{"id":380,"date":"2012-08-16T11:48:11","date_gmt":"2012-08-16T16:48:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/library.brown.edu\/modernlatinamerica\/?page_id=380"},"modified":"2016-07-06T15:36:01","modified_gmt":"2016-07-06T15:36:01","slug":"figures-in-venezuelan-history","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/modernlatinamerica\/chapters\/chapter-8-venezuela\/figures-in-venezuelan-history\/","title":{"rendered":"Venezuelan Profiles and Personalities"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sebasti\u00e1n Francisco de Miranda (1750-1816)<\/strong> The so-called \u201cprecursor\u201d to Sim\u00f3n Bol\u00edvar, Francisco de Miranda was a Venezuelan patriot who made significant contribution to the cause of Spanish independence. He was born into a wealthy Creole family in modern-day\u00a0Caracas, and joined the Spanish army in 1772. He fought against the British in Florida and in\u00a0Morocco, earning high marks for his heroism and bravery. However, he made powerful enemies within the Spanish army and sought refuge in London in 1783. En route, he passed through the United States and made the\u00a0acquaintance\u00a0of American dignitaries\u00a0 including George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and Thomas Paine. Infused with the ideals of the American Revolution and the\u00a0Enlightenment\u00a0in Europe, he vowed in 1805 to free his homeland from Spanish rule. He led a\u00a0chaotic\u00a0invasion in 1806; however, his creole compatriots\u2014including\u00a0<\/strong>Bol\u00edvar\u2014continued the fight, eventually declaring independence in 1811.<\/p>\n

\"220px-Simo\u0301n_Boli\u0301var_2\"<\/a>

Sim\u00f3n Bolivar<\/p><\/div>\n

Sim\u00f3n Bol\u00edvar (1783-1830) <\/strong>Born in Caracas, Venezuela on July 24th, 1783, Bol\u00edvar came from a family with extensive plantation holdings, copper mines, and urban property, and close relations to a European lineage. A young Bol\u00edvar received tutoring from some of the most enlightened minds in Spanish America who introduced Bol\u00edvar to the ideals of enlightenment thinkers like French philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau.\u00a0As Bol\u00edvar traveled in Europe at the turn of the century and became more aware of the detriment of Spanish rule, he began to formulate ideas of opposition. By 1805, he vowed to free his homeland\u2014a feat he would accomplish in present day Venezuela by 1819, Peru by 1823, and Bolivia by 1825. By this time, however, Bolivar became increasingly disillusioned by the fact that his dreams for political unity had not yet been realized, and\u00a0publicly\u00a0lamented that \u201cAmerica is ungovernable.\u201d Bolivar died on December 17th, 1830 after losing a long battle with tuberculosis. His untimely death at 47 and his resentment towards the failure of Gran Colombia notwithstanding, Bol\u00edvar\u2019s legacy as a liberator and republican remains potent in the present, and his spirit continues to be invoked by politicians and intellectuals throughout Modern Latin America.<\/p>\n

\"447px-Ro\u0301mulo_Betancourt_59\"<\/a>

R\u00f3mulo Bentacourt<\/p><\/div>\n

R\u00f3mulo Betancourt (1908-1981) <\/strong>Born in 1908, Betancourt was President of Venezuela from 1945 to 1948, and again from 1959 to 1964. Known as the \u201cFather of Venezuelan Democracy,\u201d his first presidency ushered in an era of Democratic politics in Venezuela that earned him the close acquaintance of President Kennedy. However, his principled stance against dictatorships in the region made him the target of assassination by Rafael Trujillo of the Dominican Republic, while his moderate reforms lost him the domestic support of the Communist party and radical elements within his AD party. He was sent into exile three times. During his term, Betancourt nationalized Venezuela\u2019s\u00a0 extensive oil assets and allowed Venezuela to join OPEC.<\/p>\n

\"220px-Hugo_Cha\u0301vez_(02-04-2010)\"<\/a>

Hugo Ch\u00e1vez<\/p><\/div>\n

Hugo Ch\u00e1vez (1954-2013)<\/strong> Hugo Ch\u00e1vez, was born in 1954 in the small town of Sabaneta. He entered the military academy at seventeen where he served until his political debut\u2014first as an opposition to the president, then later as president himself. Since his ascension to the presidency in 1998, he clashed openly with the United States government, famously calling George W. Bush \u201cel Diablo\u201d before the UN and publicly expressing support and solidarity for deposed Libyan leader Mohammar Gaddafi. He consolidated political power in the executive, and is frequently labeled a dictator despite the presence of nominally democratic elections (in the 2006 round of presidential elections, Ch\u00e1vez won with a resounding 65 percent of the votes.) He retained wide popular support in Venezuela as he purged branches of government that had become corrupt, nationalized oil production, and provided vast social programs. His unexpected death in 2013 led to a hotly contested special election between centrist and reform-minded Henrique Capriles and Ch\u00e1vez’s handpicked successor Nicolas Maduro, in which Maduro triumphed amidst allegations of election fraud.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sebasti\u00e1n Francisco de Miranda (1750-1816) The so-called \u201cprecursor\u201d to Sim\u00f3n Bol\u00edvar, Francisco de Miranda was a Venezuelan patriot who made significant contribution to the cause of Spanish independence. He was born into a wealthy Creole family in modern-day\u00a0Caracas, and joined … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":0,"parent":356,"menu_order":3,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"sidebar-page.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-380","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/modernlatinamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/380","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/modernlatinamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/modernlatinamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/modernlatinamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/modernlatinamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=380"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/modernlatinamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/380\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5098,"href":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/modernlatinamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/380\/revisions\/5098"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/modernlatinamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/modernlatinamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}