José Leonardo Chirino

Statue of José Leonardo Chirino in Coro.

José Leonardo Chirino (April 25, 1754 – December 10, 1796) was a free zambo who helped lead a 1795 uprising in Santa Ana de Coro, Venezuela. José Leonardo Chirino Airport is named after him.

1795 rebellion[]

1795 was perhaps the most revolutionary year in Caribbean history, with rebellions in Grenada, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Curaçao, Dominica, Guyana, Trinidad, Jamaica, and the unfolding Haitian Revolution.^[1]

The Coro rebellion grew out of and contributed to this revolutionary conjuncture, especially under the leadership of Chirino, who had recently traveled to Saint-Domingue and heard news of the rebellion there as well as the more-distant French Revolution, and also the leadership of , a Congolese man who had studied the philosophy, strategy, and tactics of the unfolding French Revolution.^[2]

The Coro rebellion had four primary objectives:

• First, the application of the new legal system of the French Revolution, i.e. the abolition of monarchy and colonialism and the constitution of an independent, democratic republic.
• Second, the freedom of all enslaved Africans and the abolition of slavery.
• Third, the abolition of tribute payments that had been imposed upon the colony's indigenous population under Spanish rule.
• Fourth, the abolition of white supremacy, or privilege and prejudice on the basis of skin color.^[3]

Betrayal and execution[]

After the rebellion was suppressed, Chirino was betrayed by an associate, captured and condemned to death.^[4] His children were sold into slavery.^[5] He was executed on December 10, 1796.^[6]

References[]

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