Buenaventura Macabeo Maldonado

Buenaventura Macabeo Maldonado Vivas (Ureña, Venezuela, 1854 – Cúcuta, Colombia, December 19, 1901) was a Venezuelan military man and politician, and a key figure in the political and military conflicts of the Venezuelan and Latin American Andes.

In Venezuela he worked as a congressman, representing the state of Táchira (in the years 1878, 1880, 1881, 1893, and 1896); he was a columnist for various periodical publications, and founded and directed the newspaper El Republicano; he co-founded the Republican Party in an alliance with supporters of Carlos Rangel Garbiras and José Manuel Hernández.

Biography Buenaventura Macabeo Maldonado was born in Ureña in 1854. Son of Juan Bautista Maldonado and Cornelia Vivas, he was the first of five children: Secundina Maldonado Vivas, Mario Maldonado Vivas, Juan Maldonado Vivas, and Samuel Darío Maldonado Vivas.

Some aspects of Buenaventura Maldonado's life are still unclear, like those related to his offspring. He's known to have fathered several children, three of them acknowledged: Aminta Maldonado, Cornelia Maldonado de Parra, and Petra Maldonado de Buenaño. General Maldonado had a very close relationship with Colombia, the country where he spent various periods of exile, from where he organized and launched a few military insurrections, and where he would die on December 19, 1901. In August 1880 he sends word to his parents from Lima; a fragment of his letter reads:“...The war has no end in sight: I believe that it is just beginning. Over there they will believe that Peru has sunk, but it has not. The reason why nothing is known of its formidable position is that the Government has forbidden the press, and private individuals in their correspondence, to communicate anything. Thus Chile will fall into the trap as you will see. In a word, Peru has already armed itself with weapons and artillery superior to that of the Chileans, introduced into the country in recent days and which everyone is unaware of”. For his military services, the Peruvian government grants Maldonado a remuneration and he donates it to Lima's Military Hospital. At the beginning of 1881, Buenaventura returns to Venezuela and resumes his duties at Congress. There, he files a proposal to issue a Decree where he advocates for unity among American nations and for conflicts to be solved through negotiations; he also includes a motion to keep disputes within the rule of Law.

First exile and insurrections In 1881 he was imprisoned by order of President Antonio Guzmán Blanco. As a result of this, Buenaventura Maldonado went into exile in Colombia, for a period of almost ten years during which he organized and participated in several military incursions into Venezuelan lands.

Participation in the Legalist Revolution of 1892 In 1892, General Buenaventura Maldonado participates in the battles held in Tachira during the Legalist Revolution; during this national conflict General Joaquín Crespo rises up against President Raimundo Andueza Palacio, who after the reform of the Constitution of 1891, wanted to remain in power; as stated by Tachira historian Juan Contreras Serrano (1997):"In 1892, the year of the ‘legalist’ war, there was another military invasion of Venezuelan territory which also originated from Colombian territory, under the command of General B. Macabeo Maldonado and Colonels Andrés Bautista and Ramón Vizcaya, with weapons provided by the authorities of Cucuta, as reported by one of the leaders..." A few months later, he was arrested for protesting the actions of President Antonio Guzmán Blanco against State of Trujillo Senator Eusebio Baptista, who was deprived of his parliamentary immunity and incarcerated.

Republican Newspaper and Party In 1896, simultaneously with reassuming his political duties, Buenaventura Maldonado creates and runs the semimonthly paper El Republicano. This publication becomes a battle instrument for followers of the Liberal party, led by General Juan Bautista Araujo, against General Espíritu Santo Morales’ followers. On April 18, 1896, the first issue began to circulate in San Cristóbal. In the newspaper's first issue, General Maldonado includes a declaration of principles about his recurrent involvement in regional conflicts:“...‘If we have been men of battle, and if in twenty-two years we have been present in every armed movement in Táchira, it is not because we are enemies of the tranquility of its peoples; on the contrary: by these means, since it has not been possible by others, we have tried to implant the ideas that we have been nurturing since we were children. If we have been mistaken and other fruits have been harvested, it has not been our fault but the fault of the times and of the men with whom we have served’. He adds: ‘With the advantage exile gives —we have spent half of our lives in it—but forced in consequence to watch our homeland from the neighboring border, we have never fostered irreconcilable hatreds, and we won't stir them up it today. We are children of the people and we serve the people.’”The following year, 1897, Buenaventura Macabeo Maldonado helps to organize the Republican party, in an alliance with Rangel Garbiras’ and General José Manuel Hernández's followers.

Final years In October 1899 he is arrested and sent to La Rotunda prison, by mandate of the new president Cipriano Castro. Due to his precarious health condition and the repeated efforts of politicians and military officers, he was ordered to be released. He runs away with his brother Samuel Darío to Curaçao, and then Barranquilla. From there, Buenaventura Maldonado heads for Cúcuta, where he arrives in a very serious condition. He continues his exile in this city until his death on December 19 of the same year.

Buenaventura Macabeo Maldonado's Archives In his biographical text about Buenaventura Macabeo Maldonado, J.N. Contreras Serano (1997) affirms that in Ureña there was an archive with the documentation of General Maldonado, from which his niece, Blanca Maldonado de Castro, was able to keep two letters. Part of these letter's text is the following:“Caracas, February 13, 1881.

“My dear parents:

“Ureña.

“América is in mourning, and the Argentine Republic has likely declared war on Chile since they won't allow themselves to be conquered. Here it was said that an earthquake had destroyed the capital: it is not confirmed. This wouldn't stop the war, it would just put it off some more—if that tragedy is true, which would mean that the Devil protects Chile.

“If the Argentines take revenge, it is very probable, if God grants it to me, that I will go to serve with them: I would then go across the Atlantic by way of Rio de Janeiro.

...

“Hopefully you've remembered to send the mandolin and the tiple because I'm becoming stir-crazy here. If you haven't I will have to have them made, in which case it's possible they will be of no use, just like last year.

“A hug to my sister and brothers and greetings to my friends.

Your son,

Buenaventura”