April 19th, 1810, a cry for revolution

David Jaimes Berutti

CIM Executive Director

This date loaded with symbolism in the history of Venezuela begins in 1749 with the insurrection of Juan Francisco de León who, from Panaquire, requested the expulsion of the Guipuzcoan Company from the Captaincy General of Venezuela. Subsequently, in 1810, the City Council of Caracas deposed the Spanish authorities and constituted the Junta Suprema Conservadora de los Derechos de Fernando VII, presided by, among others, Dr. Juan Germán Roscio and Lino de Clemente. Under these demonstrations of loyalty and love for the Crown, many people from Caracas were already hiding the objective of separating from Spain and establishing a Republic.

This revolution anticipated the character of social transformation that the emancipatory struggle would acquire in the future. And from that very moment, all Venezuelan people, without distinction of social class or wealth, were called to deliberate on public affairs. The participation of Jose Felix Ribas in the Cabildo on behalf of the Pardos is proof of this. Two months later, he contributed to the right of suffrage for all, without excluding even illiterates. Many heroes defended the incorporation of the popular mass and the racialized population to the torrent of the struggle for independence. The following year there was already a drafting commission of a "Federal Constitution", which was sanctioned on December 21th, 1811.

The majority of the Creole nobles joined the struggle for a shady class interest; in them prevailed the idea of defending their colonial advantages, maintaining their social structure, distancing themselves from Spain, preserving their monopoly, without the intervention of the popular masses, whom they despised for their "bastard origin" and whom they exploited in their properties. Paradoxically, these Creoles were the ones who defended the interests of Fernando VII when Napoleon Bonaparte and his troops broke into Spain, because they saw in him the revolution that would attempt against the feudalism of which they were part as nobles and clergymen, without accepting to concede in any way a chance to a republican monarchy model, that aspired to reconcile freedom and security, under another social structure, contrary to their interests.

Fortunately, emancipation did not simply mean the separation of Spain, but the realization of a political idea that totally changed the social organization in which the colonial regime had supported; before Venezuela was a sovereign state was defined as a Nation. 213 years ago, we baptized the Republic with the sacrifice of a whole generation, which wisely adapted to a conjunctural reality and took freedom and independence as its unique flag, inspiring all America. Long live our April 19th, 1810!

Translation by Nimar Rodrìguez