Rafael José Urdaneta y Farías (October 24, 1788 – August 23, 1845) was a Venezuelan General and hero of the Spanish American wars of independence.

[2] Rafael Urdaneta was born in Maracaibo, Captaincy General of Venezuela to a prominent family of Spanish descent on October 24, 1788.

Upon reaching Maracaibo, Venezuela (Urdaneta's native city), they suffered persecution from General Páez, who had become one of Bolívar's ideological adversaries after the end of the Venezuelan War of Independence.

In 1832, they were able to return to Caracas through a license granted to the family by the government of Venezuela, but it stipulated that Urdaneta was not to intervene in the politics of the country.

Following the patriot victory and the establishment of the Second Republic of Venezuela, in the report before the New Granada Congress at Tunja, Bolívar described Urdaneta as: "worthy of recommendation and deserving of all esteem from the government for the valor and intelligence with which he distinguished himself in action."

From that moment on he led numerous military actions, among which stand out the Battle of Barbula [es], the 1814 Caracas Exodus, the Siege of Santa Fe [es] (after which he was promoted to Lieutenant-general at only 26 years of age), the Capture of Maracaibo, and the March to San Carlos in 1821 that liberated the Province of Coro and set the stage for the Battle of Carabobo.

Following the Battle of Carabobo in 1821, with Venezuela independent and after years of service to the patriotic cause, Urdaneta became one of Bolívar's closest friends and collaborators.

Convinced without any doubt that Francisco de Paula Santander was the head conspirator, Urdaneta, along with the majority of the ministers in the Cabinet, sentenced him to death.

However, conflicts such as this one, in addition to the assassination of Antonio José de Sucre in 1830, ultimately led to the collapse of Gran Colombia and; therefore, the union for which Bolívar had sacrificed so much to maintain since independence was achieved.

Bolívar called him "El Brillante" ("The Brilliant"), for his remarkable sense of strategy in battle; a name now used to refer to him in Venezuelan historiography.

On April 14, 1831, the advancing armies proclaimed Caycedo as the legitimate head of the executive, and requested General Urdaneta to enter into peace negotiations.