ISIDRO BARRADA VALDÉS: BIOGRAPHY AND MAIN BATTLES - ARTE - 2025

Isidro Barrada Valdés (Puerto de la Cruz, October 6, 1872 - Marseille, August 14, 1835) was a Spanish military outstanding for his battle actions in the failed attempt to reconquer American lands by the Spanish monarchy at the command of King Fernando VII.

Due to his performance, courage and dedication in the armed struggle, he was promoted from military rank constantly and in record time, going from soldier to colonel quickly, commanding troops of men in important confrontations in Venezuela, Colombia, Cuba and Mexico and always remaining faithful to the king to whom he swore his allegiance.

Barrada was the political and military governor of Cuba, where he remained until 1826.

Biography

Son of Matías Barrada and María Valdés, he was born into an economically modest family in Puerto de la Cruz, Tenerife, although a few years after giving birth to their son they moved to Carúpano, on the coasts of Venezuela.

There they dedicated themselves to the transport of food such as coffee and cocoa through maritime vessels, a business from which they obtained great profits and with time they were able to save a good fortune.

It is presumed that his father was assassinated by José Francisco Bermúdez, an insurgent who, upon noticing the value of the earnings obtained by Matías Barrada, took his life and confiscated all his belongings, including his work assets.

Start of his military career

A young and impetuous Isidro Barrada continued his vocation of struggle and perseverance by enlisting in the military, which he entered at the age of 20 after earning a position as a prominent soldier, showing his combat skills and strategic courage from an early age.

Embarked on the brig Victoria and with bad intentions for the interests of the militia that served King Fernando VII, the English troops tried to land in Carúpano, an attack that was successfully dismantled by the military efforts of Barrada and his attack companions.

Thus he demonstrated for the first time that he was made for even more important battles, a fact that was later confirmed with his leading role in the seizure of another ship in 1812. That time he defended eastern Venezuela in favor of the Spanish crown, facing victorious the attack of the Brig Button de Rosa, protecting the territory between Güiria and Carúpano.

Main battles

In 1814 he was a lieutenant, a grade with which he only lasted six months, as he was promoted in that short period of time to captain and a company was assigned to him to fight in the Hills of Barquisimeto. Shortly after, he served in the battles of San Fernando de Apure and Mucuchíes, all in Venezuelan territory, under the command of the Sagunto Infantry Regiment.

Moved to the Numancia regiment, he was at the forefront of another coup de grace for the Spanish forces. Against all odds, he faced with 400 men the 3,600 of the liberating general José Antonio Páez, who had taken the Plaza de San Fernando de Apure. Barrada opposed with resistance and managed to dispel Páez's forces by waging an epic battle on the plains of Mucuritas.

His pattern of military glory continued when he joined the Third Division of the Expeditionary Army to New Granada, fulfilling a stellar and leader role in the battle of Pantano de Vargas. In this contest he again broke all the statistics, managing to dislodge more than 500 thousand men from the enemy side with only 80 grenadiers on his front.

However, his effort was only valid for this particular event, as the patriots finally defeated the royalists and managed to liberate Gran Colombia on August 7, 1819 by triumphing in the battle of Boyacá, in which Barrada would know in great magnitude the defeat.

The soldiers of the Costa Firme Expeditionary Army were defeated and left confused and scattered. Barrada survived the attack and managed to reunite the members of his company who had also escaped. A year later, in 1820 he lost his second consecutive battle, that of the Peñón de Barbacoas, which led to his departure for Cartagena.

In those lands he immediately obtained the confidence to command 400 men against the liberators, this time advancing towards Turbaco. He was victorious by defeating 1,500 patriots, being shot in the leg during the feat. He was the protagonist of this confrontation and qualified as distinguished and heroic.

With the rank of lieutenant colonel, Barrada led the rescue of Francisco Tomás Morales in Maracaibo, back to Venezuela, in 1823.

Through his efforts to reinforce Morales, he besieged the corvette María Francisca and rescued 240 troops made up of soldiers from Coro loyal to the Spanish crown, an action that earned him the red military belt, a distinction that enhanced his work. Additionally, he was promoted to line infantry battalion commander.

Politician and military chief in Cuba

Barrada, who had returned to Spain as Morales' emissary, received the king's commission to bring to Cuba two ordinances that indicated the reestablishment of the absolutist regime on the island, the Royal Decrees of October 3 and 29, 1823.

The following year he was promoted to colonel and was awarded the Cross Laureate of San Fernando distinction. Then he was entrusted to reinforce the island of Cuba, one of the few peoples that still remained loyal to Fernando VII. He assembled a battalion to resist any attack, although with serious problems to attract Canarian volunteers.

He left for Martinique with just over 1,000 men aboard the brig Eudogia, escorted by six smaller vessels and by the frigates Clorinde, Nimphe and Tenus, which accompanied them on different journeys until they reached Cuba.

On the island he was appointed governor of Santiago de Cuba and commanded the battalions of Havana. Shortly after, his position was elevated to political and military governor of Cuba, where he remained until 1826.

During his political-military exercise in Cuba he had great internal confrontations, betrayals and rivalries that rigged his administration. Later he was in charge of the Crown Infantry Regiment from the island, with which he managed to rise even more in his military position when he was appointed infantry brigadier.

Attempt to reconquer Mexico

The outlook was encouraging for the monarchy in Mexico. After fighting for their independence for a long time, famine and poverty reigned. The rumor was that Mexicans longed to go back to colonial times, when they were under Spanish rule.

Supported by his international allies, such as the Holy Alliance and the government of Great Britain, the king decides to entrust an unprecedented mission to Barrada: to command the reconquest of Mexico.

The brigadier, who had voluntarily run for command of the mission, undertook the "Barradas Expedition" with the Royal Vanguard Army and arrived at the Mexican port on July 26, 1829 with 3,500 men.

Upon arrival, he did not receive the support he supposed from the Mexicans. He faced General Antonio López de Santa Anna in different battles that marked the end of the Spanish reconquest attempts on American soil.

After the Mexican victory in the battle of Tampico on August 21, 1829; and from the Battle of Fortín de la Barra on September 10 and 11, Barrada signed the capitulation of his army on September 11.

Escape and death

Barrada left Mexico and moved to the United States with part of his surrendered soldiers to find a way to return to Spain. His enemies in Cuba, mainly Captain Dionisio Vives, ordered the arrest of Barrada as soon as he stepped on Spanish lands to send him to trial and sentence him to death after the failure of his expedition in Tampico.

Located in Paris and aware of the rumors that spread about his guaranteed death sentence, Barrada decides to stay in exile. His detractors accused him of having surrendered to the Mexicans, betraying the mandate of the Spanish crown and the king's intentions.

Isidro Barrada had a son in France, a country where he remained in poor and precarious conditions until his death on August 14, 1835, due to illness.

References

1. LaHernández González, Manuel, "The Canarian emigration to America (1765-1824)", (2016).
2. De la Rosa Olivera, Leopoldo, “Brigadier Barrada or loyalty” in Yearbook of Atlantic Studies, No. 13, (1967).
3. Cervera Pery, José, "The Spanish navy in the emancipation of Hispano-America", Madrid, (1992).
4. Pérez Tenreiro, Tomás, “Ángel Laborde y Navarro, captain of the ship. Documentary relation of the events of Venezuela, 1822-1823 ”, Caracas, Pan-American Institute of Geography and History, (1974).
5. Fragments of La Gazeta de Madrid, published on June 10, 1828.