784 



VENEZUELA. 



man capitalists, who demanded the receipts of 

 certain of the principal ports, to which the Vene- 

 zuelan Government would not agree. American 

 bankers also wanted ample security, and they too 

 declined when President Castro offered the' re- 

 ceipts of 3 small custom-houses which would not 

 amount to more than half of the interest on the 

 loan. On April 9 a new Cabinet was appointed, 

 as follows: Minister of the Interior, J. A. Velu- 

 timi; Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Eduardo 

 Blanco; Minister of Finance, Ramon Mello Men- 

 doza; Minister of War, Gen. Pulido; Minister of 

 Public Instruction, Dr. Felix Quintero; Minister 

 of Public Works, Juan Otaiiez; Minister of Fo- 

 mento, Felipe Arrocha Gallegos. 



Revolutionary troubles in the early part of the 

 year took place at Carupano, which was held for 

 a, time by insurgents, and they threatened Ciudad 

 Bolivar, but were defeated before the end of Jan- 

 uary. President Castro, like all his predecessors, 

 has had to contend with political aspirants who 

 Avould resort to rebellion to gain supreme power. 

 He himself was a successful revolutionist. The 

 insurrection in Colombia involved Venezuela in 

 a serious civil war. Venezuelans who were in 

 sympathy with the Colombian Liberals, including 

 officials and men of high rank in the army, not 

 only allowed the Colombian revolutionists to use 

 the border districts and ports of Venezuela as a 

 base, but aided them actively and joined in the. 

 invasion of Colombia. Venezuelan Conservatives 

 were in like manner aided by Colombians to start 

 a rebellion against the Government of Gen. Cas- 

 tro. Dr. Rangel Gardiras and other Venezuelan 

 exiles from Colombia with a force of several thou- 

 sand armed men appeared before the end of July 

 in the neighborhood of the frontier town of San 

 Antonio de Tachira. President Castro proclaimed 

 martial law throughout Venezuela, and de- 

 spatched a large force of troops to the border. 

 He resolved to treat the violation of the frontier 

 as the act of the Colombian Government, as in 

 like manner the Colombian President was inclined 

 to hold him responsible for the invasion of Colom- 

 bia from Venezuelan territory. At a Cabinet 

 meeting it was decided to hand Dr. Rico, the 

 Colombian minister, his passports, but he took 

 his departure without waiting for notice. Gen. 

 Pulido, the Minister of War, who was the leader 

 of an important party, disapproved this procedure. 

 He wanted to treat the disturbers, not as Colom- 

 bian invaders, but as Venezuelan insurgents, as 

 they were led by Venezuelan revolutionists and 

 joined by a great many Venezuelans. Gen. Pulido 

 resigned his portfolio, and on Aug. 1 Gen. Ramon 

 Guerra was appointed Minister of War. When 

 the Government troops were defeated in the first 

 encounter at Cristobal risings followed at various 

 points in the interior. Subsequently reenforce- 

 ments were brought up, and a defeat was inflicted 

 on the revolutionists and Colombians in San Cris- 

 tobal. President Castro announced that he did 

 not regard the invasion by Colombian troops as 

 an international attack by the people of Colom- 

 bia, but as the work of the Conservative Govern- 

 ment of Colombia against the majesty of the 

 Venezuelan people. The first invading force num- 

 bered about G,000 men with the revolutionists 

 who joined it on Venezuelan soil. After it was 

 driven over the border a second force numbering 

 2,000 men crossed the frontier, but was easily 

 routed. The Venezuelan Government massed 10,- 

 000 men on the frontier, and the Colombian Gov- 

 ernment collected a large force on its side of the 

 boundary. For many weeks these large bodies 

 of troops faced each other in an attitude of ob- 

 servation. President Castro sent out a memoran- 



dum explaining the position that Venezuela took 

 which was nothing less than a threat of war. 



President Castro's Government became involved 

 in difficulties with several governments besides 

 that of the United States. An attempt was made 

 to arrange a long-standing difference with France. 

 Diplomatic relations with that country were 

 broken off in consequence of the action of the 

 Government of Venezuela in 1895 in consequence 

 of a confidential memorandum which the French 

 charge d'affaires had presented to his colleagues 

 proposing the combined diplomatic action of all 

 their governments to exact from Venezuela the 

 payment of the claims of all foreigners who had 

 suffered losses in Venezuelan revolutions. When 

 this document came to light in an Italian green- 

 book the Venezuelan Government handed his 

 passports to the French representative and dis- 

 missed the Belgian representative at the same 

 time, as he also was involved in the plan to use 

 minatory diplomatic pressure to supersede the 

 action of Venezuelan courts of justice. In 1896 

 Gen. Juan Pietri was sent on a special mission 

 to Paris to restore diplomatic relations, the French 

 Government having, instead of sending another 

 representative to Caracas, given his passports to 

 the Venezuelan representative in Paris. A pro- 

 tocol was drawn up in 1897, but the conditions 

 were rejected by the Venezuelan Congress. Emi- 

 lio Castro was sent later, and he could obtain no 

 better conditions than the immediate settlement 

 of all the French claims or at least the submission 

 of them to arbitration. In September, 1901, Ceci- 

 lio Castro was sent to Paris on a third mission 

 to induce France to resume diplomatic relations. 

 Smuggling in the Gulf of Paria between the Brit- 

 ish island of Trinidad and the Venezuelan coast 

 has become more frequent since the duties on cigars 

 and other articles have been raised to such high 

 figures as to make it exceedingly profitable. The 

 island of Patos, which the Venezuelan Govern- 

 ment regards as its own territory, is claimed as 

 British by some of the colonials of Trinidad. In 

 January a Venezuelan armed force landed on the 

 island and arrested and carried off to a Vene- 

 zuelan port a party of British subjects who were 

 accused of being engaged in a filibustering expe- 

 dition. The British claim that Patos was a part 

 of the property of the Church which was trans- 

 ferred with the island by Spain. On Aug. 23 a 

 Venezuelan gunboat seized a British vessel lying 

 at Patos and a quantity of goods that had been 

 landed, which were sold as contraband. Germany 

 has from time to time pressed private claims 

 arising out of Venezuelan revolutions. In April 

 a German war-vessel cruising about the island 

 of Margarita and making surveys gave rise to 

 the rumor that Germany was seeking a coaling- 

 station in the Caribbean Sea. The German Gov- 

 ernment semiofficially disclaimed any such inten- 

 tion. Italy has some old claims which have been 

 put forward diplomatically at various times with- 

 out result. The German claims are the largest, 

 and new ones arose out of the action of the au- 

 thorities toward German merchants in the parts 

 of Venezuela that were the principal theater of 

 the disturbances of 1901. The bulk of the coffee 

 trade of Maracaibo is carried on by large German 

 houses, and there are many German as well as 

 French traders in all the Venezuelan cities. In 

 October the crew of a German war-vessel became 

 involved in a street fight in Porto Cabello, and 

 the populace of the town joined the police in at- 

 tacking the strangers, who received many wounds 

 and bruises before they found safety on board 

 their vessel. A German merchant was reported 

 to have been subjected to duress and extortion 



