Book with the minutes of the Coche Treaty preserved by the John Boulton Foundation, Caracas, Venezuela. | |
Context | Peace Treaty that concluded the Federal civil War (1859-63) in Venezuela |
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Signed | 23 April 1863 |
Location | Coche, Caracas, Venezuela |
Sealed | 25 May 1863 |
Signatories | ![]() ![]() |
Parties |
The Treaty of Coche was an agreement that formally established the end of the Federal War in Venezuela. [1]
The name of the treaty originates from the fact that it was made at the estate of Coche, in that period very close to Caracas, and today part of the Parish of Coche in Caracas.
The agreement was initially made on 23 April 1863, between, on the one hand for the Conservatives, Pedro José Rojas, Secretary General of the Supreme Chief of the Republic: José Antonio Páez, and on the other hand for the Liberals, Antonio Guzmán Blanco, Secretary General of the Provisional President of the Federation: Juan Crisóstomo Falcón, and later confirmed by both Páez and Falcón on 25 May 1863.
In 1863, after 4 years of Federal War, the military victory of the Liberal Federalist forces was imminent, and the Venezuelan country was thoroughly destroyed, with more than 150,000 people dead, and many cities deserted and destroyed. Representatives of Juan Crisóstomo Falcón and José Antonio Páez met behind closed doors and reached an agreement to achieve definitive peace, and convene a National Assembly or Congress, which would be made up of 80 members, of which half would be elected by the Supreme chief of the Republic (Páez) and the other half by the Provisional President of the Federation (Falcón). It was also agreed that Páez should resign as President to facilitate the transition process. [2]
Antonio Leocadio Guzmán Blanco was a Venezuelan military leader, statesman, diplomat and politician. He was the president of Venezuela for three separate terms, from 1870 until 1877, from 1879 until 1884, and from 1886 until 1887 and General during the Venezuelan Federal War.
The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela is a federation made up of twenty-three states, a Capital District and the Federal Dependencies, which consist of many islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. Venezuela claims the disputed Essequibo territory as one of its states, which it calls Guayana Esequiba, but the territory is controlled by Guyana as part of six of its regions.
Julián Castro Contreras was a Venezuelan military officer and the president of Venezuela between 1858 and 1859.
Manuel Ezequiel Bruzual, was a military leader committed to liberal ideas. He was also in charge of the War and Navy Ministry in 1864, and in 1868 was designated provisional president of Venezuela.
Guillermo Tell Villegas was a Venezuelan politician, lawyer, and writer. Among other government positions, he served as interim president of Venezuela in 1868, 1870 and 1892. Starting his career in law, he became governor of Barinas in 1859 and afterwards held various roles in the government of Juan Crisostomo Falcon, including deputy in the Assembly of Victory, Minister of Interior and Justice, and interim Foreign Minister of Venezuela. In 1864 and in 1866 was appointed to the Federal High Court. Villegas participated in the La Genuina revolution in 1867, and was elected president of the Chamber of Deputies in 1868, where he openly opposed the government of Falcón. The Blue Revolution in 1868 removed Falcon from power, and Villegas became Foreign Minister under President José Ruperto Monagas. In 1868 Villegas spent eight months as interim president of Venezuela, during which time he reinstated the Federal Constitution from 1864. After again serving as interim president and Minister of the Interior in 1869, in 1870 he was interim president a third time while Monagas fought the Liberal Revolution. The revolution was successful, and Villegas retired from active politics after ceding the presidency.
Ezequiel Zamora was a Venezuelan soldier and leader of the Federalists in the Federal War (Guerra Federal) of 1859–1863.
General Juan Antonio Sotillo (1790–1878) was a nineteenth-century military leader from Venezuela. During his long life, uncommon for a military leader at the time, he served under the army of Venezuelan general Simón Bolívar, as well as in most of Venezuela's 19th century civil wars and military revolts.
The National Pantheon of Venezuela is a final resting place for national heroes. The Pantheon was created in the 1870s on the site of the ruined Santísima Trinidad church from 1744 on the northern edge of the old town of Caracas, Venezuela.
Eduardo Blanco (1838–1912) was a Venezuelan writer and politician, as well as an aide-de-camp to General José Antonio Páez, independence hero and first president of Venezuela after the breakup of Gran Colombia in 1830.
The Federal War — also known as the Great War or the Five Year War — was a civil war in Venezuela between the Conservative Party and the Liberal Party over the monopoly the Conservatives held over government positions and land ownership, and their intransigence in granting any reforms. This drove the Liberals – known as the Federalists – to look for greater autonomy for the provinces: a new federalism for Venezuela, as it were. It was the biggest and bloodiest civil war that Venezuela had since its independence from Spain on 5 July 1811. Around a hundred thousand people died in the violence of the war, or from hunger or disease, in a country with a population of just over a million people.
Venezuela Heroica is an epic novel written by Venezuelan author Eduardo Blanco and published in 1881, with an expanded second edition in 1883. It is Blanco's main work, and presents a classic romantic view of history as an epic. Venezuela Heroica is structured in five vignettes that depict the main battles and heroes of the Venezuelan War of Independence. It was from General José Antonio Páez himself that Blanco heard the stories of the Battle of Carabobo, during an encounter with Marshal Juan Crisóstomo Falcón to end the Federal War (1859–1863) near the site of the battle. Páez was so moved from his memories of youth, the anecdote goes, that he could not stop telling his aide-de-camp, Blanco, the details of the battle. It was Falcón who then told Blanco "you are listening to the Iliad from the very lips of Achilles".
Juan Crisóstomo Falcón Zavarce was the president of Venezuela from 1863 to 1868.
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.
Dios y Federación is considered the traditional state motto of Venezuela. It was first used as the rallying cry of the rebel forces during the Federal War, and it was subsequently incorporated into the country's coat of arms after the conflict ended in 1863.
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.
Francisco Hernáiz was a Venezuelan military officer and political figure during the 19th century. Born in Puerto Rico he achieved the rank of Rear admiral and performed his duty as Secretary of War and Navy during the governments of José Antonio Páez, José María Vargas and Carlos Soublette. His name figures among the Navy Forefathers of Venezuela.
La Cosiata, also known as the Revolution of the Morrocoyes, was a political separatist movement that broke out in the city of Valencia, Venezuela, carried out by General José Antonio Páez and Miguel Peña Páez on April 30, 1826, fighting for Venezuelan secession from Gran Colombia.
The Venezuelan civil wars were a long series of conflicts that devastated the country during most of the 19th century.
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