Rafael Simón Urbina López (

Puerto Cumarebo Puerto Cumarebo capital of Zamora Municipality, Falcón state, Venezuela is located 40 miles east of Coro. Emerges in 1600 as population of black "Loangos" people escaped from Curacao. It was named after Cacique Cumarebo, head of the county to ...

, 1897 -

Caracas Caracas (, ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas, abbreviated as CCS, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the ...

, 13 November 1950) was a

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in ...

n rebel who fought against the dictatorship of

Juan Vicente Gómez Juan Vicente Gómez Chacón (24 July 1857 – 17 December 1935) was a Venezuelan military general, Politician and ruler of Venezuela from 1908 until his death in 1935. He was president on three occasions during this time, ruling through puppe ...

Biography

Early battles

Implicated in a 1919 conspiracy to overthrow President Gómez, he spent four years participating in

guerrilla warfare Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare in which small groups of combatants, such as paramilitary personnel, armed civilians, or irregulars, use military tactics including ambushes, sabotage, raids, petty warfare, hit-and-run ...

from the mountains of his native

Falcón State ) , anthem = , image_map = Falcon in Venezuela.svg , map_alt = , map_caption = Location within Venezuela , pushpin_map = , pushpin_map_alt = , pushpin_mapsi ...

. He went into exile in 1923, in

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

and

Barranquilla Barranquilla () is the capital district of Atlántico Department in Colombia. It is located near the Caribbean Sea and is the largest city and third port in the Caribbean Coast region; as of 2018 it had a population of 1,206,319, making it Col ...

, before returning in 1925, following an amnesty. A new attempt to overthrow Gómez in 1928 saw Urbina deported to Barranquilla, where he was imprisoned pending extradition, but escaped. In 1929, he led the taking of

Fort Amsterdam Fort Amsterdam was a fort on the southern tip of Manhattan at the confluence of the Hudson and East rivers. It was the administrative headquarters for the Dutch and then English/British rule of the colony of New Netherland and subsequently ...

Curaçao Curaçao ( ; ; pap, Kòrsou, ), officially the Country of Curaçao ( nl, Land Curaçao; pap, Pais Kòrsou), is a Lesser Antilles island country in the southern Caribbean Sea and the Dutch Caribbean region, about north of the Venezuela coas ...

and the kidnapping of the Dutch governor, , in another failed attempt to overthrow Gómez involving 250 men with the support of Venezuelan communists, including

Gustavo Machado Morales Gustavo Machado Morales (19 July 1898 – 17 July 1983) was a Venezuelan politician and journalist, editor of the Communist Party of Venezuela's newspaper from 1948 to 1983 (with interruptions for exile and imprisonment) and President of the ...

and

Miguel Otero Silva Miguel Otero Silva (October 26, 1908 – August 28, 1985), was a Venezuelan writer, journalist, humorist and politician. A figure of great relevance in Venezuelan literature, his literary and journalistic works related strictly to the socio-pol ...

. They plundered weapons, ammunition and the treasury of the island, and hauled the governor off to Venezuela on the stolen American ship ''Maracaibo''. The revolutionaries landed at

La Vela de Coro La Vela de Coro is the port of Coro, Venezuela. Coro and its port form a conurbation, although Coro is in the municipality of Miranda and La Vela is in a separate municipality, Colina. The twin settlements were founded by the Spanish in the 16th ...

(Falcón State) but were defeated by Gómez forces led by General Leon Jurado, and the raid ended in failure. In 1930, exiled in Mexico, Urbina established relations with personalities like General

Saturnino Cedillo Saturnino Cedillo Martínez (November 29, 1890 in Ciudad del Maíz, San Luis Potosí - January 11, 1939 in Sierra Ventana, San Luis Potosí) was a Mexican politician who participated in the Mexican Revolution and the Cristero War. He was governo ...

, General Perez Treviño and General Arturo Bernal, who offered to support his plans for a new invasion of Venezuela. In October 1931, along with 137 Mexican braceros and eight Venezuelans, he landed at Puerto Gutiérrez (Falcón State) and captured the city of Capatárida before being defeated once more by the troops of general Leon Jurado, after which he fled the country again.

Return to Venezuela and kidnappings

Urbina returned to Venezuela in 1936, offering his services to

Eleazar López Contreras José Eleazar López Contreras (5 May 1883 – 2 January 1973) was the president of Venezuela between 1935 and 1941. He was an army general and one of Juan Vicente Gómez's collaborators, serving as his War Minister from 1931. In 1939, López C ...

, including the denunciation of communists such as his former associate Machado. He opposed the

1945 Venezuelan coup d'état The 1945 Venezuelan coup d'état took place on 18 October 1945, when the president Isaías Medina Angarita was overthrown by a combination of a military rebellion and a popular movement led by Democratic Action. The coup led to a three-year peri ...

, and after seeking asylum in the

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...

an embassy, went into exile in Barranquilla and

Santo Domingo , total_type = Total , population_density_km2 = auto , timezone = AST (UTC −4) , area_code_type = Area codes , area_code = 809, 829, 849 , postal_code_type = Postal codes , postal_code = 10100–10699 ( Distrito Nacional) , webs ...

, where he sought the help of

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares with ...

dictator

Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Rafael Leónidas Trujillo Molina ( , ; 24 October 189130 May 1961), nicknamed ''El Jefe'' (, "The Chief" or "The Boss"), was a Dominican dictator who ruled the Dominican Republic from February 1930 until his assassination in May 1961. He ser ...

in planning another invasion of Venezuela. He returned to Venezuela following the

1948 Venezuelan coup d'état The 1948 Venezuelan coup d'état took place on 24 November 1948, when Carlos Delgado Chalbaud, Marcos Pérez Jiménez and Luis Felipe Llovera Páez overthrew the elected president, Rómulo Gallegos, who had been elected in the 1947 Venezuelan ge ...

, and unsuccessfully requested the return of his assets, which had been confiscated in 1945. On 13 November 1950, he was involved in the failed kidnapping of Venezuelan President

Carlos Delgado Chalbaud Carlos Román Delgado Chalbaud Gómez (20 January 1909 – 13 November 1950) was a Venezuelan career military officer. He was the president of Venezuela from 1948 to 1950 as leader of a Military dictatorship, military junta. In 1945, he was one ...

, which resulted with the death of Delgado and Urbina's accidental leg shooting in that failed event from which fled seeking exile in Nicaragua. The Venezuelan government was informed of this and forced the Nicaraguan embassy to hand over Urbina for the murder of Delgado, and was murdered that night during a transfer from one prison to another. Subsequently,

Marcos Pérez Jiménez Marcos Evangelista Pérez Jiménez (25 April 1914 – 20 September 2001) was a Venezuelan military and general officer of the Army of Venezuela and the dictator of Venezuela from 1950 to 1958, ruling as member of the military junta from 195 ...

rose as ruler of Venezuela. venezuelatuya.com
Rafael Simón Urbina
/ref>

References

1897 births 1950 deaths Venezuelan people who died in prison custody Prisoners who died in Venezuelan detention People from Falcón Assassins of presidents Venezuelan guerrillas {{Venezuela-bio-stub

Biography

Early battles

Return to Venezuela and kidnappings

See also

References