page_title: Cristóbal Mendoza
section_title: 1826–1828: Mayor of the Department of Venezuela
hierarchical_section_title: Cristóbal Mendoza / Political career / 1826–1828: Mayor of the Department of Venezuela
caption_attribution_description: Español: Placa en honor Cristóbal Mendoza. Trujillo.
context_page_description: José Cristóbal Hurtado de Mendoza y Montilla, commonly known as Cristóbal Mendoza, was a Venezuelan lawyer, politician, writer, and academic. Cristobal is best known for serving as the first official President of Venezuela from 1811 to 1812. After earning a master's degree in philosophy in Caracas and his doctor utriusque juris in the Dominican Republic, early in his professional career he served in various law firms in Trujillo, Mérida, and Caracas. He moved to Barinas in 1796 to practice law, and in 1807 was elected Mayor of Barinas. In 1810, Mendoza joined the insurgent movement started by wealthy Caracan citizens against the Spanish crown, and in 1811 was elected to represent the province of Barinas in the newly founded Constituent Congress of Venezuela. Days later he was appointed the first president of the First Republic of Venezuela, a role he shared as part of a triumvirate. Until his term ended in March 1812, Mendoza began the war for independence against the parts of Venezuela that still supported the Spanish monarchy, authored the Venezuelan Declaration of Independence, and also took part in constructing the first Constitution of the Republic of Venezuela.
context_section_description: In April 1826, under the will of Gran Colombia Vice President Francisco de Paula Santander, Mendoza was appointed Mayor of the Department of Venezuela (Intendente del Departamento de Venezuela). His appointment occurred during the time of El Cosiata, a separatist movement founded by José Antonio Páez that was opposed to Bolivar's unification movement in South America. While in his new position, Mendoza tried and failed to quell tensions between opposing parties in Venezuela, in an effort to avoid more conflict and civil war. He also failed in convincing Caracas not to join the insurrection plan aimed at dissolving Bolivar's Gran Colombia. Mendoza was exiled from Venezuela by General Jose Antonio Paez, and fled to the island of Saint Thomas on 27 November 1826, with his family remaining in Caracas.  Bolivar returned to Caracas at the end of 1826, and peace was restored in the city by January 1827.
  After Bolivar again secured power in Caracas and conflict between the factions abated, Bolivar invited Mendoza to return to Venezuela. Bolivar appointed Mendoza Mayor of the Department of Venezuela, a role Medoza kept until resigning in the middle of 1828. According to essayist Luis Britto Garcia, Mendoza's resignation was potentially motivated by new tax measures, with Britto writing "The mere announcement of rigorous tax measures strikes fear into the hearts of civil servants like the Intendant Cristóbal Mendoza, who suddenly tendered his resignation."
caption: Plaque to Cristobal Mendoza in his birthplace of Trujillo
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