page_title: Llanero
section_title: Participation in the wars of independence
hierarchical_section_title: Llanero / Participation in the wars of independence
caption_attribution_description: Español: f. Indianer-Hutte in Colombia.
context_page_description: A llanero is a South American herder. The name is taken from the Llanos grasslands occupying western-central Venezuela and eastern Colombia.
  During the Latin American wars of independence, Llanero lancers and cavalry served in both armies and provided the bulk of the cavalry during the war. They were known for being skilled riders who were in charge of all the tasks related to livestock and other ranch-related activities. The historical figure emerged in the 17th century until its disappearance at the end of the 19th century with the Andean hegemony and the birth of the Venezuelan oil industry.
  Its ethnic origin dates back to the union of the Arawaks, Andalusians, Canarians and to a lesser extent the slaves brought by The Crown during the Spanish colonization of the Americas. The way of working and being comes from the current Apure and Barinas states of the Venezuelans who adapted and modified Andalusian customs, and then exported them to the New Kingdom of Granada. Thanks to their mannerisms, ethnic origin, dialect, culture, and role in the Spanish American Wars of Independence, Venezuelan civil wars and in Montoneras it has been romanticized and idealized.
context_section_description: At the beginning of the independence process, the plains were an indispensable region due to its rich livestock and agricultural resources, and for having above all many strong, fast, disciplined riders, accustomed to a harsh environment. 
  The plains (as the Andes), due to its difficulty of transportation, were an abandoned area compared to the others in the Captaincy General of Venezuela, this caused its inhabitants to develop their own way of life apart from the rest of the population, with their own codes, but it was also a canton with many qualities that would be used by the different caudillos on duty to raise montoneras.
  The lion of the Llanos, José Tomás Boves, taking advantage of the precarious situation of the peons of the field of the plain, made a large part of the llaneros join the Royalist Army, under the idea of the exploitation of the Mantuanos towards the llaneros. The main causes of the union of the llaneros with Boves was the repression made by the republicans towards them, the capture of black maroons who had escaped in the skirmish of the First Republic, the recruited peons and slaves, among others. All this had as a reaction a complete rejection in this land towards the republic. 
  Boves, under a pirate flag as the main banner and a montonera made up mainly of lancers, started his participation in the dissolution of the Second Republic.  Participating in different campaigns and battles such as the Campaign of the Valleys of Aragua and El Tuy, the Second Battle de la Puerta, the Siege of Valencia and the emigration to the East until achieving the dissolution of the Second Republic and commanding its own militia made up of thousands of llaneros.
  The fall of the Second Republic brought with it several consequences for the population. Several of the promises made to the llaneros were not kept. Various charges were removed from different pardos and llaneros that were decorated by Boves and Monteverde. The prohibition of looting, and the fear of losing autonomy in their regions by the royalists led several troops to desert the Royalist Army. In some regions the war was constant for five, ten or even fifteen years and the only authority that could be used for protection during and after the conflict was the Caudillo whose dominion was thus legitimized; that is why after independence a stage of wars between rival chiefs was ready. As the Portuguese Joaquim Pedro de Oliveira Martins (1845-1894) said about the Iberian devotio
  Neither Boves nor Morillo managed to achieve the dominance of the llaneros, they were men like General José Antonio Páez, Manuel Cedeño, José Gregorio Monagas, José Antonio Anzoátegui, Francisco de Paula Santander, Ramón Nonato Pérez, Juan Nepomuceno Moreno and the Liberator Simón Bolívar (the Llaneros called him culo de hierro – or "iron buttocks" – for his endurance on horseback). Those who in the end would get the llanero's sympathy for their cause.
  Páez, el centauro de los Llanos, the clarified citizen or the Taita was a man of the people, of humble and Canarian origin but above all llanero; Raised as one to become an excellent spearman, cabrestero, baquiano and leader, he made an image in the plain until he became caporal. The precarious situation of the plain and its inhabitants led to his companions persuading him to enter the Ejercito libertador. Due to his character and being someone for and for the people, it was not difficult for him to raise people in arms, reaching not only to command his own montonera, but to an entire country. Becoming not only the first llanero president of Venezuela, but also one of the few cowboy presidents that history has seen. Contrary to Boves, Páez did not raise the llaneros based on their hatred, but based on their needs, first freeing them from Spanish rule and then the future Bogotá oligarchy. Bolívar Coronado points out that
  Sea que estuviesen oprimidos por el coronel Gonzalo de Orozco, que era el encargado general de Rodríguez, sea porque éste apoyaba en todo las trapacerías y atentados contra los intereses y contra el honor de los colindantes, 
caption: An amerindian house in the Colombian plains. 1884.
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