The Presidency
President Simón Bolivar was feeling very sick and had resigned, irrevocably, the presidency. On August 2, 1830, Domingo Caycedo, as vice-president, had taken control of the presidency. At the time, the Venezuelan battalion “el Callao”, loyal to General Bolívar, was stationed in Bogotá. Another battalion, loyal to General Santander, and also stationed in the same city, persuade Caycedo to relocate “el Callao” to the city of Tunja. This action provoked an upraise in the civilian population from Venezuela, who lived in Bogotá, and triggered a confrontation between both battalions.
The “el Callao” battalion defeated the Colombian battalion and president Joaquín Mosquera and vice-president Domingo Caycedo abandoned the capital. General Urdaneta took control of the presidency on September 5, 1830, to save the country from civil war and dissolution, and hoping to bring General Bolívar back as president.
As the country teetered on the brink of civil war, Bolívar had resigned in May and embarked on a journey to exile in Europe. Bolívar would never set sail, and instead, died in Santa Marta of tuberculosis on December 17, 1830.
In an effort to restore peace and order in the country, Genera Urdaneta ordered Congress to convene on June 15,1831, in the city of Villa de Leiva.
The Colombian Generals expressed their displeasure against General Urdaneta, and military actions erupted throughout the country. Generals Obando and López took control of the southern states and General Salvador Cordova of the northern states. On April 14, 1831, the advancing armies proclaimed Domingo Caycedo as legitimate president, and request General Urdaneta to enter into peace negotiations. General Urdaneta accepts, and meets with the Colombian Generals in the town of Juntas de Apulo. On April 28, both parties sign the Treaty of Apulo, by which peace is secured and General Urdaneta relinquishes power. Urdaneta resigns before the “Consejo de Estado” and General Domingo Caycedo is reinstated as president.
Read more about this topic: Rafael Urdaneta
Famous quotes containing the word presidency:
“... how often the Presidency has simply meant that a man shall be abused, distrusted, and worked to death while he is filling the great office, and that he should drop into unmerited oblivion when he has left the White House ...”
—M. E. W. Sherwood (1826–1903)
“I once told Nixon that the Presidency is like being a jackass caught in a hail storm. You’ve got to just stand there and take it.”
—Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908–1973)