Eustoquio Antonio Díaz Vélez (2 November 1782-1 April 1856) was an Argentine general who served as a Major-General in the Army of the North during the Argentine War of Independence.
Biography[]
Eustoquio Antonio Díaz Vélez was born in Buenos Aires, Viceroyalty of the Rio de la Plata in 1782 to a Spanish merchant and his Tucuman-born wife. Díaz joined the Spanish Army and fought against the British invasions of the River Plate in 1806-1807 before siding with Santiago Liniers' loyalists during the mutiny of Alzaga in 1809. While his loyalty earned him promotion to lieutenant-colonel, he actively supported the May Revolution in 1810. He went on to serve in the Army of the North, winning the Battle of Suipacha on 7 November 1810 and losing the Battle of Cotagaita and the Battle of Huaqui. Despite being defeated several times, Díaz's bravery was recognized by the government. He defeated the royalists at the Battle of Las Piedras on 3 September 1812 and became a Major-General and second-in-command to Manuel Belgrano. In 1813, he was badly wounded at the Battle of Salta while leading the Argentine cavalry wing. He later commanded the cavalry at the Battle of Vilcapugio and Battle of Ayohuma, both defeats, and he returned to Buenos Aires after Belgrano was replaced by José de San Martín in January 1814. Díaz was promoted to general and prevented Santa Fe Province from seceding in March 1814. He battled Jose Gervasio Artigas' Federalist rebels for years, leaving Santa Fe in August 1816. Afterwards, he became Governor of Buenos Aires in 1818 and abolished bullfighting in El Retiro. After the Battle of Cepeda in 1820, Díaz was exiled to Montevideo, but he returned in 1821 after Bernardino Rivadavia allowed the return of political exiles. He went on to found several estancias, and he resisted Juan Manuel de Rosas' Federalist uprisings in the late 1820s. While enjoying the life of a wealthy rancher, Díaz supported anti-Rosas revolutions during the 1830s and 1840s and formed a legion of 500 Argentine volunteers to support Uruguay's Colorados during the Uruguayan Civil War. He returned to Buenos Aires after the Battle of Caseros in 1852, and he presided over the strengthening of Argentina's Indian frontier until his death in 1856.