Vicente Benavides Llanos (Quirihue

Quirihue

Quirihue is a Chilean city in Quirihue, Ñuble Province, Bío-Bío Region.It is located about 72 kilometers northwest of Chillán, 82 kilometers north of Concepción and 398 kilometers south of Santiago-27 February 2010 tsunami and quake:...

, 1777 – Santiago, Chile

Santiago, Chile

Santiago , also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile, and the center of its largest conurbation . It is located in the country's central valley, at an elevation of above mean sea level...

, February 23, 1822) was a Chile

Chile

Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

an soldier who fought in the Chilean War of Independence. He initially sided with the patriots but changed sides later to side with the royalists. He then led the resistance during the so called Guerra a muerte

Guerra a muerte

Guerra a muerte is a term coined by Benjamín Vicuña Mackenna used in Chilean historiography to describe the irregular, no-quarter warfare that broke out from 1819 to 1821 during the Chilean War of Independence...

. This was a time of irregular warfare and Benavides got the aid of many Mapuche chiefs to combat the Chileans and pillage the countryside. The Pincheira brothers

Pincheira brothers

The Pincheira brothers was an infamous royalist outlaw group in Chile and Argentina active from 1818 to 1832. The gang fought initially in the Chilean War of Independence as royalist guerrillas during the Guerra a muerte phase...

, a future outlaw group, served Benavides in the Guerra a muerte by defending the Cordillera.

Benavides was captured near the end of the war. After a brief trial in Santiago, Benavides was hanged on February 23, 1822. His body was mutilated and dismembered.

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