Venezuela, Las Reformas Revolution

Venezuela: Las Reformas Revolution, a Venezuelan militarist movement in 1835 against the government of Dr. José María Vargas (1835–1836). The consensus attained with the creation of the republic in 1830 began to disintegrate as a result of political tensions dividing the ruling elite. With the privileges they had won during the years of the War for Independence progressively waning, the members of the military viewed the candidacy of Santiago Mariño in the elections of 1834 with the hope of regaining their power. Mariño's defeat at the polls and the victory of Vargas caused further political disintegration, which resulted in the armed uprising of an important group of military men. All active members of the Liberating Army, these included Santiago Mariño, Pedro Briceño Méndez, Diego Ibarra, and Pedro Carujo, among many others.

The revolution broke out in Maracaibo and Caracas in June and July 1835. The revolutionaries drove Vargas from power in July and proposed the return to military rule, the establishment of a federal system, the installation of Catholicism as the state religion, and the taking over of public offices by men who had made independence possible. However, the movement was suffocated militarily by José Antonio Páez, and its instigators were expelled from the country. Vargas returned as president in August 1835.

See alsoVargas, José María .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Caracciolo Parra-Pérez, Mariño y las guerras civiles, 3 vols. (1958–1960).

Robert L. Gilmore, Caudillism and Militarism in Venezuela, 1810–1910 (1964).

Catalina Banko, Poder político y conflictos sociales en la República Oligárquica, 1830–1848 (1986).

Manuel Pérez Vila, La Revolución de las Reformas (1984).

Additional Bibliography

Briceño Vasquez, Carlos. La miopía del "Tiempo de caudillos." Caracas: s.n., 1994.

Castellanos, Rafaél Ramón, and José Ignacio Lares. Caudillismo y nacionalismo: De Guzmán Blanco a Gómez: Vida y acción de José Ignacio Lares. Caracas: s.n., 1994.

Vetencourt, Roberto. Tiempo de caudillos. Caracas: s.n., 2004.

                                         InÉs Quintero