military reinforcements.
He established the Audiencia of Bogotá in Panama (February 21, 1812). The following March 21 he was officially sworn in as viceroy. He tried to aid the royalists of Santa Marta
Santa Marta
Santa Marta is the capital city of the Colombian department of Magdalena in the Caribbean Region. It was founded in July 29, 1525 by the Spanish conqueror Rodrigo de Bastidas, which makes it the oldest remaining city in Colombia...
.
Pérez resigned the viceroyalty in November 1812 under pressure from the Spanish government in Cádiz
Cádiz
Cadiz is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the homonymous province, one of eight which make up the autonomous community of Andalusia....
, which required him to resign nearer to Bogotá. He died in Panama on August 3, 1813. Four days later rebel Simón Bolívar
Simón Bolívar
Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Palacios Ponte y Yeiter, commonly known as Simón Bolívar was a Venezuelan military and political leader...
made his triumphal entry into Caracas
Caracas
Caracas , officially Santiago de León de Caracas, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela; natives or residents are known as Caraquenians in English . It is located in the northern part of the country, following the contours of the narrow Caracas Valley on the Venezuelan coastal mountain range...
, his native city, reestablishing the Venezuelan Republic.