Cristóbal Mendoza: One of the pioneers in supporting the cry of independence (+seeding)

Published at: 08/02/2026 09:10 AM

On February 8, 1829, José Cristóbal Hurtado de Mendoza y Montilla, an admirable Trujillo politician and lawyer, died at 56 years of age. He was the first president of Venezuela, from March 5, 1811 to March 21, 1812.

On April 19, 1810, from Barinas, he was one of the first to support such independence pronouncement. He was appointed vocal secretary of the local Government Board.

Mendoza was the first to preside over the Executive Triumvirate of 1811. It was he, who held the presidential office, gave Simon Bolivar the title of Liberator, and he ratified it in Caracas on October 14, 1813, when he was governor of Mérida.

In 1820 he also wrote in El Correo del Orinoco. Remembered for promoting the collection of documents about El Libertador, with whom he maintained close ties of friendship and for defending and disseminating Bolivian ideology.

Mazo News Team