When did Venezuela become a republic?
History of Venezuela
Word of Spain's troubles in 1808 in the Napoleonic Wars soon reached Caracas, but only on 19 April 1810 did its "cabildo" (city council) decide to follow the example set by the Spanish provinces two years earlier. On 5 July 1811, seven of the ten provinces of the Captaincy General of Venezuela declared their independence in the Venezuelan Declaration of Independence. The First Republic of Venezuela was lost in 1812 following the 1812 Caracas earthquake and the Battle of La Victoria (1812). Simón Bolívar led an "Admirable Campaign" to retake Venezuela, establishing the Second Republic of Venezuela in 1813; but this did not last either, falling to a combination of a local uprising and Spanish royalist reconquest. Only as part of Bolívar's campaign to liberate New Granada in 1819-20 did Venezuela achieve a lasting independence from Spain (initially as part of Gran Colombia).
Venezuela
Oil was discovered in the early 20th century, and today, Venezuela has the world's largest known oil reserves and has been one of the world's leading exporters of oil. Previously, the country was an underdeveloped exporter of agricultural commodities such as coffee and cocoa, but oil quickly came to dominate exports and government revenues. The 1980s oil glut led to an external debt crisis and a long-running economic crisis. Inflation peaked at 100% in 1996 and poverty rates rose to 66% in 1995 as (by 1998) per capita GDP fell to the same level as 1963, down a third from its 1978 peak. The recovery of oil prices in the early 2000s gave Venezuela oil funds not seen since the 1980s. The Venezuelan government under Hugo Chavez then established populist social welfare policies that initially boosted the Venezuelan economy and increased social spending, temporarily reducing economic inequality and poverty in the early years of the regime. However, such populist policies later became inadequate, causing the nation's collapse as their excesses—including a uniquely extreme fossil fuel subsidy—are widely blamed for destabilizing the nation's economy. The destabilized economy led to a crisis in Bolivarian Venezuela, resulting in hyperinflation, an economic depression, shortages of basic goods and drastic increases in unemployment, poverty, disease, child mortality, malnutrition and crime. By 2017, Venezuela was declared to be in default regarding debt payments by credit rating agencies. In 2018, the country's economic policies led to extreme hyperinflation, with estimates expecting an inflation rate of 1,370,000% by the end of the year.
Venezuela is a charter member of the UN, OAS, UNASUR, ALBA, Mercosur, LAIA and OEI.
Second Republic of Venezuela
The Second Republic of Venezuela ("Segunda República de Venezuela" in Spanish) is the name used to refer to the reestablished Venezuelan Republic declared by Simón Bolívar on August 7, 1813. This declaration followed the defeat of Domingo Monteverde by Bolívar during the Admirable Campaign in the west and Santiago Mariño in his campaign in the east. The republic came to an end in the following year, after a series of defeats at the hands of José Tomás Boves.
José Antonio Páez
In 1830, Páez declared Venezuela independent from Gran Colombia and became president. Although he was not the first president of Venezuela (which declared its independence from Spain in 1811 and named Cristóbal Mendoza as president), he was the first head of government after the dissolution of Gran Colombia. From 1830 to 1847, Páez was the most powerful man in Venezuela. He served as president only twice during this time (1830-1835 and 1839-1842), but ruled as the power behind puppet presidents when he was not in office. The government, dominated by the oligarchy, followed a constitution that had largely been written by Páez in 1830. Páez and the conservative oligarchy were conveniently allied because the oligarchy controlled a great amount of the country's wealth but was not popular with the masses, whereas Páez was very much liked by the masses.
Venezuela
The Bolivarian Revolution refers to a left-wing populism social movement and political process in Venezuela led by the late Venezuelan president, Hugo Chávez, the founder in 1997 of the Fifth Republic Movement, later in 2007 the United Socialist Party of Venezuela. The "Bolivarian Revolution" is named after Simón Bolívar, an early 19th-century Venezuelan and Latin American revolutionary leader, prominent in the Spanish American wars of independence in achieving the independence of most of northern South America from Spanish rule. According to Chávez and other supporters, the "Bolivarian Revolution" seeks to build a mass movement to implement Bolivarianism—popular democracy, economic independence, equitable distribution of revenues, and an end to political corruption—in Venezuela. They interpret Bolívar's ideas from a populist perspective, using socialist rhetoric.
Coro, Venezuela
During the beginning of the Venezuelan War of Independence, Coro, Maracaibo and Guiana did not comply with the provisions of the Junta Suprema de Caracas in April 19 of 1810, remaining loyal to Spanish rule. Subsequently formed a bulwark of the Spanish Empire to land on its coasts the troops that end up destroying the First Republic of Venezuela. In 1821, finally the Coro Province incorporates to the process of independence, with the capture of the city by the troops led by the heroine Josefa Camejo and a group of patriots who came a long time plotting. By the time the General Rafael Urdaneta invades from Maracaibo commanding the Grancolombian army, and the city had been released a few days earlier for the Coro army commanded by Camejo.
Second Republic of Venezuela
Historians use the name Third Republic of Venezuela to refer to the period from about 1817 to 1819, when a rump government, organized by Bolívar began functioning in the Venezuelan "Llanos". The year before, various Venezuelan guerilla forces managed to permanently establish themselves in the "Llanos" and captured the city of Angostura, which became their headquarters. This period culminated with the formation of the Congress of Angostura in 1819, which wrote a new constitution for Venezuela, replacing the one from 1811, which in theory, was still valid, although suspended since the collapse of the first republic in 1812. The congress decreed the union of Venezuela with New Granada in a new republic, known as "Gran Colombia", bringing an end to the Third Republic.
Venezuela
For much of the period between 1950 and 1973, the Venezuelan economy was characterized by its stability and sustained strength, factors that contributed decisively to being able to maintain a fixed exchange rate without major inconveniences. In the period of Carlos Andrés Pérez (1974–1979, his first time as president), as a result of the Arab-Israeli war (the Yom Kippur war), the average price of a barrel of oil went from 3.71 to 10.53 dollars and continued to rise to exceed 29 dollars in 1981. The income of the public sector went from 18,960 million bolivars in 1973 to 45.564 million in 1974. The economic bonanza also had the characteristics of an economic bubble, but Venezuelans remember the "Ta barato, dame dos". The increased inflow of funds to savings and loan entities and mortgage banks allowed an increase in the mortgage loan portfolio, which also tripled. In general, Venezuela was a prosperous country in the governments of Rómulo Betancourt (1945- – ; 1959–1964), Rafael Caldera (1969–1974; 1994 – ) and Carlos Andrés Pérez (1974–1979; 1989 – ). In 1975 the iron industry was nationalized and the following year the oil industry, creating Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA). Both Caldera and Pérez partially broke with the Betancourt Doctrine.
The election in 1973 of Carlos Andrés Pérez coincided with an oil crisis, in which Venezuela's income exploded as oil prices soared; oil industries were nationalized in 1976. This led to massive increases in public spending, but also increases in external debts, which continued into the 1980s when the collapse of oil prices during the 1980s crippled the Venezuelan economy. As the government started to devalue the currency in February 1983 to face its financial obligations, Venezuelans' real standards of living fell dramatically. A number of failed economic policies and increasing corruption in government led to rising poverty and crime, worsening social indicators, and increased political instability.
Venezuela Province
The province was one of the 7 which signed the Venezuelan Declaration of Independence. Towards the end of the Venezuelan War of Independence it was incorporated into Gran Colombia, initially dissolved within the Venezuela Department which represented the entire Captaincy General. In 1824 it was recreated (minus territory lost to the new Carabobo Province) as a reduced Caracas Province within a much smaller Venezuela Department.
Venezuela
After a series of unsuccessful uprisings, Venezuela, under the leadership of Francisco de Miranda, a Venezuelan marshal who had fought in the American Revolution and the French Revolution, declared independence on 5 July 1811. This began the Venezuelan War of Independence. A devastating earthquake that struck Caracas in 1812, together with the rebellion of the Venezuelan "llaneros", helped bring down the first Venezuelan republic. A second Venezuelan republic, proclaimed on August 7, 1813, lasted several months before being crushed, as well.
Elections in Venezuela
El Trienio Adeco was a period in Venezuelan history from 1945 to 1948 under the government of Democratic Action, a party which gained office via the 1945 Venezuelan coup d'état against President Isaías Medina Angarita of the two-year-old Venezuelan Democratic Party. El Trienio Adeco saw the first democratic elections in Venezuelan history, beginning with the Constituent Assembly elections held in Venezuela on 27 October 1946, Democratic Action, which won 137 of the 160 seats in the Assembly. Voter turnout was 86.6%.
Venezuelan Declaration of Independence
Seven of the ten provinces belonging to the Captaincy General of Venezuela declared their independence and explained their reasons for this action, among them, that it was baneful that a small European nation ruled the great expanses of the New World, that Spanish America recovered its right to self-government after the abdications of Charles IV and Ferdinand VII at Bayonne, and that the political instability in Spain dictated that Venezuelans rule themselves, despite the brotherhood they shared with Spaniards. The seven provinces were Caracas Province, Cumaná Province, Barinas Province, Margarita Province, Barcelona Province, Mérida Province and Trujillo Province.
Republic of Venezuela
In February and November 1992, Hugo Chávez led two "coup d'état" attempts, and in 1993, Congress ousted Pérez. Octavio Lepage served as acting president for about two weeks, at which point the historian and parliamentarian Ramón José Velásquez took over the interim role.
Elections in Venezuela
A second triumvirate followed on April 3, 1812. The presidency was disestablished in 1813, when Simon Bolivar established the Third Republic of Venezuela (1817–1819). In 1830, José Antonio Páez declared Venezuela independent from Gran Colombia and became president, taking office on January 13, 1830. Presidents of Venezuela who served under the 1864 constitution (starting with Juan Crisóstomo Falcón) bore the title of "President of the Union", instead of the usual "President of the Republic" still used today. Aside from that, all heads of state of the country since 1811 have held the title of "President of Venezuela."
Marcos Pérez Jiménez
Pérez Jiménez (widely known as "P.J.") changed the name of the country, which had been "United States of Venezuela" since 1864, to the "Republic of Venezuela." That name remained until 1999, when it was changed to the [Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela by a constitutional referendum. ()
Elections in Venezuela
The 1948 Venezuelan coup d'état took place on 24 November 1948, when elected president Rómulo Gallegos was overthrown a year after his election. Democracy would not be restored until the 1958 Venezuelan coup d'état overthrew the dictator Marcos Pérez Jiménez.
History of Venezuela (1830–1908)
Guzmán Blanco decided to retire to Paris in 1887 at the age of 59. He died there in 1899. He had left behind statues of himself and other reminders of his prolonged direct and indirect rule. Also, he left a country in relative peace. His appointed successor, Hermógenes López, was a colorless caudillo, who inaugurated some of the projects Guzmán Blanco had started, among them a submarine cable to Curaçao, which linked Venezuela to the rest of the world, and the Valencia-Puerto Cabello railroad. López was replaced by the civilian Juan Pablo Rojas Paúl with Guzmán Blanco's far-away blessing. Joaquín Crespo, who thought he should have been chosen president, went into exile and started planning his own revolution. Rojas Paúl actively promoted an anti-Guzmán popular reaction in Caracas and other cities. He turned power over to another civilian, Raimundo Andueza Palacios, who forgot the cardinal rule of relying on caudillos for support, a power vacuum which Crespo promptly filled in 1892. Ambitious but unassuming, Crespo ruled until 1898 and handed power to Ignacio Andrade, but Crespo was the military mainstay of the government. In suppressing a serious threat to the government he was killed in action and Andrade was left to fend for himself.
Under Crespo, Venezuela experienced an international crisis in what became known as the Venezuela Crisis of 1895. The crisis occurred over Venezuela's longstanding dispute with the United Kingdom about the territory of Essequibo and Guayana Esequiba, which Britain claimed as part of British Guiana and Venezuela saw as Venezuelan territory. As the dispute became a crisis, the key issue became Britain's refusal to include in the proposed international arbitration the territory east of the "Schomburgk Line", which a surveyor had drawn half a century earlier as a boundary between Venezuela and the former Dutch territory of British Guiana. The crisis ultimately saw Britain accept the United States' intervention in the dispute to force arbitration of the entire disputed territory, and tacitly accept the United States' right to intervene under the Monroe Doctrine. A tribunal convened in Paris in 1898 to decide the matter, and in 1899 awarded the bulk of the disputed territory to British Guiana.
List of Presidents of Venezuela
Owing to the profound confusion of the Venezuelan War of Independence and the period of Gran Colombia over what is now Venezuela, this page has gaps between 1813 and 1819. For this period in time, historians refer to the Republic of Venezuela as the Second Republic of Venezuela (1813–1814) and the Third Republic of Venezuela (1817–1819) as Simon Bolivar twice reestablished the republic. The Congress of Angostura appointed Simón Bolívar "Supreme Commander of the Republic of Venezuela" (Jefe Supremo de la República de Venezuela) from 1819 until 1830.
Venezuela
Previously, the official name was "Estado de Venezuela" (1830–1856), "República de Venezuela" (1856–1864), "Estados Unidos de Venezuela" (1864–1953), and again "República de Venezuela" (1953–1999).
Currency of Venezuela
The government (República de Venezuela) issued certificates on the public debt (deuda pública) that were legal tender and payable to bearer. Many of these issues bore the signatures of respected merchants. Certificates for 8 reales and for 5, 10, 20, 50, and 100 pesos were issued under various decrees, the first on October 20, 1859 and the last on January 15, 1861. There were separate issues for Caracas, Carabobo, and Aragua.
History of Venezuela
Venezuela saw ten years of military dictatorship from 1948 to 1958. After the 1948 Venezuelan coup d'état brought an end to the three-year experiment in democracy ("El Trienio Adeco"), a triumvirate of military personnel controlled the government until 1952, when it held presidential elections. These were free enough to produce results unacceptable to the government, leading them to be falsified and to one of the three leaders, Marcos Pérez Jiménez, assuming the presidency. His government was brought to an end by the 1958 Venezuelan coup d'état, which saw the advent of democracy with a transitional government under Admiral Wolfgang Larrazábal in place until the December 1958 elections. Prior to the elections, three of the main political parties (with the notable exclusion of the Communist Party of Venezuela) signed up to the Punto Fijo Pact power-sharing agreement.
History of Venezuela (1830–1908)
Following the Venezuelan War of Independence (part of the Spanish American wars 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 include José Antonio Páez (a leading figure particularly 1829–1847), Antonio Guzmán Blanco (1870 - 1887) and Cipriano Castro (1899 - 1908).
American Confederation of Venezuela
Beginning in February 1814, royalist commander José Tomás Boves began a campaign to retake Venezuelan territory captured by revolutionaries, beginning the decline of the Second Republic of Venezuela. Following the Second Battle of La Puerta on 15 June 1814 which resulted in a royalist victory for Boves, Bolívar, his revolutionaries and more than twenty-thousand civilians fled Caracas during the Emigration to the East beginning on 7 July 1814. Following the royalist victory in the Fifth Battle of Maturín on 11 December 1814, the republic came to an end and Bolívar left to Jamaica.
United States of Venezuela
The 1953 constitution included a transitional provision to change the official name from ("United States of Venezuela") to ("Republic of Venezuela"). The next constitution, of 1961, confirmed the new name.
United States of Venezuela
These were in 1874, 1881, 1891, 1893–94, 1901, 1909, 1914, 1922, 1925, 1928, 1929, 1931, 1936, 1945.
Amazonas (Venezuelan state)
The territory covered by present-day Amazonas was previously part of the Guayana Province, a Province of the Spanish Empire (from 1585) and later of Venezuela (until 1864, when the Provinces of Venezuela were replaced by the States of Venezuela, following the Federal War). Amazonas was created as a state in 1994, having been a Federal Territory since 1864.
United States of Venezuela
From 1830 to 1857 the official name of the country was ("State of Venezuela"). The 1858 constitution gave it the official name ("Republic of Venezuela"). After the Liberal Party () won power in the Federal War it called for a constitutional convention, to establish the constitution on federal principles. On 28 March 1864, members of the convention met in Caracas to sign it. President Falcón ordered its publication and circulation on 13 April, and on 22 April it was finally ratified by the Ministers of the Interior and Justice, vCard rye catcher 
Finance, Development, and War and Sea.
History of Venezuela
Chávez, a former paratroop lieutenant-colonel who had led an unsuccessful coup d'état in 1992, was elected President in December 1998 on a platform that called for the creation of a "Fifth Republic", a new constitution, a new name ("the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela"), and a new set of relations between socioeconomic classes. In 1999, voters approved a referendum on a new constitution and in 2000, re-elected Chávez, also placing many members of his Fifth Republic Movement party in the National Assembly. Supporters of Chávez call the process symbolised by him the Bolivarian Revolution and were organised into different government-funded groups, including the Bolivarian Circles.
Captaincy General of Venezuela
Independence for Venezuela was consolidated in 1821 as part of Gran Colombia. The Congress of Cucuta looked to the territorial area of former Viceroyalty of New Granada (during the period of 1739-1777) as the basis for its territorial claims, and created a state composed of regional departments. Venezuela became the Department of Venezuela through this territorial reorganization. The rising animosity between Venezuelans and New Granadians, due to irreconcilable differences in opinion as to how the new republic ought to be governed, led to the inevitable collapse of Gran Colombia in 1830. After 1830, the provinces within the old Captaincy General of Venezuela, constituted the territory of the new independent republic of Venezuela.
Independence Day (Venezuela)
Independence Day (Spanish:"Dia de la Independencia"), also known as the Fifth of July ("Cinco de Julio") is the national independence holiday of Venezuela, marked every year on July 5 which celebrates the anniversary since the enactment of the 1811 Venezuelan Declaration of Independence, making the country the first Spanish colony in South America to declare independence. In recent years, it is also marked as National Armed Forces Day ("Dia de la Fuerza Armada Nacional") to honor the faithful service of all the serving men and women and veterans of the National Bolivarian Armed Forces of Venezuela.
First Republic of Venezuela
Shortly after the juntas were set up, Venezuelan émigré Francisco de Miranda had returned to his homeland taking advantage of the rapidly changing political climate. He had been a "persona non grata" since his failed attempt at liberating Venezuela in 1806. Miranda was elected to the Congress and began agitating for independence, gathered around him a group of similarly-minded individuals, who formed an association, modeled on the Jacobin Club, to pressure the Congress. Independence was formally declared on 5 July 1811. The Congress established a Confederation called the American Confederation of Venezuela in its Declaration of Independence, referred variously as States of Venezuela (in its opening sentence) and afterwards United States of Venezuela, and American Confederation of Venezuela in the Constitution, crafted mostly by lawyer Juan Germán Roscio, that it ratified on 21 December 1811. The Constitution created a strong bicameral legislature and, as also happened in neighboring New Granada, the Congress kept the weak executive consisting of a triumvirate. This government was not in force for long, since the provinces (referred to as states in the Constitution) did not fully implement it. The provinces also wrote their own constitutions, a right which the Congress recognized.
Venezuelan War of Independence
The French invasion of Spain in 1808 led to the collapse of the Spanish Monarchy. Most subjects of Spain did not accept the government of Joseph Bonaparte, placed on the Spanish throne by his brother, Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte of France. At the same time, the process of creating a stable government in Spain, which would be widely recognized throughout the empire, took two years. ("See Junta (Peninsular War)".) This created a power vacuum in the Spanish possessions in America, which created further political uncertainty. On 19 April 1810 the municipal council of Caracas headed a successful movement to depose the Spanish Governor and Captain General, Vicente Emparán. A junta was established in Caracas, and soon other Venezuelan provinces followed suit. The reverberations of this act of independence could be felt throughout Venezuela almost immediately. Across Venezuela, towns and cities decided to either side with the movement based in Caracas or not, and de facto civil war ensued throughout much of Venezuela. The Caracas Junta called for a congress of Venezuelan provinces to establish a government for the region. Initially, both the Junta and Congress upheld the "rights of Ferdinand VII," meaning that they recognized themselves to still be part of the Spanish Monarchy, but had established a separate government due to the French invasion of the Iberian Peninsula. As the Congress deliberated, a faction proposing outright independence quickly won favor. Persons such as Francisco de Miranda, a long-term Venezuelan expatriate, and Simón Bolívar, a young, Criollo aristocrat—both influenced by Age of Enlightenment ideas and the example of the French Revolution—led the movement. The Congress declared Venezuela's independence on 5 July 1811, establishing the Republic of Venezuela.
United States of Venezuela
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.
Francisco de Miranda
Miranda gathered around him a group of similarly minded individuals and helped establish an association, "la Sociedad Patriotica", modeled on the political clubs of the French Revolution. By the end of the year, the Venezuelan provinces elected a congress to deal with the future of the country, and Miranda was chosen as the delegate from El Pao, Barcelona Province. On July 5, 1811, it formally declared Venezuelan independence and established a republic. The congress also adopted his "tricolor" as the Republic's flag.
Taiwan–Venezuela relations
In 1971, Venezuela voted against the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2758 to retain the ROC's seat in the United Nations. However, Venezuela broke diplomatic relations with Taiwan in favor of the People's Republic of China on 28 June 1974. An unofficial missions in Caracas, known as the Oficina Comercial de Taiwan was established to replace the former embassy. This was later renamed the Oficina Económica y Cultural de Taipei. Since the closure of the Office in 2009, the Oficina Comercial de Taipei in Bogota, Colombia, has had responsibility for Venezuela.
Luisa Cáceres de Arismendi
Luisa was born in Caracas, Venezuela, to José Domingo Cáceres and Carmen Díaz, prosperous Criollos. On her father's side, she was of Canarian descent. She was baptized in the Church of Santa Rosalía, in Caracas. Her father was an intellectual, a historian and a professor of Latin. Educated by her father, Luisa learned how to read and write, and developed a love for her country. While Luisa was a young girl focussing on her studies, Spain was taken over by Napoleon, who installed his brother, Joseph, as its king. People not just in Spain, but in its colonies as well, were infuriated, and a war for Spain's independence broke out. In Venezuela, Spanish colonists saw this as an opportunity to break away from Spain while it was weak, and gain independence, and so a series of uprisings occurred. They were led by the Venezuelan marshal Francisco de Miranda, who had been involved in the French Revolution and the American Revolutionary War. Venezuela declared itself independent from Spain on July 5, 1811. This triggered the war for Venezuela's independence. The 1812 Caracas earthquake occurred where Luisa and her family were living, completely destroying the city. Because of this earthquake and a rebellion by the Venezuelan "Llaneros" and Canarians, the First Republic of Venezuela was toppled. A second Venezuelan republic was proclaimed on August 7, 1813, but lasted only a few months before it, too, was crushed.
First Republic of Venezuela
Though the Congress declared independence, the provinces of Maracaibo and Guayana and the district of Coro remained loyal to the Supreme Central Junta of Spain and the Cádiz Cortes that followed it. The new Confederation claimed the right to govern the territory of the former Captaincy General, and the region plunged into full civil war by 1810 with fighting breaking out between royalist and republican areas. A military expedition from Caracas to bring Coro back under its control, was defeated in November. The Caracas Junta, which continued to govern Caracas Province, did not have much power in the newly declared Confederation, and had a hard time getting supplies and reinforcements from the other confederated provinces. The Confederation was led by "criollos", but was not able to appeal to the lower classes, despite attempts to do so, because of a declining economic situation. Cut off from Spain, Venezuela lost the market for its main export, cocoa. As a result, Venezuela experienced severe losses of specie, using it to purchase much needed supplies from its new trading partners, such as the British and the Americans, which could not take the full output of agricultural products as payment. The federal government resorted to printing paper money to pay its debts with Venezuelans, but the paper money rapidly lost value, turning many against the government.
Nueva Esparta
In 1821, when Gran Colombia was created, the Province of Margarita was integrated to the Orinoco Department, along with other regions. When the Republic of Venezuela arose in 1830, it was one of the original Provinces of Venezuela.
Fifth Republic of Venezuela
The Fifth Republic of Venezuela, commonly known as the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (), is referred to as the period in contemporary Venezuelan history that stretches from 1999 with the election of Hugo Chávez to the presidency, the installation of his Bolivarian Revolution and spanning in to the present day.
Barcelona, Venezuela
The return of Francisco de Miranda to Venezuela ultimately led to the Declaration of Independence on 5 July 1811, which was quickly followed by a Civil War between those provinces who remained loyal to Spain, and the Cadiz Cortes, and those that sought complete independence. In 1811, during the Venezuelan Independence War, "La Casa Fuerte" (), a building near the centre of town, located on the Avenida 5 de Julio set the scene for the period. Built on the ruins of the old "Convento de San Francisco", to house the administrative government of the area, but turned into a fortification by Republican defenders to protect the city from the attacks of the Spanish authorities. On 17 April 1817, the house was taken and destroyed by royalist forces, who killed all 1600 people barricaded inside.
Postage stamps and postal history of Venezuela
Venezuela is a country on the northern coast of South America. It is a continental mainland with numerous islands located off its coastline in the Caribbean Sea. The republic is a former Spanish colony, that won its independence in 1821.
Juan Antonio Sotillo
After the failure of Gran Colombia, Venezuela became an independent Republic in 1830. In 1833, Sotillo became Commander of the Province of Barcelona, in eastern Venezuela. Then, in mid-1849, he accompanied general José Laurencio Silva in the Campaign of Guárico, against a revolt headed by general José Antonio Páez.
State of Venezuela
The result of the War of the Caudillos was that the official denomination of Venezuela was changed from "republic" to the "United States of Venezuela", a national name it had, as well as the motto "God and Federation", until a dictator in the mid-20th century changed it back to "republic".
History of Venezuela
"El Trienio Adeco" was a three-year period in Venezuelan history, from 1945 to 1948, under the government of the popular party Democratic Action ("Accion Democratica", its adherents "adecos"). The party gained office via the 1945 Venezuelan coup d'état against President Isaías Medina Angarita and held the first elections with universal suffrage in Venezuelan history. The Venezuelan general election, 1947 saw Democratic Action formally elected to office, but it was removed from office shortly after in the 1948 Venezuelan coup d'état.
Congress of Angostura
The Congress of Angostura is considered Venezuela's second legislative congress, the first being the one that met in 1811. Its culminating piece of legislation was the Venezuelan Constitution of 1819, officially adopted on August 15, but quickly made obsolete by the creation of the Republic of Colombia on December 17, 1819. This new nation joined Venezuela, New Granada and Quito (today Ecuador). In order to differentiate it from the present Republic of Colombia, historians have traditionally called the nation Gran Colombia. A constitution for the new nation was created at the Congress of Cúcuta in August 1821.
Fifth Republic Movement
The Fifth Republic Movement (Spanish: "Movimiento V [Quinta] República", MVR) was a Socialist political party in Venezuela. It was founded in July 1997, following a national congress of the Revolutionary Bolivarian Movement-200, to support the candidacy of Hugo Chávez, the former President of Venezuela, in the 1998 presidential election. The "Fifth Republic" refers to the fact that in 1997 the Republic of Venezuela was the fourth in Venezuelan history, and the Movement aimed to re-found the Republic through a constitutional assembly. Following Chávez' 1998 election victory, this took place in 1999, leading to the 1999 Constitution of Venezuela.
President of Venezuela
The presidential designation encompasses only those persons who were sworn into office as President of Venezuela following Venezuela's declaration of independence from Spanish colonial rule, which took effect on July 5, 1811. The first president, taking office on July 5, 1811, was actually the president of a triumvirate of the first established Republic of Venezuela that rotated the presidency weekly. The person serving as president during the week of July 5 was one of the three signatories of the Declaration of Independence: Cristóbal Mendoza. Mendoza shared the triumvirate with Juan Escalona and Baltasar Padrón. A second triumvirate followed on April 3, 1812 whose members were Francisco Espejo, Fernando Toro and Francisco Javier Ustariz.
Venezuela
Throughout most of the 20th century, Venezuela maintained friendly relations with most Latin American and Western nations. Relations between Venezuela and the United States government worsened in 2002, after the 2002 Venezuelan coup d'état attempt during which the U.S. government recognized the short-lived interim presidency of Pedro Carmona. In 2015, Venezuela was declared a national security threat by U.S. President Barack Obama. Correspondingly, ties to various Latin American and Middle Eastern countries not allied to the U.S. have strengthened. For example, Palestinian foreign minister Riyad al-Maliki declared in 2015 that Venezuela was his country's "most important ally".
Republic of Venezuela
After a military "coup d'état" on 23 January 1958 sent General Marcos Pérez Jiménez into exile, Venezuela's three main political parties signed the Punto Fijo Pact. The ensuing elections brought Rómulo Betancourt, who had been president from 1945 to 1948, back to power. Betancourt's government halted grants to multinational oil companies, created a Venezuelan oil corporation, and helped establish OPEC in 1960, an initiative led by Development Minister Juan Pablo Pérez Alfonso. The administration also introduced a new constitution in 1961, dividing the government into executive, legislative, and judicial branches; pursued agricultural reform; and promoted an international doctrine in which Venezuela only recognised governments elected by popular vote.
First Republic of Venezuela
In 1812 the Confederation began suffering serious military reverses, and the government granted Miranda command of the army and leadership of the Confederation. A powerful earthquake, which hit Venezuela on 26 March 1812, also a Maundy Thursday, and caused damage mostly in republican areas, also helped turn the population against the Republic. Since, the Caracas Junta had been established on a Maundy Thursday, the earthquake fell on its second anniversary in the liturgical calendar. This was interpreted by many as a sign from Providence, and many, including those in the Republican army, began to secretly plot against the Republic or outright defect. Other provinces refused to send reinforcements to Caracas Province. Worse still, whole provinces began to switch sides. On 4 July an uprising brought Barcelona over to the royalist side. Neighboring Cumaná, now cut off from the Republican center, refused to recognize Miranda's dictatorial powers and his appointment of a commandant general. By the middle of the month many of the outlying areas of Cumaná Province had also defected to the royalists.
Venezuela
Sucre, who won many battles for Bolívar, went on to liberate Ecuador and later become the second president of Bolivia. Venezuela remained part of Gran Colombia until 1830, when a rebellion led by Páez allowed the proclamation of a newly independent Venezuela; Páez became the first president of the new republic. Between one-quarter and one-third of Venezuela's population was lost during these two decades of warfare, which by 1830, was estimated at about 800,000.
Military history of South America
New Granada responded to the troubles in Spain by establishing a sequence of city juntas in mid-1810, deposing the existing viceroy. The splintering of political authority continued as city juntas turned on one another militarily, marking the start of the period known as the "Patria Boba", or the Foolish Fatherland. By contrast, in Venezuela, new juntas that emerged formed a joint Congress. The Congress initially upheld the deposed Spanish king's rights, but a faction proposing complete autonomy rapidly won favour, declaring independence as a republic in 1811. Civil war rapidly broke out between the juntas and the royalists in Venezuela. Blockaded by the Spanish regency and defeated at the battle of San Mateo the first Venezuelan republic collapsed in 1812. Simón Bolívar fled Venezuela and in 1813 joined the republican army of United Provinces of New Granada, achieving dominance over the other factions by late 1814. Bolívar was then authorised to lead a liberating force back into Venezuela in what became known as the Admirable Campaign, quickly defeating the royalist troops at the battle of Alto de los Godos. The Llanero people of the southern plains, however, then rebelled against the Criollo republicans, defeating them and reestablishing royalist control of Venezuela. Bolívar fought on, but a stalemate ensued in which the royalists controlled the highly populated, urban north and the republicans the vast, under-populated plains of the south.
Politics of Venezuela
United Socialist Party of Venezuela or PSUV – (Nicolás Maduro)Background to the current political landscapes is the development of democracy in Venezuela during the twentieth century, in which Democratic Action (ADˣ or Acción Democrática in Spanish, founded in 1941) and its predecessors played an important role in the early years. Democratic Action led the government during Venezuela's first democratic period (1945–1948). After an intervening decade of dictatorship (1948–1958) and the fall of dictator Marcos Peres Jimenez saw ADˣ excluded from power, four Venezuelan presidents came from Democratic Action from the 1960s to the 1990s. This period, known as the "Fourth Republic", is marked by the development of the 1958 Punto Fijo Pact between the major parties (originally including the Democratic Republican Union, which later dwindled in significance), with the notable exclusion of the Communist Party of Venezuela.
Venezuela
In 1895, a longstanding dispute with Great Britain about the territory of Guayana Esequiba, which Britain claimed as part of British Guiana and Venezuela saw as Venezuelan territory, erupted into the Venezuela Crisis of 1895. The dispute became a diplomatic crisis when Venezuela's lobbyist, William L. Scruggs, sought to argue that British behavior over the issue violated the United States' Monroe Doctrine of 1823, and used his influence in Washington, D.C., to pursue the matter. Then, US President Grover Cleveland adopted a broad interpretation of the doctrine that did not just simply forbid new European colonies, but declared an American interest in any matter within the hemisphere. Britain ultimately accepted arbitration, but in negotiations over its terms was able to persuade the US on many of the details. A tribunal convened in Paris in 1898 to decide the issue and in 1899 awarded the bulk of the disputed territory to British Guiana.
Public Ministry of Venezuela
After the independence processes that gave origin to the Venezuelan nation were advanced in 1819, within the framework of the origin of the republic, it was when the figure of the Attorney General was established, who was in charge of ensuring the compliance and application of the legal order. Years later, in 1830, the Constitution of the Gran Colombia, would consecrate to the Public Ministry as an organ dependent on the Executive Power, in the figure of the Attorney General of the Republic. It was not until 1901 when the Constitution of the United States of Venezuela establishes the Public Ministry, in charge of the Attorney General of the Nation, differentiating its functions from those corresponding to the Judicial Power.
Carlos Andrés Pérez
Carlos Andrés Pérez Rodríguez (27 October 1922 – 25 December 2010) also known as CAP and often referred to as "El Gocho" (due to his Andean origins), was a Venezuelan politician, President of Venezuela from 12 March 1974 to 12 March 1979 and again from 2 February 1989 to 21 May 1993. His first presidency was known as the "Saudi Venezuela" due to its economic and social prosperity thanks to enormous income from petroleum exportation. However, his second period saw a continuation of the economic crisis of the 1980s, and saw a series of social crises, a popular revolt (denominated Caracazo) and two coup attempts in 1992. In he became the first Venezuelan president to be forced out of the office by the Supreme Court, for the embezzlement of bolívars belonging to a presidential discretionary fund.
Outline of Venezuela
Venezuela – sovereign country located in northern South America. Venezuela comprises a continental mainland and numerous islands located off the Venezuelan coastline in the Caribbean Sea. The country borders Guyana to the east, Brazil to the south, and Colombia to the west. Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada, St. Lucia, Barbados, Curaçao, Bonaire, Aruba, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and the Leeward Antilles lie just north, off the Venezuelan coast. Falling within the tropics, Venezuela sits close to the equator, in the Northern Hemisphere. A former Spanish colony, which has been an independent republic since 1821, Venezuela holds territorial disputes with Guyana, largely concerning the Essequibo area, and with Colombia concerning the Gulf of Venezuela. In 1895, after the dispute over the Guyana border flared up, it was submitted to a neutral commission, which in 1899 decided it mostly in Guyana's favour. Today, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela is known widely for its petroleum industry, the environmental diversity of its territory, and its natural features. Venezuela is considered to be among the world's 17 most biodiverse countries.Geography of Venezuela
Fifth Republic of Venezuela
Venezuela has been considered the Bolivarian Republic following the adoption of the new Constitution of 1999, when the state was renamed in honor of Simón Bolívar. Since Chávez's election into office, Venezuela developed into a dominant-party system, dominated by the United Socialist Party of Venezuela and where numerous other parties exist. Following the 2017 Venezuelan Constitutional Assembly election, the Bolivarian government removed official political opposition from Venezuela, raising concerns of an emerging dictatorship.
State of Venezuela
Doctor José María Vargas, like Páez a member of the Conservative Party, became President in February 1835. As a civilian, he had the support of some who wanted an alternative to the independence-war military veterans who had predominated in Venezuelan politics. In July 1835 the Revolution of the Reforms led by José Tadeo Monagas outed Vargas, but he returned to power when Páez defeated the rebels. He resigned permanently in April 1836.
Guyana–Venezuela relations
Venezuela claimed more than half of the territory of the British colony of Guyana at the time of the Latin American wars of independence, a dispute that was settled by arbitration in 1899 after the Venezuela Crisis of 1895. In 1962 Venezuela declared that it would no longer abide by the arbitration decision, which ceded mineral-rich territory in the Orinoco basin to Guyana. The disputed area is called Guayana Esequiba by Venezuela. A border commission was set up in 1966 with representatives from Guyana, Venezuela and Great Britain, but failed to reach agreement. Venezuela vetoed Guyana's bid to become a member of the Organization of American States (OAS) in 1967. In 1969 Venezuela backed an abortive uprising in the disputed area.
American Confederation of Venezuela
The period of the Third Republic came to an end in February 1819 during the Congress of Angostura, which eventually resulted with the establishment of Gran Colombia.
Republic of Venezuela
Caldera assumed the presidency for the second time in 1994 and had to confront the Venezuelan banking crisis of 1994. He re-imposed exchange controls, which Pérez's administration had lifted as part of a general financial liberalisation (unaccompanied by effective regulation, which contributed to the banking crisis). The economy had suffered under the falling oil price, which led to a collapse in government revenues. The steel corporation Sidor was privatized, and the economy continued to plummet. Fulfilling an election promise, Caldera released Chávez and pardoned all the military and civilian conspirators during the Pérez regime. The economic crisis continued, and by the Venezuelan presidential election, 1998 the traditional political parties had become unpopular; an initial front-runner for the presidency in late 1997 was Irene Saez. Chávez gained popularity amid the financial turmoil and was elected president in 1998. His administration promoted a new constitution, which was approved by referendum in December 1999. The adoption of the new constitution in 1999 ended the Puntofijismo, establishing the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
Venezuelan War of Independence
On 17 December 1819, the Congress of Angostura declared Gran Colombia an independent country. After two more years of war, the country achieved independence from Spain in 1821 under the leadership of its most famous son, Simón Bolívar. Venezuela, along with the countries of Colombia, Panama, and Ecuador, formed part of the Republic of Gran Colombia until 1830, when Venezuela separated and became a sovereign state.
Venezuelan Declaration of Independence
The anniversary of this declaration is celebrated as Independence Day. The original Book of Minutes of the first Congress of Venezuela is in the Federal Legislative Palace in Caracas.
History of Venezuela
On 17 December 1819, the Congress of Angostura declared Gran Colombia an independent country. After two more years of war, the country achieved independence from Spain in 1821 under the leadership of its most famous son, Simón Bolívar. Venezuela, along with the countries of Colombia, Panama, and Ecuador, formed part of the Republic of Gran Colombia until 1830, when Venezuela became a separate sovereign country.
Elections in Venezuela
In 2007 the leading Fifth Republic Movement (MVR) party dissolved and the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) was formed as the leading government party. On 15 August 2007, PSUV founder and Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez proposed an amendment to 33 articles of Venezuela's 350-article Constitution. The proposed constitutional reforms were needed, according to Chávez, to complete the transition to a socialist republic and implement his socialist agenda. The proposal was narrowly defeated, 51 to 49 percent. In 2009 a constitutional referendum resulted in the abolishment of term limits for the offices of President of Venezuela.
Captaincy General of Venezuela
The Captaincy General of Venezuela () also known as the Kingdom of Venezuela (Spanish: "Reino de Venezuela)" was an administrative district of colonial Spain, created on September 8, 1777, through the Royal Decree of Graces of 1777, to provide more autonomy for the provinces of Venezuela, previously under the jurisdiction of the Audiencia of Santo Domingo (and thus the Viceroyalty of New Spain) and then the Viceroyalty of New Granada. It established a unified government in political (governorship), military (captaincy general), fiscal (intendancy) and judicial ("audiencia") affairs. Its creation was part of the Bourbon Reforms and laid the groundwork for the future nation of Venezuela, in particular by orienting the province of Maracaibo towards the province of Caracas.
Cristóbal Mendoza
In March 1811 during the Spanish American wars of independence, the first Venezuelan constitutional congress established as the executive power a triumvirate in which three men shared executive power and rotated the presidency every week. At age 39, Mendoza became a member of the triumvirate that headed the First Republic of Venezuela and was unanimously elected by the other two as the first to go in rotation on 5 March 1811. With Manuel Moreno de Mendoza serving as the interim first president in his absence, Mendoza arrived in Caracas to begin serving his first week-long term on 25 April 1811. As part of the triumvirate, Mendoza began the war for independence against the parts of Venezuela that still supported the Spanish monarchy. He also was the author of the Venezuelan Declaration of Independence, issued on 5 July 1811. While in office he formed part of the constitutional convention that designed and promulgated the first Constitution of the Republic of Venezuela in December 1811. In March 1812, a second presidential triumvirate was appointed, with Mendoza, Juan Escalona and Baltazar Padron resigning and Fernando Toro, Francisco Javier Ustáriz and Francisco Espejo taking power.
History of Venezuela (1908–1958)
It did not take much geological expertise to know that Venezuela had large petroleum deposits, because the petroleum oozed out from seeps all over the country and an asphalt lake had formed naturally. Venezuelans themselves had tried to extract oil for a small hand-pumped refinery early in the 20th century. When word spread internationally of Venezuela's oil potential, representatives of large foreign companies came to the country and started lobbying for rights of exploration and exploitation, and Gómez established the concessionary system. Venezuela had inherited from Spain the law that the ground surface—presumably, as deep as a plow or a water well went—could belong to individuals but everything under the soil was state property. Thus, Gómez began to grant huge concessions to family and friends. Any one who was close to Gómez eventually would become rich in one way or another. Gómez himself accumulated immense expanses of grasslands for cattle-raising, which had been his original occupation and was a lifelong passion. The Venezuelan concessionaires leased or sold their holdings to the highest foreign bidders. Gómez, who didn’t trust industrial workers or unions, refused to allow the oil companies to build refineries on Venezuelan soil, so these were built them in the Dutch islands of Aruba and Curaçao. The one in Aruba was for a time the second largest in the world, after the one in Abadan, Iran. Although the Venezuelan oil boom started around 1918, the year when oil first figured as an export commodity, it took off when an oil well called Barroso blew a spout that threw up an average of the equivalent to 100,000 barrels a day. It took five days to bring the flow under control. By 1927, oil was Venezuela's most valuable export and by 1929 Venezuela exported more oil than any other country in the world.
Republic of Venezuela
Luis Herrera Campins was elected to the presidency in 1979, with the country in deep debt and bound by International Monetary Fund demands. In 1983, the Venezuelan currency, the bolívar, was devalued on what became known as Black Friday, unleashing an economic crisis. The subsequent government of Jaime Lusinchi did little to counter the crisis. Corruption increased, and the Caldas Corvettes crisis in 1987, sparked by a sovereignty dispute in the Gulf of Venezuela, generated one of the biggest moments of tension between Venezuela and Colombia.
Dios y Federación
After the signing of the Treaty of Coche in April 1863 and the establishment of the new government by the victorious rebels, General Juan Crisóstomo Falcón modified the official seal from 1836, replacing the word "Liberty" in the central ribbon with "Dios y Federación". The phrase would be used in subsequent redesigns of the seal until July 1930, when a decree replaced it with "Estados Unidos de Venezuela", in reference to the First Republic of Venezuela.
History of Venezuela
In a succession of rebellions, the Federal War was particularly bloody and saw the establishment of the modern system of States of Venezuela (replacing the Provinces of Venezuela largely inherited from the colonial era). The start of the 20th century saw several notable international crises: the Venezuela Crisis of 1895 under Joaquín Crespo (a dispute with Britain over Guayana Esequiba) and the Venezuela Crisis of 1902–1903 (Venezuela's refusal to pay foreign debts) under Cipriano Castro.
Venezuelan War of Independence
Even before the Congress began its sessions in November 1810, a civil war started between those who supported the juntas, and eventually independence, and royalists who wanted to maintain the union with Spain. Two provinces, Maracaibo Province and Guayana Province, and one district, Coro, never recognized the Caracas Junta and remained loyal to the governments in Spain. Military expeditions to bring Coro and Guayana under the control of the Republic failed. In 1811 an uprising in Valencia against the Republic was successfully suppressed. By 1812 the situation increasingly became aggravated for the young Republic. It was short of funds, Spanish Regency set up a blockade (although it was easily bypassed by British and American merchant ships), and, shortly after, on 26 March 1812, a devastating earthquake affected republican areas. In these desperate moments, Miranda was given dictatorial powers, nevertheless, he was unable to stem the royalist advance headed by Captain Domingo de Monteverde. By midyear, after the Battle of San Mateo, the Republic collapsed. Miranda capitulated to Monteverde and signed an armistice on 25 July 1812.
Colonial Venezuela
The Venezuelan War of Independence ensued. It ran concurrently with that of New Granada. On 17 December 1819 the Congress of Angostura declared Gran Colombia an independent country. After two more years of war, the country achieved independence from Spain in 1821 under the leadership of its most famous son, Simón Bolívar. Venezuela, along with the countries of Colombia, Panama, and Ecuador, formed part of the Republic of Gran Colombia until 1830, when Venezuela separated and became a separate sovereign country.
Republic of Venezuela
Carlos Andrés Pérez took office in 1974, amid an oil crisis that had begun the previous year and had increased the global price of oil from $3 per barrel to nearly $12 per barrel. Venezuela nationalised its iron industry in 1975 and its oil industry the following year.
Constitution of Venezuela
The Constitution of 1999 was the first constitution approved by popular referendum in Venezuelan history, and summarily inaugurated the so-called "Fifth Republic of Venezuela" due to the socioeconomic changes foretold in its pages, as well as the official change in Venezuela's name from the "República de Venezuela" ("Republic of Venezuela") to the "República Bolivariana de Venezuela" ("Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela"). Major changes are made to the structure of Venezuela's government and responsibilities, while a much greater number of human rights are enshrined in the document as guaranteed to all Venezuelansincluding free education up to tertiary level, free health care, access to a clean environment, right of minorities (especially indigenous peoples) to uphold their own traditional cultures, religions, and languages, among others. The 1999 Constitution, with 350 articles, is among the world's longest, most complicated, and most comprehensive constitutions.
Provinces of Venezuela
The Provinces of Venezuela were administrative divisions used from Venezuela's independence from Gran Colombia in 1830 to 1864, when the States of Venezuela were created. There were initially 11 provinces, with 4 created later, until in 1856 the Law of Territorial Division divided Venezuela into 21 provinces.
Federal Territories of Venezuela
Since 1864, under the government of General Antonio Guzmán Blanco and by Special Act of Congress, the Amazonas and Delta Amacuro Federal Territories were created as territorial political division Federal, until they gained the status of Federal States, via the corresponding Special Act in the year of 1992. On July 4, 1895, President Joaquín Crespo organized the Venezuelan islands in the Caribbean as part of the "Federal territory Colón," then these territories were divided between the State of Nueva Esparta and the Federal Dependencies.
Federalism
However, more than 140 years later, the original system has gradually evolved into a quasi-centralist form of government. While the 1999 Constitution still defines Venezuela as a Federal Republic, it abolished the Senate, transferred competences of the States to the Federal Government and granted the President of the Republic vast powers to intervene in the States and Municipalities.
First Republic of Venezuela
This initiated a process that would lead to a declaration of independence from Spain. Soon after 19 April, many other Venezuelan provinces also established juntas, most of which recognized the Caracas one (though a few recognized both the Regency in Spain and the Junta in Caracas). Still other regions never established juntas, but rather kept their established authorities and continued to recognize the government in Spain. This situation consequently led to a civil war between Venezuelans who were in favor of the new autonomous juntas and those still loyal to the Spanish Crown. The Caracas Junta called for the convention of a congress of the Venezuelan provinces which began meeting the following March, at which time the Junta dissolved itself. The Congress set up a triumvirate to handle the executive functions of the union .
Abortion in Venezuela
Hugo Chavez intended to minimize the gap between the rich and poor and give Venezuelans a better life. This, along with his intent to reform the Constitution, implies that he was in favor of abortion rights, though it was not explicitly said. In Venezuela, the discovery of oil provided an economic boom lasting a period from World War 1 to the 1980s. This period of prosperity was ended by an oil crisis in 1973, which led to a great amount of debt that continued into Chavez's presidency and topped 120 billion in 2011. During the Trienio Adeco period (1945-1948), Venezuela was under democratic rule by several presidents, until Hugo Chavez won Venezuela's presidential election in 1998. Chavez ruled Venezuela as a Bolivarian government starting in 1999, one that followed a left-wing socialist movement that advocated mainly for financial equity, democracy, and anti-corrupt government. He formed the United Socialist Party of Venezuela in 2007, as well as many other programs that catered to the poor, such as the “Bolivarian Missions” to provide universal healthcare coverage under 'Chavezcare' and increase educational opportunities for the poor. Among his policies were plans to amend the Venezuelan constitution to decriminalize abortion.
History of Venezuela
Word of Spain's troubles in 1808 in the Napoleonic Wars soon reached Caracas, but only on 19 April 1810 did its "cabildo" (city council) decide to follow the example set by the Spanish provinces two years earlier. Other provincial capitals — Barcelona, Cumaná, Mérida, and Trujillo among them — followed suit. Although the new Junta of Caracas had self-appointed élite members who claimed to represent the "pardos" (free blacks and even slaves), the new government eventually faced the challenge of maintaining the alliance with the "pardos". Given recent history these groups still had grievances against the "mantuanos". A segment of the "mantuanos" (among them 27-year-old Simón Bolívar, the future Liberator) saw the setting up of the Junta as a step towards outright independence. On 5 July 1811, seven of the ten provinces of the Captaincy General of Venezuela declared their independence in the Venezuelan Declaration of Independence.
Territorial evolution of the Caribbean
On July 5, 1811 Venezuela declared independence from Spain.
Third Republic of Venezuela
The Third Republic of Venezuela is the name commonly used to refer to the reestablished Republic of Venezuela declared by Simón Bolívar in the year 1817, during the Venezuelan War of Independence. The beginning of the Third Republic of Venezuela is attributed to the period after the Guyana Campaign, during which the republicans restored democratic institutions in Angostura. The Republic ended after the Congress of Angostura of 1819 decreed the union of Venezuela with New Granada, to form the republic of Gran Colombia.
Venezuelan Declaration of Independence
The declaration proclaimed a new nation called the American Confederacy of Venezuela and was mainly written by Cristóbal Mendoza and Juan Germán Roscio. It was ratified by Congress on July 7, 1811, and recorded in the Congress's Book of Minutes on August 17, 1811, in Caracas.
Basque Venezuelan
In 1939 as a result of the Spanish Civil War, begins the arrival at Venezuelan ports of what is considered the largest migration of Basques to Venezuela since the colony. With the support of the Basque Government in exile, the Venezuelan Government of General Eleazar López Contreras and with the approval of a large number of Venezuelan intellectuals such as Arturo Uslar Pietri and Antonio Arraíz, on June 24 of the same year, 82 Basques addressed the Transatlantic "Cuba" in the French port of Le Havre departing for Venezuela under the notes of the "Txistu de Segundo de Atxurra" who interprets the Agur Jaunak, many of them said goodbye to their land to not see it again. The arrival of this first contingent was an event in the Caracas of the time and the local press echoed the same dedicating some reviews, in the same it is mentioned that on Sunday July 6, 1939 after hearing Mass in the Church of Santa Rosalía in the city of Caracas, the group accompanied by Arturo Uslar Pietri and Simón Gonzalo Salas make a wreath to the remains of the Liberator Simon Bolivar in the National Pantheon, singing the Agur Jaunak, the National Anthem of Venezuela and the Eusko Abendaren Ereserkia, creating this last great controversy since some media criticized this, erroneously, for having been interpreted communist hymns in the national pantheon, a situation that was not taken into account by the Venezuelan Government. To this first contingent others occurred almost consecutively and with a larger number of people.
Venezuela
A collapse in confidence in the existing parties led to Chávez being elected president in 1998, and the subsequent launch of a "Bolivarian Revolution", beginning with a 1999 Constituent Assembly to write a new Constitution of Venezuela. Chávez also initiated Bolivarian missions, programs aimed at helping the poor.
History of Venezuela
The history of Venezuela reflects events in areas of the Americas colonized by Spain starting 1522; amid resistance from indigenous peoples, led by Native caciques, such as Guaicaipuro and Tamanaco. However, in the Andean region of western Venezuela, complex Andean civilization of the Timoto-Cuica people flourished before European contact. In 1811, it became one of the first Spanish-American colonies to declare independence, which was not securely established until 1821, when Venezuela was a department of the federal republic of Gran Colombia. It gained full independence as a separate country in 1830. During the 19th century, Venezuela suffered political turmoil and autocracy, remaining dominated by regional "caudillos" (military strongmen) until the mid-20th century. Since 1958, the country has had a series of democratic governments. Economic shocks in the 1980s and 1990s led to several political crises, including the deadly Caracazo riots of 1989, two attempted coups in 1992, and the impeachment of President Carlos Andrés Pérez for embezzlement of public funds in 1993. A collapse in confidence in the existing parties saw the 1998 election of former coup-involved career officer Hugo Chávez and the launch of the Bolivarian Revolution, beginning with a 1999 Constituent Assembly to write a new Constitution of Venezuela. This new constitution officially changed the name of the country to "República Bolivariana de Venezuela" (Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela).
Venezuelan Declaration of Independence
The Venezuelan Declaration of Independence ("Cinco de Julio") is a statement adopted by a congress of Venezuelan provinces on July 5, 1811, through which Venezuelans made the decision to separate from the Spanish Crown in order to establish a new nation based on the premises of equality of individuals, abolition of censorship and dedication to freedom of expression. These principles were enshrined as a constitutional principal for the new nation and were radically opposed to the political, cultural, and social practices that had existed during three hundred years of colonization.
Manuel Torres (diplomat)
Torres' appointment coincided with a turn in the wars of independence. Where before the situation had been dire, the Patriot forces under Bolívar began a campaign to liberate New Granada and achieved a famous victory at the Battle of Boyacá. When Torres received his diplomatic credentials he was authorized to "to do in the United States everything possible to put an immediate end to the conflict in which the patriots of Venezuela are now engaged for their independence and liberty." Venezuela and New Granada united on December17, 1819, to form the Republic of Colombia (a union called Gran Colombia by historians).
History of Venezuela (1830–1908)
In a succession of rebellions, the Federal War (1858 - 1863) was particularly bloody, and saw the establishment of the modern system of States of Venezuela (replacing the Provinces of Venezuela largely inherited from the colonial era). The turn of the century saw several notable international crises which contributed to the development of the United States' Monroe Doctrine: the Venezuela Crisis of 1895 under Joaquín Crespo (regarding a dispute with Britain over Guayana Esequiba) and the Venezuela Crisis of 1902–1903 (regarding Venezuela's refusal to pay foreign debts) under Cipriano Castro.
Independence Day (Venezuela)
That same afternoon, representatives Cristóbal Mendoza and Juan Germán Roscio presented to Congress the declaration of national independence with the approval of the secretary general, Francisco Isnardi. In the document, representatives from seven of the ten provinces belonging to the Captaincy General (Caracas Province, Cumaná Province, Barinas Province, Margarita Province, Barcelona Province, Mérida Province and Trujillo Province) declared their independence and explained their reasons for this action, among them, that it was baneful that a small European nation ruled the great expanses of the Americas (the New World), that Spanish America recovered its right to self-government after the abdications of Charles IV and Ferdinand VII at Bayonne, and that the political instability in Spain dictated that Venezuelans rule themselves, despite the brotherhood they shared with Spain and the Spanish people at large. The declaration proclaimed a new nation called the American Confederacy of Venezuela, as an independent state under the republican form of government on the basis of the 7 provinces belonging to the former Captaincy General. The declaration was passed by Congress on July 7, with 43 votes for and one vote against, and was granted the full force of law in a decree published on July 8 by the president of the Executive Triumviate, Cristóbal Mendoza. It was later presented to the public in Caracas and read out in what is now the Plaza Bolivar on July 14, 1811.
Venezuela
The sovereign state is a federal presidential republic consisting of 23 states, the Capital District (covering Caracas), and federal dependencies (covering Venezuela's offshore islands). Venezuela also claims all Guyanese territory west of the Essequibo River, a tract dubbed "Guayana Esequiba" or the "Zona en Reclamación" (the "zone under dispute"). Venezuela is among the most urbanized countries in Latin America; the vast majority of Venezuelans live in the cities of the north, especially in the capital (Caracas) which is also the largest city in Venezuela.
History of Venezuela (1830–1908)
José Antonio Páez was called backed from exile in the USA, and ruled as dictator from 1861–1863; but he was no longer the caudillo he once was and he had to surrender to the leader of the federalists, Juan Crisóstomo Falcón. One result of the War of the Caudillos was that the official denomination of Venezuela was changed from "republic" to the "United States of Venezuela", a national name it had, as well as the motto "God and Federation", until a dictator in the mid-20th century changed it back to "republic".
Venezuela
Sovereignty was only attained after Simón Bolívar, aided by José Antonio Páez and Antonio José de Sucre, won the Battle of Carabobo on 24 June 1821. On 24 July 1823, José Prudencio Padilla and Rafael Urdaneta helped seal Venezuelan independence with their victory in the Battle of Lake Maracaibo. New Granada's congress gave Bolívar control of the Granadian army; leading it, he liberated several countries and founded Gran Colombia.
Military career of Simón Bolívar
The idea of independence for Spanish America had existed for several years among a minority of the residents of northern South America. In 1797 the Venezuelans Manuel Gual and José María España, inspired by exiled Spaniard Juan Bautista Picornell, unsuccessfully attempted to establish a republic in Venezuela with greater social equality for Venezuelans of all racial and social backgrounds. Nine years later, in 1806 long-time Venezuelan expatriate Francisco de Miranda led a small group of mostly British and American foreign volunteers in an attempt to take over Venezuela and set up an independent republic. Like Gual and España's conspiracy, Miranda's putsch failed to attract Venezuelans of any social and economic class, in fact local Venezuelans organized the resistance to Miranda's invasion and quickly dispersed it. The lack of interest on the part of the Venezuelan Criollos is often explained by their fear that the loss of the removal of Spanish control might bring about a revolution that would destroy their own power in Venezuela. Nevertheless, in the decades leading up to 1806, Criollos had often been at odds with the Spanish Crown: they wanted an expansion of the free trade that was benefiting their plantation economy and objected to the Crown's new policy of granting social privileges that had been traditionally been reserved for whites ("españoles") to Pardos through the purchase of certificates of whiteness ("gracias al sacar"). So the Criollos' failure to support Gual, España and Miranda, which would have created a state under their control, needs to also be understood by the fact that a national identity separate from the Spanish had not yet emerged among them.
American Confederation of Venezuela
Due to its rebellious instability originating from the Venezuelan War of Independence, the confederation existed in three different stages depending on territory held by revolutionary or royalist forces. These are commonly known as the First Republic of Venezuela, Second Republic of Venezuela and the Third Republic of Venezuela.
Venezuela Province
With the independence of Venezuela in 1830, the province was one of 11, becoming one of 13 by 1840. In 1848 Aragua Province and Guárico Province were split from Caracas. Following the Federal War, the States of Venezuela were created in 1864, and the province ceased to exist.
Venezuela
Venezuela ( ; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and a large number of small islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. The capital and largest urban agglomeration is the city of Caracas. It has a territorial extension of 916,445 km (353,841 sq mi). The continental territory is bordered on the north by the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Colombia, Brazil on the south, Trinidad and Tobago to the north-east and on the east by Guyana. With this last country, the Venezuelan government maintains a claim for Guayana Esequiba over an area of 159,542 km (61,600 sq mi). For its maritime areas, it exercises sovereignty over 71,295 km (27,527 sq mi) of territorial waters, 22,224 km (8,581 sq mi) in its contiguous zone, 471,507 km (182,050 sq mi) of the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean under the concept of exclusive economic zone, and 99,889 km (38,567 sq mi) of continental shelf. This marine area borders those of 13 states. The country has extremely high biodiversity and is ranked seventh in the world's list of nations with the most number of species. There are habitats ranging from the Andes Mountains in the west to the Amazon basin rain-forest in the south via extensive "llanos" plains, the Caribbean coast and the Orinoco River Delta in the east.
Portuguesa (state)
In the late nineteenth century, the Restorative Revolution returned to the country's political divisions in 20 states and, consequently, Portuguesa and Cojedes were again Zamora. Finally, on August 5, 1909 was enacted the Constitution, which stated that Venezuela would be made by a Federal District, two federal territories and 20 states, one of which would be Portuguesa.
Economy of Venezuela
After oil was discovered in Venezuela in 1922 during the Maracaibo strike, Venezuela's dictator Juan Vicente Gómez allowed American oil companies to write Venezuela's petroleum law. In 1943, Standard Oil of New Jersey accepted a new agreement in Venezuela based on the 50–50 principle, described as "a landmark event". Even more favorable terms were negotiated in 1945, after a coup brought to power a left-leaning government that included Juan Pablo Pérez Alfonso.