Venancio Flores

Venancio Flores Barrios ( born May 18, 1808 in Trinidad, Uruguay, † February 19, 1868 in Montevideo) was an Uruguayan general and politician.

1853, Flores joined the military uprising against President Giró in Uruguay and in 1854 even President. But in 1855 he was expelled again.

1858 Flores had to flee to Buenos Aires where he performed as a brigadier general in the service of Argentina. He succeeded in winning the President Bartolomé Mitre for interference in the affairs of Uruguay. He landed in April, 1863, secretly supported by Mitre, with only 30 men in Colonia del Sacramento, and then advanced against Montevideo. He also received the support of Brazil against the reigning President Aguirre. Flores took La Florida and Salto, stormed Paysandu and finally marched into Montevideo, where he was proclaimed provisional president.

Flores graduated with Argentina and Brazil, a triple alliance against the dictator Francisco Solano López in Paraguay. In the Triple Alliance War, he took over command of the vanguard of the allied troops. In the subsequent battles he could be distinguished on several occasions, but had to return to heavy losses in September 1866 to Montevideo.

Flores took care of then all around the internal affairs of the country and attempted a reconciliation with his domestic opponents bring. This he did not succeed. After a conspiracy Venancio Flores was murdered on February 19, 1868, four days after the end of his final term in Montevideo.