Barreiro would die at the age of 26, when he and 37 other Spanish officers who had been taken prisoner were executed by firing squad in the main plaza of Santa Fe by orders of General Francisco de Paula Santander on October 11, 1819.

Barreiro participated in the defense of Madrid against Napoleon after the Battle of Somosierra in December 1808, where he would be wounded and taken prisoner, however he managed to escape three months later.

After the capture of the capital, Santa Fe, in May 1816 Barreiro returned with the bulk of the army to Venezuela in order to fight off a renewed campaign by Simon Bolivar.

In mid April Barreiro and his exhausted forces withdrew back towards central New Granada and garrisoned in the city of Tunja to wait out the rain season.

With Barreiro's forces back in central New Granada, the rainy season set in, and the Spanish believed it impossible for any army to march under such difficult conditions.

These two armies would meet in Tame on June 15, 1819, and would march together towards the Cordillera Oriental with the aim of crossing the Andes through the Páramo ("Moor") de Pisba.

[7] This news led Barreiro to consider several paths through which Bolívar could possibly cross through the mountains: La Salina, Paya (Pisba), Pueblo Viejo, Medina, Miraflores, Tenza valley and Cáqueza.

Upon realizing they were facing a larger army, the Spanish withdrew towards Labranzagrande where the main mountain pass lay, Figueroa upon this encounter immediately wrote a letter to Barreiro informing him of the situation.

Barreiro's soon found himself in a difficult situation: he did not dare to cross the mountain range and attack Bolívar, because he feared opening any other passage for him on a front that extended almost 250 kilometers.

When Bolivar had arrived in Socha on July 6 his army was in a weakened state and at its most vulnerable, however Barreiro preferred to stay garrisoned and concentrate his forces as they were still trickling in.

Bolivar then decided to perform a flanking action through the ceniza valley, Barreiro upon realizing this pulled back from the Sogamoso area and took the town of Paipa.

[14] In his communications with the Viceroy, Barreiro claimed a grand victory over his enemies but stated that the rainstorm had prevented him from effectively destroying Bolívar's forces.

The Spanish then rested unaware of Bolivar's feint, as he ordered a nocturnal countermarch crossing the river again and taking the alternate route to the city of Tunja through the Toca Road.

While Barreiro's infantry fought valiantly, his cavalry Company of Mounted Grenadiers (an all-European unit) abandoned the battlefield and fled, his 3 artillery pieces were rendered useless and as only one cannon was able to be armed and fired 3 salvos before its gun carriage collapsed.

The battle lasted two hours with Barreiro unable to effectively maintain order as his troops were hammered by a combined Patriot infantry and cavalry onslaught.

Samano quickly fled the capital the next morning August 9 to Cartagena along with other Royalist officials while Colonel de la Calzada the 400 soldiers of the Aragon Battalion destroyed the gunpowder supply and retreated towards Popayán.

On 9 September, before departing for Venezuela, Bolivar sent a letter to Samano and proposed a prisoner exchange for the patriot officers being held in Cartagena.

[18] With the bulk of the Patriot Army with Bolivar in Venezuela as he attempted to defeat Morillo one last time, Santander now Vice President in Santa Fe became worried as he had few troops to defend such a large amount of territory.

Signed, F. de P. Santander [21][22]Barreiro was the first to be executed, his last words were reportedly "Long live Spain" ("Viva España").