(May 2), and conducted the landing at Carúpano (June 1). Afterwards, he was promoted to frigate captain and commander in chief of the riverine forces, where he made significant inroads over the province of Cumana. In 1819, he participated in the campaign of Casanare, in which he managed the transportation of troops and war material. As second-in-command to Admiral Luis Brión he arrived at Riohacha on March 12, 1820, where he fought in the battles of Laguna Salada, Pueblo Viejo, Tenerife, La Barra, Ciénaga de Santa Marta and San Juan. Named commander-in-chief of the forces of the Republic that besieged Cartagena, he captured several Spanish vessels. On April 19, 1823, he was promoted to brigadier general of the Colombian Navy. This time he was invested with the office of commander-general of the Third Department of the Navy and of the Zulia Theater of Operations; on this position, he did a brilliant job that culminated on July 24, 1823, in the naval battle of Lake Maracaibo, in which he defeated the Spanish squadron, which led to the capitulation of the field marshal Francisco Tomás Morales the following August 3, 1823. On November 24, 1826, he was promoted to general of division. However, at the beginning of 1828, Padilla was linked to an act of indiscipline in which several officers were involved in Cartagena, after which he was reduced and sent to prison in Bogotá on May 26, 1828. During the night of September 25, 1828, it was carried out an attack on the life of the Liberator (Septembrina Conspiracy), while the assault was executed at San Carlos Palace, some conspirators scaled the walls of the building which served as a prison, and attempted assassination of Colonel José Bolívar, releasing Padilla and appointing him as chief. There is no record of his escape, but he was judged by a tribunal for the charge of conspiracy, then sentenced to death and executed in the Plaza de la Constitución in Bogotá on 2 Oct. 1828. The remains of Admiral Padilla lie inside the Cathedral of Our Lady of Remedios in Riohacha, which was declared in his honor as a Cultural Heritage of the Colombian nation. He has been commemorated in Venezuela, with the naming of the Almirante Padilla Municipality in Zulia State. References José Prudencio Padilla 1784 births 1828 deaths People from La Guajira Department Colombian people of Jamaican descent People of the Colombian