Lavalleja, Juan Antonio

(1784–1853) led in 1825 the group called the ‘Thirty-Three Orientals’ during Uruguay’s declaration of independence from Brazil. Lavalleja sought the presidency as a rival to Fructuoso Rivera in 1830, but the latter won. In protest at his loss, Lavalleja staged revolts. He was part of a triumvirate chosen in 1852 to govern Uruguay, but died shortly after his accession to power. Lavalleja is remembered as a rebel who led the fight against Brazil. As one of the major figures in early, post-independence Uruguayan history, he is identified as a skilled but reactionary warrior who contributed to the culture of intermittent civil war, which dogged Uruguay for much of the nineteenth century.