April 19th 1810 and its interpretations

David Jaimes Berutti

Chief Executive Officer

Baralt, Yanes and Juan Vicente González, our first historians, interpreted this event as the dawn of the new existence, where the doctrine of the Spanish monarchy was used by the revolutionaries as an apparent reason to take the reins of government for the duration of the King's captivity; as a transitory reversion of power to the people, in the absence of Ferdinand VII.

On April 19, they describe the existence of three human groups: the most numerous, concerned about the fate of the King and Spain; he is followed by those who, fearing that Spain would surrender to Napoleon, considered the necessity of installing a popular government; and finally, those who considered that it was time to govern themselves with absolute independence. The causes of this outbreak are mentioned in the "despotic" conduct of Emparan, the scarcity of news and the state of uncertainty regarding the peninsula, and the French occupation of Andalucia since February 1810.

They denounce that the subsequent events of July 5, 1811 have their origin in the perception that the Patriotic Society of Caracas gave to the massacre of Quito, led by Count Ruiz de Castilla; the orders issued by the Regency Council, declaring us rebels, blockading our coasts and appointing Antonio de Cortavarría as Royal Commissioner to "pacify" the Venezuelans, from Puerto Rico; facts described by patriots as a "Club of tyranny and despotism."

Don Aristides Rojas, in 1875, described April 19 as a day of "conspiracy against Emparan and not against Spain, the work of a few and not of the people"; however, Rojas himself in 1877 states that "April 19 is the initiatory day of independence...", with France being "the source and origin of the revolutionary ideas of South America". And he concludes his ideas by expressing that "April 19 is not only one of initiative, but also a triumph of the most skillful diplomacy."

Don Laureano Vallenilla Lanz, in 1910, argues that Caracas on that date (1810) not only debuted in independence but also in the order of nations, being the first to destroy in fact and in law the representatives of Spain in America and  declare the autonomy of the colonies generating doctrine and proclaiming a revolutionary right which outlines the precise forms of the system of government necessary in all the Spanish-American peoples.

All these historical visions undoubtedly demonstrate that the revolution of April 19, 1810 constitutes the initial, definitive and transcendental movement of the emancipation of Venezuela, which became the mother date of the revolution of an entire continent, which we are obliged to honor.

Translation by Nimar Rodríguez