Joseph Valest or Valestras or Balestras (Joseph Balestra) was a French philhellene officer who was born on Crete and was a captain of Napoleon Bonaparte. 
On June 7th, 1821 he came to Greece with Dimitris Ypsilantis to help organise the struggle. After making a valuable contribution in the Peloponnese, he arrived in Loutro, Sfakia on March 20th, 1822 to organise the Revolution on the island. A few days later, on April 8th, the experienced officer led the Cretan fighters to victory in a battle outside Rethymno. He then planned to seize the Fortress of Rethymno and transfer the seat of the Cretan Revolution there from the remote Loutro. However, his brilliance and popularity among the revolutionaries caused the fear and envy of Afentoulief and other Cretan fighters. As a result, the latter sabotaged his endeavour in the spring of 1822. Thus, in the battle that was fought on April 15th for the fortress, Valestras not only suffered an overwhelming defeat, but was captured and then hanged by the Turks.

He was born in 1756 in Asomatos, Agios Vasileios, and was the eldest brother of Melchisedek Tsouderos. He was the chieftain and marshal of the Province of Agios Vasileios and, along with Melchisedek, led fighters in many battles during the Revolution of 1821 on Crete. 
On December 17th, 1821, Mikhail Afentoulief appointed him centurion and, a year later, on July 4th, 1822, Pentakosiarch. Furthermore, after the recognition of the “Cretan Council” in 1828, Georgios Tsouderos was one of the five marshals of Crete appointed by the General Military Command.
After the end of the Revolution of 1821 and the Protocol of London, under which Crete was not included in the newly established Greek state, Georgios Tsouderos refused to abandon the struggle for freedom. Until 1831 he wandered the mountains of the island in search of the enemy and even in 1841, at a very advanced age, took part in the failed revolution of the Chairetis brothers. In recognition of his invaluable services to the nation, Georgios was appointed Colonel of the Royal Phalanx in 1833 by King Otto. 
This enterprising Cretan chieftain, who fought for freedom almost until the end of his life, died far away from Crete in 1846 at the age of 90.

He was a prominent figure among the fighters of 1821 in Crete. Together with his brothers, Georgios and Ioannis, he played a very important role in organising and spreading the Revolution on the island. 
He was born in 1769 in Asomatos, Agios Vasileios and his secular name was Michael. He was named Melchisedek in 1810, when he was ordained as a hieromonk at Preveli Monastery, and just seven years later he was appointed Hegumen of the Monastery. 
During the pre-revolutionary period he was initiated into the Philike Hetaireia and, shortly after the outbreak of the Revolution in the Peloponnese, he and his brothers established the first armed forces of the Struggle on Crete. According to local tradition, he raised the first revolutionary flag at Ai Giorgis Methystis, informally declaring the Revolution on the island on May 24th, 1821.  He then led many victorious battles that broke out mainly in the hinterland of Rethymno, but also in Chania. Moreover, in May 1822, he participated in the 3rd Assembly of the Cretans, in Armeni, Chania, where he was appointed as caretaker under the General Prefect of Crete, Michael Komninos Afentoulief.
"Tsouderogoumenos", as he was called, died heroically in Polemarchi, Chania on February 3rd, 1823, during a battle for the Tower of Kissamos.