Blas Videla

Blas de Videla Páez (c. 1785–28 march 1831) was an Argentine soldier and Unitarian politician.

He was born into a wealthy family of merchants and landowners in San Luis Province. In 1803 he became a lieutenant in a volunteer regiment of the provincial cavalry. In 1806 he marched to Buenos Aires under the command of the viceroy Rafael de Sobremonte to fight against the British invasion. Though he arrived too late to join in the reconquest of the city, he aided in the defense of the city the following year.

In 1810 he participated in the provincial militia in support of the Revolution of May. He commanded a contingent of 225 San Luis soldiers, who joined with the Army of the North. He participated in the battles of Tucumán, Salta, and Vilcapugio. He was apparently wounded in the latter, because he did not figure in any of the later activities of the Army of the North, and returned to San Luis. He withdrew his forces to Mendoza Province, where he joined up with the army of José Videla Castillo, who confronted Quiroga in the Battle of Rodeo de Chacón. After the battle Videla fled south and was taken prisoner. Other prisoners alleged that he had attempted to gain his freedom by betraying his comrades to the Federales. Whatever the truth of these accusations, he remained imprisoned.

A few weeks later, in the middle of March, Quiroga learned of the assassination of his friend José Benito Villafañe, who had been returning to Chile, and decided to exact vengeance: he ordered the execution of 26 officials, almost all of whom were prisoners taken at Río Quinto or Rodeo de Chacón. Among these was Blas Videla. He died in Mendoza.

Blas Videla is today best known as the great-great-grandfather of Jorge Rafael Videla, the dictator of Argentina between 1976 and 1981.