Venezuela’s 1835 Revolution of Reform: Overthrowing Vargas
The 1835 Revolution of Reform: Overthrowing Vargas
Despite strong military opposition, Dr. Vargas was elected President of the Republic for the period 1835-1839. However, the warlords who had opposed his candidacy began to conspire against him. A military coup erupted in Caracas in July 1835, just five months after Dr. Vargas assumed the presidency. Key figures in this military movement, known as the ***Revolution of Reform***, included General Santiago Mariño (the defeated candidate), Diego Ibarra, Justo Briceño, Pedro Briceño Méndez, Pedro Carujo, and José Laurencio Silva. The rebels quickly gained control of Caracas, arresting the President and Vice President and expelling them from the country. Following the military’s pronouncement in Caracas, General José Tadeo Monagas joined the movement in the east. As in 1831, the rebels proclaimed the unity of Gran Colombia, advocated for a federal regime, and demanded reforms concerning the military and ecclesiastical powers. They also insisted that public employees should be “in the hands of the founders of Freedom and former patriots”—effectively meaning the military.
Key Causes of the Reform Revolution
- The severe economic crisis gripping the country, primarily due to falling prices for export products, especially coffee.
- Widespread poverty among the majority of Venezuelans.
- Unequal land distribution: A few oligarchic families and some leaders from the independence era held vast estates, maintaining dominance over the peasantry. These large landholdings continued to expand.
Consequences of the 1835 Reform Revolution
- Extensive damage to the economy, particularly in the agricultural and livestock sectors. Towns and villages were looted, fields destroyed, and livestock suffered irreparable losses.
- The nation incurred significant foreign debt to address priority problems, further exacerbating the situation.
- Enormous loss of life, with an estimated one hundred thousand people perishing.
- Widespread malnutrition, disease, and squalor affected the population in both cities and rural areas.
- Proliferation of warlords who, after the war, transformed into political leaders and landowners.
- The decline of Páez’s political influence.
- A high rate of illiteracy persisted.
- A notable positive outcome was the establishment of social equality, with the abolition of titles of nobility that had existed since colonial times.
Program of the Federation
- Abolition of the death penalty.
- Absolute freedom of the press.
- Freedom of movement, association, and industrial representation.
- Perpetual prohibition of slavery.
- Inviolability of the home, except in cases of common crimes judicially ascertained.
- Inviolability of correspondence and private writings.
- Freedom of worship, preserving the sovereign custody essential to ensure that freedom.
- Immunity of oral arguments in all cases.
- Inviolability of property.
- Right of residence at the will of citizens.
- Absolute independence of the electoral authority.
- Universal, direct, and secret ballot elections for the President, Vice President, all legislators, and all civil, political, and general judges.
- Creation of a national armed militia.
- Administration of secular legal aid.
- Freedom from imprisonment for debt, to be implemented urgently.
- Right of Venezuelans to public assistance in cases of disability or general shortages.