Falcón, Juan Crisóstomo (1820–1870)
Falcón, Juan Crisóstomo (1820–1870)
Juan Crisóstomo Falcón (b. 1820; d. 29 April 1870), Venezuelan president (1863–1868). Born in Coro (now Falcón) Province to a wealthy landowning family, Falcón participated in the civil wars of the mid-nineteenth century and rose to the rank of general. He was the outstanding commander of the Federalist armies in Venezuela's bloody Federal War (1859–1863) and, as a reward for leading the victorious forces, he was named provisional president in 1863. Falcón's five years in office were marked by administrative ineptitude, corruption, civil turmoil, and rebellion. Uninterested in the day-to-day operations of government, he spent long periods of time in his home province of Coro. In 1868 a temporary coalition of liberals and conservatives raised the banner of the Blue Revolution and drove the largely discredited president into exile, from which he never returned.
See alsoFederalism; Venezuela: Venezuela since 1830.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Robert L. Gilmore, Caudillism and Militarism in Venezuela, 1819–1910 (1964).
Guillermo Morón, A History of Venezuela, edited and translated by John Street (1964).
José Luis Salcedo Bastardo, Historia fundamental de Venezuela, 3d rev. ed. (1972).
Additional Bibliography
Banko, Catalina. Las luchas federalistas en Venezuela. Caracas: Monte Avila Editores, 1996.
Winfield J. Burggraaff