Guzmán Blanco, Antonio Leocadio (1829–1899)

After Simón Bolívar, Antonio Leocadio Guzmán Blanco (February 20, 1829–July 28, 1899) was Venezuela's most important nineteenth-century political leader, holding the presidency three times (1870–1877, 1879–1884, 1886–1888). The son of the founder of Venezuela's Liberal Party, Antonio Leocadio Guzmán, Guzmán earned a law degree and served in diplomatic and consular posts in New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C., in the 1850s. In association with Liberal president Juan C. Falcón between 1859 and 1869, he became a successful military leader as well as a vice president, minister of foreign relations, and president of the Constituent Assembly that produced the federal constitution of 1864. Guzmán periodically represented Venezuela in Europe and negotiated a major loan from the British in 1863, from which he personally benefited. After taking the presidency by force in 1870, Guzmán dominated the nation until 1888. Local caudillos were persuaded that political control of their regions was more important than economic autonomy, and merchants and bankers surrendered political ambitions in exchange for influence over national finances. Guzmán reduced the power of the Catholic Church, instituted civil marriage and a civil registry, and promoted public education. New highways, railroads, telegraph, and port facilities encouraged the revival of the agricultural export economy. Modeled after Guzmán's beloved Paris, Caracas acquired new buildings, plazas, avenues, an aqueduct, and electricity to symbolize its dominant role in the nation. While he was in Venezuela, the country enjoyed relative tranquility, but Guzmán's frequent sojourns in Paris emboldened politicians to fight among themselves. Political disorder erupted after 1888 upon Guzmán's final residence in Paris, but his centralization, nationalism, and modernization had transformed the nation.

See alsoCaudillismo, Caudillo; Venezuela: Venezuela since 1830.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

González Deluca, María Elena. Negocios y política en tiempos de Guzmán Blanco, 2nd edition. Caracas: Universidad Central de Venezuela, 2001.

Wise, George. Caudillo: A Portrait of Antonio Guzmán Blanco. New York: Columbia University Press, 1951.

                                         Judith Ewell