ose Felix Ribas

(1775/09/19 - 1815/01/31)

Venezuelan military
– We cannot choose between winning or dying, it is
necessary to win –

 Independence hero.
 Participation : Venezuelan War of Independence
 Rank : General
 Parents : Son of Marcos Ribas and Petronila Herrera
Martínez
 Spouses : María Josefa de Palacios y Blanco
 Children : José Félix and Josefa
 Name : José Félix de Ribas y Herrera

"You defend the lives of your children, the honor of your

wives, the soil of the country from the fury of tyrants; show
them your omnipotence"
Jose Felix Ribas

José Félix Ribas was born on September 19, 1775 in

Caracas , Venezuela.

Family
He was the last of eleven children of Marcos Ribas, a
native of the island of Tenerife, and Petronila Herrera
Martínez, also of Canarian descent.

From a very young age he received a good education.

He felt inclined to become a religious of the order of San

Francisco; However, he decided to dedicate himself to
tending to his lands and properties in the countryside.

Married on February 1, 1796, in Caracas, Venezuela, to

María Josefa de Palacios y Blanco. They were the parents
of José Félix and Josefa.

On May 8, 1799, he witnessed the execution of José María

España in the Plaza Mayor of Caracas, becoming a
defender of the independence and republican cause.

Since 1808 he attended conspiratorial meetings that took

place in Caracas, and whose main leaders were the Bolívar
brothers , the group that managed the movement that
culminated in the events of April 19, 1810.

Military
In October 1810, as leader of the Caracas browns, he
organized a public protest against the murder committed in
Quito, on August 2, 1810, of 28 patriots by the royalist
authorities. In that same year he was made chief of the
Barlovento Blanco Regulated Militia battalion.

Supreme Board of Caracas

Félix Ribas was a member of the Supreme Junta created on
April 19, 1810. In 1812, exiled first in Curaçao and then in
New Granada , he joined Simón Bolívar in the campaign of
1813.

From a young age he was closely linked to Bolívar, not only

because of a great friendship, but because of the family
ties that would be created after José Félix married his
aunt, immediately becoming the Liberator's uncle-in-law.

Battles
He won in Niquitao (July 2) and in Los Horcones (July 11).
He was promoted to division general and appointed
commanding general of Caracas .

In La Victoria he defeated José Tomás Rodríguez Boves ,

helped by the students of the University and the Seminary
(February 12, 1814). He also won at Ocumare del Tuy
(March 20, 1814) and in the first battle of Carabobo (May
28, 1814), with Bolívar and Santiago Mariño .

On December 5, 1814, Ribas and Bermúdez faced Boves's

seven thousand royalists with their army of four thousand
soldiers in a bloody battle at Urica . In that episode General
Boves died.

He was one of the most important Venezuelan heroes of

the first part of Independence.

Death
Due to the defeat suffered in the second republic, Ribas
sought to leave Los Llanos for Caracas in the company of a
nephew and a servant, but was intercepted by a party of
royalists. His nephew and the servant were immediately
executed. Ribas was going to be taken before Lieutenant
Justice of Tucupido , a royalist general who was in Valle de
la Pascua , but he objected and asked that he be executed
on the spot.

On January 31, 1815 in Tucupido, his body was

dismembered and his head cut off and fried in oil to later be
taken to Barcelona and Caracas.

Did you know...

Decoration
The Decoration Law of the José Félix Ribas Order was
created in 1987 to reward those young people who
make an outstanding contribution to the country in the
fields of art, culture, science and sports, among others.

Links of interest:
Video by José Félix Ribas YouTube

*searchbiographies.com
 Article : Biography of José Félix Ribas
Author : Víctor Moreno, María E. Ramírez, Cristian de la Oliva, Estrella Moreno
and others
Website : Buscabiografias.com
URL : https://www.buscabiografias.com/biografia/verDetalle/5159/Jose%20Felix
%20Ribas
Publication: 2008/05/26
Last update: 2023/10/10

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