The dictatorship of Juan Vicente Gómez (also known as Gomecismo and self-named Rehabilitación)[1] is the name by which the government of Juan Vicente Gómez and his subsequent puppet governments in Venezuela are known. He succeeded the dictatorship of Cipriano Castro after Gómez, Castro's minister, betrayed him and carried out a coup d'état in 1908, and culminated in Gómez's death 27 years later, after his fourth re-election.
After its illegal inauguration, it emerged as a government with democratic tendencies, but faced with the possibility of losing the 1914 elections, Gómez denounced an alleged foreign invasion by Castro and persecuted his opponents, installing a strict dictatorship in 1913.[2][3] During his government, only in Táchira 20,000 people went into exile. Nationally, hundreds of political prisoners were sent to work in road construction.[4][5] It was also the government of Venezuela during the First World War, where a neutral position was maintained.
Ideology and symbology
[edit]Juan Vicente Gómez's motto when he took power was "Union, Peace and Work."
Anti-partisanship
[edit]The interested literature of the Gómez regime presented the conservatives and liberals as those responsible for the civil wars, and the political parties as those responsible for the backwardness, instability and corruption.[6]
Anticommunism
[edit]The regime was anti-communist, establishing in the 1909 Constitution the prohibition of communist propaganda.[7]
Cult of Simón Bolívar
[edit]Statue of Bolívar in the Plaza Bolívar in Mérida. 1930. Gómez continued and deepened the cult of Simón Bolívar, inaugurating his monuments, such as the one in the Plaza Bolívar in Mérida.[8] In addition, he changed his date of birth so that it coincided with Bolívar's date of birth, and made this supposed coincidence public knowledge, announcing that he would also die on the same day as him, which was announced on December 17, 1935, which, in effect, was the anniversary of Bolívar's death.[9]
Change of the national flag
[edit]Through a decree of July 15, 1930 issued by the National Congress, the country's flag was modified, changing the arrangement of the seven stars in the shape of a circumference to another in the shape of an arc.[10]
References
[edit]- ^ "Dictadura de Juan Vicente Gómez". Cámara de Comercio, Industria y Servicios de Caracas (in Spanish).
- ^ Straka, Tomás (2024-01-24). "Entre el miedo y la libertad: Votar antes de la democracia". Prodavinci (in Spanish).
- ^ Elías Pino Iturrieta (2017-12-11). "Dictador desde el principio". Prodavinci (in Spanish).
- ^ "Gobierno de Juan Vicente Gómez". Fundación Empresas Polar (in Spanish). Diccionario de Historia de Venezuela.
- ^ "Eustoquio Gómez fue asesinado por la espalda hace 88 años". Diario La Nación (in Spanish). 2023-12-27.
- ^ "Relaciones civiles-militares en el siglo XX venezolano". Red de Seguridad y Defensa de América Latina (in Spanish).
- ^ Chacón Maldonado, Oláguer E. (2004). "La regulación sobre propaganda en la legislación electoral venezolana en el siglo XX" (PDF) (in Spanish). Revista Politeia.
- ^ Carlos Camacho. "Plaza Bolívar de Mérida" (PDF). Universidad de Los Andes (in Spanish).
- ^ Iriarte, Alfredo (1986). Bestiario tropical (in Spanish).
- ^ Francisco Alejandro Vargas. "Bandera Nacional". Diccionario de Historia de Venezuela (in Spanish). Fundación Empresas Polar.