José Leonardo Chirino


José Leonardo Chirino 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.
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 José Caridad González, a Congolese man who had studied the philosophy, strategy, and tactics of the unfolding French Revolution.
The Coro rebellion had four primary objectives:
After the rebellion was suppressed, Chirino was betrayed by an associate, captured, and condemned to death. His children were sold into slavery. He was executed on December 10, 1796.