Venezuelan Politics: 19th & 20th Centuries
Venezuelan Politics: 19th and 20th Centuries
Liberal Party
Founder: Antonio Guzmán Leocadio.
Sectors that supported it: Estate owners, landlords, and ruined warlords left out of government.
Program:
- Breaking the exclusive political group that had taken over the government since 1830.
- Deleting commercial courts because they were those who taught, in a fast way, the execution of the debtors.
Conservative Party
Founder: José Antonio Páez.
Sectors that supported him: Loan sharks, moneylenders, trade monopoly, and the civil bureaucracy established by public employees.
Program:
- Keeping slavery.
- Conserving the death penalty.
- Establishing and attempting to keep centralism as a form of government.
Government of Monagas (First Term)
Features:
- Conservatives and Liberals fought through a peasant insurrection.
- Páez’s supporters supported Rafael Urdaneta.
- Liberals supported Leocadio Guzmán.
- Antonio Urdaneta died.
- Páez, the new candidate, died.
Background:
- Monagas won the presidency with the help of conservatives.
- Monagas turned his back on Páez and removed conservatives.
- He ended the dominance of conservatives.
Presidency of Carlos Soublette
Political Features:
- For public office, he only put his friends and relatives.
- Several liberals, among them Leocadio Guzmán.
- There is a struggle between conservatives and liberals.
- After finishing his term, his brother José Gregorio Monagas became President.
Government of Monagas (Mentioned Twice – Combined Above)
Blue Revolution
Leader: José Tadeo Monagas.
Purpose: Toppling the government of General Juan Crisóstomo Falcón.
Consequences:
- José Tadeo Monagas’s glorious entrance into the presidency on June 26th.
- A proportional government is formed.
Government of the Blues
Preceded by: José Tadeo Monagas.
Characteristics:
- José Tadeo Monagas died on November 18, 1868.
- Fight in Zulia, Maracaibo.
- Independent decision.
- Thumb was defeated, taken prisoner, and sent to Puerto Cabello.
- Beginning of a new war period: From 1868 to 1870.
Government of Pablo Rojas Paúl
Features:
- Support for Rojas Paúl from Guzmán led to the breakup of White Crespo.
- General Joaquin de Rojas Paul’s administration is developing a crisis.
- The win over politics.
- Crespo and the independent attitude he took against Guzmán Blanco.
Government of Andueza Palacio
Features:
- At the end of his term, he proposed to carry out constitutional reforms initiated by his predecessor, Rojas Paúl.
- Crespo rose against the government of Andueza Palacio, in front of the “Legislative Revolution.”
- Preceded by: Rojas Paúl.
- Duration: From 1890 to 1892.
Second Government of Crespo
Preceded by: Villegas Pulido.
Features:
- Put on trial for civil liability of public functions.
- Previous government’s economic upset.
- Duration: From 1892 until 1898.
Castro Government
Year: 1899-1908.
Arrival of Cipriano Castro in Power:
- General Cipriano Castro invaded Caracas with the slogan “Liberal Restorer.”
- The Liberal Revolution was supported by peasants, musicians, craftsmen, teachers, and military personnel such as Juan Vicente Gómez.
- He formed his own party called “Liberal Restorer.”
- His government was characterized by despotism, repression, and terror.
- Most of the warlords were expelled or imprisoned.
- Nationalist.
Revolution enacted in 1904:
- The states were reduced to 13 and lost their autonomy.
- Increases the constitutional period to 6 years.
- The military academy was created.
- The law of divorce was created.