Venezuela

by Leonard V. Dalton

In 1812 the troubles of the young republic began. Early in the year Don Domingo de Monteverde landed in Coro and marched inland, capturing Siquisique and Carora, finally directing his steps towards Carácas via Barquisimeto and San Carlos. On Holy Thursday (March 26th), while thousands were gathered in the churches, a terrible earthquake destroyed Carácas, La Guaira, San Felipe, Barquisimeto, Tocuyo, and Mérida; in Carácas alone 10,000 people were killed. The ecclesiastics, recognising their interests to be largely bound up with the royalist cause, attributed these disasters to the wrath of Heaven at the revolution, and one who preached in this strain in Carácas is said to have been threatened with death by Bolivar, who exclaimed, “If Nature opposes us we will fight her and make her obey us!” For his antagonism to the new régime the Archbishop of Carácas was expelled and Madariaga put in charge in his place. An expedition to Guayana had been planned, but was abandoned after the earthquake, when Miranda was made Dictator by Congress. The royalist leader Monteverde reached La Victoria in June, and some four weeks later, for obscure and, it was widely suggested, discreditable pecuniary reasons, Miranda, with 4,000 men, capitulated to the Spanish force of 3,000 on July 25th. Monteverde sent him to Puerto Rico, but for which Bolivar and others would have shot him as a traitor at the first opportunity. He finally died in prison in Spain in 1816.

Had Monteverde shown more discretion and mercy this reverse of the patriots would probably have had far more lasting results, but he speedily showed himself treacherous, and, in direct violation of the terms agreed upon with Miranda, he sent eight of the revolutionary leaders, including Madariaga, to Spain. He imprisoned 1,500 more, and, refusing to apply any part of the new Spanish Constitution to Venezuela, proclaimed martial law; as a result, war to the death was declared by the patriots in the following year.

The Simon Bolivar who has been referred to above was the direct descendant, six generations removed, from Simon de Bolivar, a Biscayan of noble rank who reached Venezuela in 1588. This man entered the service of his adopted land immediately upon his arrival, for he was the special commissioner dispatched in 1589 by the then Governor to Spain to urge the need of reforms and to obtain permission for the initiation of projects calculated to open up and settle the country. The Simon Bolivar of the revolution was born on July 24, 1783, in Carácas; he went to the Court of Madrid as a youth, and there acquitted himself well, but, shortly after his return to his native country in 1802, lost his young wife. Possibly this bereavement helped to harden his character, and so to acquire for him that reputation for cruelty and obstinacy which marred the early history of his work as liberator of his native country and of half of South America.

The young soldier found himself in Cúcuta (southward of the Lake of Maracaibo) early in 1813, and was instructed by the revolutionary Government in Santa Fé de Bogotá to proceed with the conflict, but to wage war against armed Spaniards only. On June 8th he declared a war of vengeance to the death against Spain in Mérida, and marching northwards, won victories at Niquitao, Los Horcones, and Taguanes, finally reaching and taking Carácas. Meanwhile, Juan Bautista Arismendi had taken the Island of Margarita; and Mariño, Bermudez, Piar and Sucre took Maturín and Cumaná in August, leaving only Coro, Maracaibo, Guayana, part of Barinas, and the plaza of Puerto Cabello in the hands of the royalists.

Following these successes, Bolivar was made Dictator, with legislative and executive powers, and arrangements were made for the formation of a Congress similar to that of New Granada. Later in the year the Dictator marched on Puerto Cabello, where his proposal for an exchange of prisoners met with an offer of two Spaniards for one Venezuelan, with the exception of one Jalon, whom Monteverde refused to release; at the same time the Spanish leader killed four of the prisoners. Reinforcements reached him from Cadiz about this time, but they were defeated by the patriots, who later in the year gained other victories over Ceballos.

Early in 1814 Monteverde was compelled by his officers to give up his command and retire to the Antilles; but to counterbalance this, just after the meeting of the popular assembly in Carácas came the rising of the Mestizos, or half-breeds of the Llanos, under Tomas Boves, on behalf of the royalists, a new factor which delayed the settlement of the struggle for years. After Boves’s victory over the patriots at La Puerta, when another force was advancing on Ocumare, Bolivar was guilty of the barbarity of massacring all the Spaniards in Puerto Cabello. After several battles, the total results of which were indecisive, Boves finally defeated Bolivar and Mariño by sheer force of numbers in the Aragua valley and forced them to fly to Carácas. On July 6th Bolivar evacuated the town, and with its inhabitants retreated to Barcelona overland, where upon the royalists and llaneros entered it two days later and Boves claimed the supreme power in Venezuela, although this had been vested by the Spanish Government in Cajil. Murmurings against Bolivar now made themselves heard, and Ribas and others of his generals wished to assassinate him in revenge for their defeats; he was, however, permitted to retire in safety to the Antilles. Later Boves occupied Cumaná with massacre and defeated the patriot leaders in Urica, sending his lieutenant, Morales, to Maturín. Meanwhile, after the restoration of Ferdinand VII., an expedition of 15,000 men was sent from Spain under Morillo; with the capitulation to him of Margarita early in 1815 the outlook for the republic was black indeed.

STATUE IN PLAZA BOLIVAR: CARÁCAS.

Once again the barbarities of the new Spanish leader acted as a goad to the jaded spirits of the patriots, for after breaking his promises of amnesty in Margarita he proceeded to show no mercy to any patriot families met with in Carácas or on his way to New Granada, where also his barbarous conduct brought him an unenviable notoriety. Bolivar had recaptured Santa Fé with the remnant of the Venezuelan patriot army, but the beginning of 1816 found him in Jamaica planning his great campaign, with a view to forming fifteen independent republics in South America, including the Great Colombia, which afterwards became for a short time a reality.

With a view to the fulfilment of these dreams he secured help in Haiti, and later in the year reached Margarita. His associates included MacGregor and Ducoudray-Holstein, Crossing to Carúpano, he sent Mariño to Guaira, Piar to Maturín, and with Anzoátegui and other leaders he himself marched to Ocumare; here, however, he was cut off by royalist forces, and, retreating, joined Zaraza and Monágas with their guerilla troops in the Llanos, and finally with Piar defeated the royalists in the battle of El Juncal, near Barcelona. The net result of the campaign in the earlier part of the year was, however, adverse, and when, after joining Bermudez in Bonaire, he crossed again to Paria, he was threatened with death by the newly arrived leader and Mariño. As a result he returned to Haiti on August 22nd, but came back later in the year at the request of Piar and other generals.