José Antonio Páez Herrera (Spanish pronunciation: [xoˈse anˈtonjo ˈpaes eˈreɾa]; 13 June 1790 – 6 May 1873) was a Venezuelan politician and military officer who served as the president of Venezuela three times.

In 1813, he asked for leave from his squadron with the intent of setting and leading his own, which he did, joining the Western Republican Army with the rank of sergeant.

This campaign included an incident wherein Páez and fifty of his men swam on horseback across the alligator-ridden Apure River, seizing fourteen enemy boats in a rare instance of a cavalry attack defeating naval forces.

With the royalists well entrenched in the center and the south, on the morning of 21 June, Páez was given command of an additional cavalry regiment and ordered to take it together with his own division through the hills on the north side and into the plain and to engage the Spanish, while the 2nd division would stay behind Páez and the 3rd would remain in a defensive position waiting to engage the enemy in the center.

On seeing Páez's men move, the Spanish commander, Miguel de la Torre, orders one of his elite battalions, the Burgos, to reinforce and defend the north flank.

Some of the Spanish battalions supposed to join and reinforce the engagement in the north, on seeing how their comrades are faring, decide to disobey orders and retreat.

As it becomes evident that the republicans were winning the battle, the other divisions moved forward, but by now the bulk of the work had already been done by Páez and his men.

It had been Bolivar's dream to unite the liberated Spanish provinces into a single great country: La Gran Colombia.

While Bolívar was engaged in military campaigns in Peru, he was unable to carry on his duties as president of Gran Colombia.

As a result, the center of power of the executive branch was in Bogotá under the leadership of Vice President Francisco de Paula Santander, from New Granada (modern-day Colombia, Ecuador, and Panama).

In 1826, after the Congress in Santa Fe de Bogotá under Santander found a Venezuelan hero from the independence war guilty of assassinating the French Colonel Emanuel Roergas Serviez in Colombia, Páez initiated and led a movement that became known as "La Cosiata."

(This word did not exist in the Spanish language; it was coined to refer to this movement, meaning something along the lines of "that weird thing without a name").

La Cosiata started in April 1826 as a quasi-spontaneous movement (historical interpretations differ) of local politicians and figures supporting Páez.

There was pressure in favor of Páez's removal from his office by some locals in Venezuela; they accused him of abusing his authority in relation to implementing orders coming from Bogotá.

After a few days of uncertainty and tension in the streets, the municipality of Valencia broke with Bogotá and claimed Páez as military commander.

This action confused and disappointed both Santander in Bogotá and the few local officials in Venezuela who had not supported the La Cosiata.

From that time, he started to be seen as a politician with the power and the wit needed to pursue and defend any changes, or lack thereof, made under the constitutional order.

Historians consider the period of the 1830s to the 1860s as a golden era in Venezuela's history, in contrast to previous and future dictatorships.

In 1842, Páez arranged to have the remains of Simón Bolívar repatriated from Santa Marta, Colombia, to the Liberator's hometown of Caracas.

In 1847 President José Tadeo Monagas, who was put into power by Páez, dispersed the Congress and proclaimed himself dictator.

Páez led a rebellion against him but was defeated by General Santiago Mariño in the 'Battle of the Araguatos', imprisoned, and eventually exiled.

[9][10] It is named in honor of José Antonio Páez, leader of the Independence of Venezuela, who lived in exile the last years in New York, where he became a philanthropist.