This article may be a rough translation from Spanish. It may have been generated, in whole or in part, by a computer or by a translator without dual proficiency. Please help to enhance the translation. The original article is under "español" in the "languages" menu in the upper right corner. See this article's entry on Pages needing translation into English for discussion.(June 2022)
Some leaders of the revolution: General Matos seated in the center, Lino Duarte (right), Doctor Santos Dominici (left), Manuel Matos Jr. (standing), Epifanio Acosta (standing) photo donated by the family of Dr. Santos Dominici .
Between 1899 and 1903, in two continuous civil wars, 372 military encounters were fought (210 in the Liberating Revolution), at a cost of 50,000 lives.[4]
Castro himself had come to power in 1899 after winning another civil war, the Restorative Liberal Revolution, in which he overthrew the constitutional president Ignacio Andrade, establishing a government called the Restaurador. Since then, the new government dedicated itself to initiating a centralist project, canceling the external debt, modernizing the armed forces and allied itself with the most influential caudillos in the country, but thereby weakening many others. To do this, he used the system of alliances created by Antonio Guzmán Blanco to impose central government officials in each of the country's regions. Given this, many caudillos found themselves in the dilemma of, on the one hand, supporting the uprising or risking being isolated and without power for these reforms.
The revolutionaries were financed by Caracas bankers such as the Matos, Boulton and Velutini who had been harassed by President Castro, who forced them under threat of imprisonment to lend money to the government. Throughout 1901 Castro managed to put down insurrections produced in the states of Bermúdez and Bolívar led by Pablo Guzmán, Horacio and Alejandro Dúcharne, Zoilo Vidal and others.[1] The conflict becomes internationalized with the invasion of Táchira state by a Colombian offensive in San Cristóbal led by Venezuelan General Carlos Rangel Garbiras, in retaliation for Castro's support for the liberal rebels of Rafael Uribe Uribe in the context of the War of the Thousand Days.[6]
In October, General Rafael Montilla (El Tigre de Guaitó) rebels in Lara State, but it will finally be in December that the general armed revolt breaks out throughout the country. First, it is the veteran Liberal General Luciano Mendoza who raises Aragua and Carabobo baptizing the movement as the Liberating Revolution that was formed by the various regional caudillos, each with the ability to mobilize and arm masses of peasants in montoneras. Castro reacted immediately and increased the number of troops of the so-called Active Army, also buying modern weapons and a large number of warships and transport.[6]
The main leader of the uprising, Manuel Antonio Matos, planned and directed the initial operations from the island of Trinidad, managing to convince several local warlords dissatisfied with the government to join the fight. In addition, several foreign-owned companies operating in Venezuela were dissatisfied and had been engaged in litigation with different governments dating back almost to the beginning of their activities in Venezuela.[7] The French Cable Company, the New York & Bermúdez Company and the German Railway, among others, had given Matos $150,000. In December 1901, the international intrigue against President Castro had begun when the German Chancellor Theodor Von Holleben sent a detailed report to the US Secretary of State, John Hay, detailing a debt of Venezuela with the bank "Disconto Gesellschaft" for 33 million bolívares, which the Venezuelan government refuses to recognize. For his part, Matos had bought the ship "Ban Righ" in London, which he renamed the "Libertador", as well as weapons and ammunition. Finally, in January 1902, he set sail from the Port of Spain (Trinidad) and, circumventing the surveillance of the national army, Matos landed near Coro, at which time the civil war spread throughout the country.[8]
Matos also had a large, heavily armed rebel army with which he was able to seize large territories. By July 1902, only the Miranda, Aragua, and Carabobo states in the center of the country remained in the power of the Castro government; and those of Trujillo, Zulia, Mérida and Táchira in the west. Many battles were fought, the most important was the siege of La Victoria in November 1902, Castro with 9,500 men tried to stop the advance of 14,000 of the revolutionaries who tried to take Caracas by force.[9] Despite the disadvantage, Castro had extremely important military resources, Mauser repeating rifles and rapid-fire Krupp cannons, the first in the country, with which his men obtained greater firepower to break the siege. After a month of combat, the rebels defeated by Castro divided due to internal differences, which in the long run were the cause of their failure because the Castro government took advantage of their division to defeat each caudillo separately, reconquering the territory they had won. Even so, some active rebel pockets remained, mainly General Nicolás Rolando in central and eastern Venezuela. The remaining rebel forces were hunted down and progressively dismantled by Juan Vicente Gómez, disarming the revolution. With most of the caudillos defeated and his revolution practically extinct, Matos decided to go abroad, leaving for Curaçao.[10]
With the defeat of the Revolution in La Victoria, international capital decided to move from opposing operations to direct intervention, and in this way they began to strangle the national economy. The culminating point was the naval blockade of the Venezuelan ports, on 9 December 1902, by German, English and Italian warships, under the pretext of forcing the government to fulfill debt commitments, especially that contracted for the construction of the railway network by German and British companies. Faced with the violence of the military actions that plunged the country into a serious international crisis, the rebels took advantage of the precarious situation of the government and on 29 December 1902, Amábilis Solagnie and Luciano Mendoza attacked the government positions in Caja de Agua, near Barquisimeto, where they expelled the troops of Leopoldo Baptista and González Pacheco. President Castro requests the intervention of President Roosevelt of the United States as a mediator in compliance with the Monroe Doctrine forcing the withdrawal of European ships according to the Washington Protocol signed on 13 February 1903.[10]
In March 1903, President Castro sent a strong naval and land contingent under the command of General Juan Vicente Gómez to subdue Rolando's forces entrenched in Ciudad Bolívar on the right bank of the Orinoco River. After a long naval siege that led to the landing of troops and the bloody battle of Ciudad Bolívar, General Rolando surrendered along with his staff on 21 July 1903.[11] signaling the official end of the civil war.
The defeat of the Liberating Revolution marked the end of the Venezuelan XIX century characterized by political instability and fights between caudillos, where the method of coming to power was through armed rebellion, and the end of the time of the great Venezuelan civil wars,[5] giving way to a stage of consolidation of the central government under the hegemony of the Andeans, but not before confronting, as never before a Venezuelan president had done, with modern foreign powers.[12]
The so-called Liberal Restoration Army was institutionalized, becoming an effective and professional National Army in charge of the security of the entire Venezuelan territory. The Navy, so devastated by the naval blockade of 1902, began a long process of modernization and incorporation of units into the fleet.[12]
The proclamation "The Insolent Plant of the Foreigner has Profaned the Sacred Soil of the Homeland", roundly defined a firm position on the part of Cipriano Castro, which generated a nationalist reaction in the country, so important that many of his opponents joined him in against the naval blockade (for example: "El Mocho" Hernández, or pacifists like José Gregorio Hernández), added to the significant popular mobilization and Latin American sympathy, all of which earned the Venezuelan president high popularity.[13]
The Latin American support that Castro's attitude aroused was expressed in different ways: in the Military School of Chile they placed his photo and the cadets gave him a military salute every day; the support of Peru raised the possibility of calling a mobilization in support of Venezuela; The jurist Luis María Drago, Foreign Minister of Argentina, enunciated the famous Drago Doctrine, in which any armed action by foreign powers against Latin American countries, to force them to comply with international debt payment commitments, was classified as unacceptable.[13]
In 1906, Castro punished the international firms involved in the Revolution to the point that relations were broken with the United States and then with France and Holland due to debt differences.
The National Bolivarian Armed Forces of Venezuela are controlled by the Commander-in-Chief and the Minister of Defense. In addition to the army, navy, and air force there is also a national guard and national militia primarily focused on internal security.
Juan Vicente Gómez Chacón was a Venezuelan military general, politician and de facto ruler of Venezuela from 1908 until his death in 1935. He was president on three occasions during this time, ruling through puppet governments in between.
José Antonio Páez Herrera was a Venezuelan leader who fought against the Spanish Crown for Simón Bolívar during the Venezuelan War of Independence. He later led Venezuela's independence from Gran Colombia.
The Venezuelan War of Independence was one of the Spanish American wars of independence of the early nineteenth century, when independence movements in South America fought a civil war for secession and against unity of the Spanish Empire, emboldened by Spain's troubles in the Napoleonic Wars.
José Cipriano Castro Ruiz was a high-ranking officer of the Venezuelan military, politician and the president of Venezuela from 1899 to 1908. He was the first man from the Venezuelan Andes to rule the country, and was the first of four military strongmen from the Andean state of Táchira to rule the country over the next 46 years.
Ignacio Andrade Troconis, was a military man and politician. He was known as a member of the Liberal yellow party, and served as the president of Venezuela from 1898 until 1899 – his election was declaredly clouded by fraud.
Following the Venezuelan War of Independence, Venezuela initially won independence from the Spanish Empire as part of Gran Colombia. Internal tensions led to the dissolution of Gran Colombia in 1830/31, with Venezuela declaring independence in 1811. For the rest of the nineteenth century, independent Venezuela saw a range of caudillos (strongmen) compete for power. Leading political figures included José Antonio Páez, Antonio Guzmán Blanco and Cipriano Castro.
Herbert Wolcott Bowen was an American diplomat and poet. He served as ambassador to Venezuela, and consul-general in Spain and Persia.
The First Battle of Carabobo (1814) was a battle in the Venezuelan War of Independence, in which the forces of the Second Republic, commanded by Simón Bolívar, defeated the Spanish forces under Field marshal Juan Manuel de Cajigal y Martínez.
The United States of Venezuela was the official name of Venezuela, adopted in its 1864 constitution under the Juan Crisóstomo Falcón government. This remained the official name until 1953, when the constitution of that year renamed it the Republic of Venezuela. In 1999 under newly elected president Hugo Chávez and his modification to the Constitution, Venezuela's official name became the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
The State of Venezuela was the official name of Venezuela adopted by the constitution of 1830, during the government of José Antonio Páez. The name was maintained until 1856 when in the constitution promulgated in that year it changes the official name of the country to Republic of Venezuela. In the Constitution of 1864, the United States of Venezuela was established.
Manuel Antonio Matos Páez Tinoco was a Venezuelan politician, banker, military leader and diplomat.
The Venezuelan civil wars were a long series of conflicts that devastated the country during most of the 19th century.
The Revolution of the Reforms was a military movement in Venezuela between June 7, 1835, and March 1, 1836, against the government of José María Vargas, the conservative Congress, and the influence of José Antonio Páez. It was led by outstanding independence heroes such as Santiago Mariño, Diego Ibarra, Pedro Briceño Méndez, José Laurencio Silva, José María Melo, Blas Bruzual, Luis Perú de Lacroix, Pedro Carujo, José Tadeo Monagas, Renato Beluche, Andrés Level de Goda, and Estanislao Rendon.
The Venezuelan peasant insurrection of 1846 was a popular and social rebellion that broke out in various agricultural areas of Venezuela in September 1846 and lasted until May 1847.
The March Revolution was a military uprising that took place in Venezuela in March 1858. It was the first armed rebellion that managed to overthrow a government in Venezuelan history. The principal leader, the caudillo Julián Castro, was trusted absolutely by President José Tadeo Monagas.
La Genuina was a military uprising in Venezuela, led by General Luciano Mendoza. It took place in Bolívar state in September 1867, and was held against Juan Crisóstomo Falcón. He was followed by General Miguel Antonio Rojas in Aragua State and also by Pedro Arana in Carabobo State.
The Blue Revolution or Revolución Reconquistadora or Los Azules was an armed insurrection in the context of the Venezuelan civil wars that took place during the nineteenth century in 1867 and 1868. Through this rebellion, various political and regional groups overthrew President Manuel Ezequiel Bruzual, interim successor of the Marshal Juan Crisóstomo Falcón who had resigned after pressure. These military actions were the conclusion of the long political conflict that confronted various liberal sectors and the Falcón government.
The Restorative Liberal Revolution, also known as the Invasion of the 60 due to the number of men with whom the movement began, was an expedition of Venezuelans exiled in Colombia under the command of Cipriano Castro that began on 23 May 1899, with the purpose of overthrowing the government of Venezuelan President Ignacio Andrade.
The Venezuelan independence was the juridical-political process that put an end to the ties between the Captaincy General of Venezuela and the Spanish Empire. It also implied the replacement of the absolute monarchy by the republic as the form of government in Venezuela.
↑ Brewer Carías, Allan Randolph & Ramón Escobar Salom. "El desarrollo institucional del Estado venezolano". En Apreciación del proceso histórico venezolano: Hacia la modernización, 1899-1935. Fascículo II, enero-julio de 1985, Caracas: Fundación Universidad Metropolitana, pp. 13. ISBN9789802470013.Matos manages to join liberals with nationalists to form an army of 18,000 men, 9,000 from the East, 9,000 from the West, in a country of 2 million inhabitants. There is a time when Castro will have under his control only the states of Aragua, Miranda, Carabobo, the Federal District, the Andes and Zulia; because the rest of the country, the Center and South of the West, all of the East and Guayana are in the hands of the revolution.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
