Juan Manuel Valdes de Yarza y Salazar (Isla Trinidad, c.1780-Ciudad Bolivar, July 31, 1845) was a Venezuelan military man who served in the war of independence of his country. Biography
Son of Cuban artillery lieutenant colonel Juan de Dios Valdes de Yarza y Gaspar, who was interim governor of Isla Margarita in 1792 and governor of Trinidad between 1773 and 1776, and Juana Lucrecia Salazar and Ceballos. Cadet of the Veteran Company of his island, after his conquest by the British he went to Caracas, enlisting in the infantry battalion of the Queen in 1802.
I support the 1810 revolution. With the fall of the First Republic of Venezuela, it fled to Trinidad. Participates in the campaign of the East in 1813. Fight in the First Battle of Carabobo in 1814. With the loss of the Second Republic escapes to Trinidad. He joins the expedition of the Keys of 1816. He participates under the orders of Santiago Mariño in the taking of Cumaná (January 19, 1817), of Pedro María Freites in the fall of Barcelona (April 7), of Rafael Urdaneta in the capture of Angostura (June 17) and Simón Bolívar in the Campaña del Centro (1818). In 1819 he is head of the British Legion and in 1820 is in command of the Army of Cauca. He wins in Pitayo on June 6 and in Genoy on February 2, 1821. After the battle of Bomboná he is promoted to general of division.
On March 18, 1823, it sailed from Guayaquil with a Colombian division that had to aid the Peruvians militarily, which is called the Army of the Center. Accompany General Andrés de Santa Cruz in the Second Intermediate Campaign and stand out in the battle of Zepita, receiving the Medal of the Victors.
In 1826 he was appointed general commander of the department of Guayana; in 1828 he signed the act that gives Bolivar dictatorial powers and becomes commander and governor of Santa Marta. Opposed to José Antonio Páez in the following years, in 1835 he participated in the Revolution of the Reforms but is forced into exile. In 1845 he is authorized to return to Venezuela, dying soon after.
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