December 15, 1780 - Renato Beluche
Beluche's career defies easy categorization — pirate, privateer, revolutionary, rebel, and loyalist at different turns, depending on which cause suited the moment. Operating across the Gulf Coast and Caribbean during an era of colonial upheaval, he fought alongside Jean Lafitte against the British at New Orleans and spent years in service to the Latin American independence movements, yet later turned against the very government he had helped establish. His is a biography shaped less by fixed allegiance than by the fluid loyalties of a turbulent age.
From Wikipedia
Renato Beluche (15 December 1780 – 4 October 1860) was a Louisiana-born Venezuelan merchant, pirate and privateer active in the early nineteenth century Gulf Coast. Born in New Orleans, Spanish Louisiana, to a French smuggler, Beluche went to sea as a pilot's mate in 1802 on board a Spanish Navy warship. By 1805, he had left the navy and become the master of a schooner. Using this ship, Renato turned to piracy and raided Spanish and British merchantmen operating in the gulf.
After becoming associated with Spanish American patriots in Latin America, Renato joined their cause, spending over a decade fighting against the Spanish Empire for the cause of Latin American independence. During this time, he joined the pirate Jean Lafitte in assisting the United States to repel a British invasion. Despite his service for the Gran Colombian government, Renato participated in a rebellion against them in 1836, for which he was exiled for nine years. After returning, he helped the government suppress another rebellion, before retiring in 1850, spending the last decade of his life in relative peace and comfort in Puerto Cabello.
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