Guerra Grande
Aguyar was born in Montevideo to black slave parents, and was a slave until his young adulthood. The abolition of slavery in Uruguay was directly linked to the outbreak of the Uruguayan Civil War in 1838. Both sides - the Liberal "Colorados" and the Conservative "Blancos" proclaimed the emancipation of slaves in 1842, in order to mobilize the former slaves to reinforce their respective military forces.