Gocho

Gocho and gocha is the colloquial name for people from the Venezuelan Andes, since the beginning of the century XX.

The gochos would emerge in Venezuelan history in the period known as the Andean Hegemony, the Restorative Liberal Revolution, and the Liberating Revolution, as they were the faction that would end caudillism and begin a period of modernization thanks to different military dictatorships. They have distinguished themselves as a separate group in Venezuela due to their geographical isolation, culture, ethnography, attire and their great influence on the history of this country.

Etymology

The association of the term "gocho" with the Andean people originates with the Restorative Liberal Revolution, an event in which the Andean people emerged in the political life of the country and began their period of almost uninterrupted influence for more than five decades. Since the seizure of power by Cipriano Castro, public order was imposed in a repressive manner by teams of armed men, many of the executors of this repression came from Táchira and had been Castro's comrades-in-arms during the so-called Restoration Revolution, some known as chácaros (possibly coming from the towns of Pregonero), an expression with which, in Táchira, the mountain pigs are called. It has been speculated that by association of terms, Castro's henchmen began to be called gochos, the term being commonly used in a derogatory and insulting manner.

However, in the last electoral campaign of the most recently elected Andean president - Carlos Andrés Pérez in 1988 -, this politician used the name "El Gocho" massively in his campaign. Already then he had been using the expression in a more open and generalized way, removing the negative implication.

Uses and meanings of the term

The nickname has had a controversial meaning in practically the entire territory of Venezuela. In general, those who use it maintain that it is a sign of "affection", as expressed by some authors, such as Lucy Gómez when she states:

Nowadays, in Venezuela it is full of [of] net urban citizens, where we are all more equal than when independence was declared, being the "portu", the "china", the "catire", the "negra" or the "gocho", has never been an insult. And most of the time, with only one my ahead, it becomes caress

On the opposite side, there is the appreciation among a part of those who receive it that it has a derogatory connotation, with it being understood that people are clumsy or "clumsy", rural and lacking in culture. According to opinions such as those of José Pascual Mora García from Tachira, in his Canto a San Cristóbal: Those who think that the "gocho" requete is out of affection are they are wrong It is an expression that seeks to undervalue the people of Tachire.

In the Caracas press the term "gocho" is used mainly to refer to Andean characters.

The terms 'gocho' and 'gocha', are rarely used in some Tachirese media, compared to the demonyms 'tachirense' and 'sancristóbalense' which are used more extensively^{[citation needed]}. However, it is easy to find the adjective gocho in a positive way; quoting:

As a good "roof", Rosales is not fool

Diario La Nación, Leonardo Mora Arias

And samples are presented in which educators describe themselves as:

More goat than anyone

Diario La Nación, E. Lanza

I am a "god" and a lot of honor

Diario La Nación, Guiomar Caminos.

Another important Táchira media outlet, the Regional Television of Táchira, has as its promotional theme and video clip a song called Always with you -el gocho Amigo, composed by José Avendaño and José Hull Acevedo, both from Táchira.

In addition to athletes, politicians and other personalities who could have been named gochos, possibly without consulting them, although they have not shown their distaste for the term, there are examples of people who attribute the term to themselves, such as the artist Jorge Belands of the identity of the Tachiran. One of the most popular Andean artists in recent times, the double winner of the Cy Young Award, Johan Santana, has stated about himself I am still the same 'gocho' from Tovar, 100% Venezuelan. I will continue working and improving.

First settlements and ethnography

Cologne

In the first decade of the XVII century, Mérida was populated by 150 white families and 3,300 entrusted aborigines. In the second half of the 18th century the population of the urban core of the same city was made up of about 2,000 white inhabitants.

At the end of the colony, the inhabitants of Mérida (the country's former Andean capital) numbered eleven thousand five hundred, of all types of classes, although the least numerous were slaves.

According to François-Raymon-Joseph Depons, a French subject who was a spy agent for his government, he points out about the Andes

«... They distinguished themselves by openness, spiritual precision and love of work and literature. Neither these nor the other classes despised the work as it happened in populations settled in warm lands, conducive to nap, chinchorro and manguareo (...) The whites, almost all criollos, were engaged in agriculture, or the breeding or the ecclesiastical race; the unemployed to useful occupations, in which they showed their intelligence and laboriness; the black slaves were relatively few, because the Africans did not adapt biologically to the climatic conditions produced by altitude”

François-Raymon-Joseph Depons

"Being the primitive colonists (...), mostly from Extremadura, where the pigs' breeding and the shanty industry were decorous trades, they were pleased to eat and export very low priced fresh and juicy hams and the most diverse sausages"

Carlos Chalbaud Zerpa

When the Boyaca author Don Basilio Vicente de Oviedo walked through these lands, he wrote in "Qualities and Riches of the New Kingdom of Granada" (1763)

"(...)Today they are very poor and will have when more 200 parishioners this heal, and still some have a flow, but all live in the conformity and [use the] costume that used old, this, is a tone of Catalan micaletas or Almogavares, in the field, in their monsoon and chamarra of dyed canvas, as used by the parishioners,

Don Basilio Vicente de Oviedo

The Timotes and Cuicas

Timote's definition is the one that has been used most frequently to refer to the ancient settlers of the Venezuelan Andes. The Mosonyi brothers propose that in the Venezuelan Andes, particularly in the area of Mérida and Trujillo, the Timoto-Cuica peoples were based, which were linguistically autonomous, and were not part of the Arawaks, nor the Caribs, nor the chibchas, although they had cultural and economic affinities with the latter. There were in the Cordillera of Merida a multitude of more or less populous towns with different names that were attached under the name of Timotes and that were each governed by a chief.

"The Timothys, for so I will call them, had the following towns: to the north, that is on the shores of the Lake, the Bobures and Motilones; to the south on the start of the plains, the Toboros, Caros and Coyones. To the west the Mombures and Aviamas of the Táchira, dependent or confinantes of the Chitareros; and to the East the nation of Cuicas, which, composed of peoples of different names, inhabited what is today the Trujillo state. The limits that they had pointed out among themselves, the Timothys and Cuicas, are precisely the same as the Merida, Tachira and Trujillo states today."

(Lares, 1950: 14)

Fray Pedro de Aguado in his chronicles describes the indigenous people of the Venezuelan Andes in this way

"is these people of this valley almost in the same way and traces that of the valley of Santiago, except that they all brought some sacks of strings of cabuya very long and just to the body, dressed and tied with some cabuyas or threads on the shoulders and collected the very long in the waist, where they brought girded and collected these sacks."

Fray Pedro de Aguado

Ethnography

According to D. Castro De Guerra, the European contribution in Venezuelan urban centers is similar to the trends reported in Argentina, Uruguay and southern Brazil (Salzano & Bortolini 2002). Castro points out that

"In general, the results of DNAmt suggest that (1) the arrival of European women in Venezuela in the colonial era were limited, (2) that the number of African slaves should have been low in relation to other Latin American countries (...) The proportion of African lineages present, including in African populations, is one of the lowest in South America; the absence of AB and the presence of Elbla* suggests a contribution from West Africa. In addition to the low number of African slaves brought to Venezuela, it is highly likely that slaves who illegally entered the Caribbean and the Antilles were descendants of the trade unions of African women with European men and, therefore, bearers of the chromosome and European"

D. Castro de Guerra

In general, studies suggest heterogeneity in relation to the origin of the different genomes in Venezuela. The autosomal is predominantly European with an important Amerindian contribution; The mtDNA is primarily Amerindian, while the Y chromosome is European. Thus, European genes have entered the Venezuelan population through male immigration, while the indigenous contribution has been preserved in the Venezuelan gene pool through women.

According to Castro's compilation of research on the Venezuelan regions, it is recorded that the Andes as a region have an average contribution of 27% of Amerindian origin (preserved by women) and 73% European (brought by male immigration) and no African contribution.

Several explorers, artists and scientists who have explored the Andean zone of Venezuela highlight the contrast of the Andeans with the rest of the Venezuelans from the hot lands, due to their geographical isolation they turn out to be ethnographically different due to not having a large African contribution., but an Amerindian and to a lesser extent compared to the Caucasian.

"People's physiognomy shows a striking Indian mix; few mulattoes and blacks look practically none. People have a fresh look with colorful cheeks; most young women are pretty, but they look all the same..»

Ferdinand Bellermann

Historical role, peasants and leaders.

Independence

The old province of Mérida (a conglomeration of the current states of Táchira and Mérida) was a region of utmost importance for the independence cause due to being one of the greatest points of resistance and for remaining loyal to the republican idea during the war. of Independence. When on July 5, 1811, the Constituent Congress of Caracas declared the independence of the Captaincy General of Venezuela from the Spanish Empire, the Province of Mérida was one of the regions that adhered to the Caracas position. Later, during the Admirable Campaign and after the loss of the First Republic, Bolívar and the New Granadans ventured into Venezuelan territory through San Antonio del Táchira. The city of Mérida was the first to proclaim him Liberator and it is in the city of Trujillo where the aforementioned declared the War to the Death against the Spanish. In this region, there were also important wars such as the battles of La Puerta and Niquitao, tragic events for the Republic since they had favorable results for the royalists, ending with the Republican troops decimated. Years later, when the Spanish general Don Pablo Morillo undertook the Pacification of New Granada and Venezuela, almost all of the Venezuelan territory was reduced to ashes by the royalists, leaving only the old Andean region and some strongholds in the East (such as Margarita) in force. After the Liberator once again undertook an expedition from the Caribbean for the emancipation of the territory, thanks to the new republican recruits and the lack of royalist reinforcements that were not sent from the Peninsula, the Spanish began to suffer losses. It is in Santa Ana de Trujillo where the Liberator and Morillo sign the Treaty of Armistice and Regularization of War, an agreement that could put an end to the hostilities between the parties (until the conflicts of Carabobo and Lake Maracaibo occurred).

19th century

Unlike the time of Independence during the 19th century, the Andean region had little historical influence in terms of political affairs, since as it was a vast region and it was sparsely inhabited, not many new developments occurred. However, economically they were a very prosperous region because they had the highest cultivation rates of products such as coffee, potatoes, cocoa, cassava and corn, which were the largest Venezuelan agricultural export products. of that time, only being surpassed by Brazil in terms of production, returning to the Andes and the gochos in the economic center of the country. These products were marketed abroad through the port of Maracaibo, due to its proximity to the region. While in the rest of the country there were war conflicts and large-scale political disputes that affected the population (as was the case of the Federal War), the Andean people remained isolated from these and maintained a stable peace, managing to develop A prosperous economy and infrastructure, this stability also attracted a percentage of immigration from other regions to the Andes of yesteryear, the majority being llanero shelters escaping the war in the east of the territory. It should be noted that the political-administrative status of the region also changed over time. Previously, the provinces of Táchira and Mérida were united until a certain time and were even merged with Zulia. In the 1870s, the State of Mérida acquired the name of State of Guzmán in honor of President Antonio Guzmán Blanco. In 1881, the three Andean states were merged as one which had the name of Los Andes State, with its capital being the city of Mérida. Starting in the XX century in 1904, they obtained their current administrative political status with the 3 states of Mérida, Táchira and Trujillo being separated.

Andean hegemony

Beginnings of a Dynasty

During the last decade of the 19th century, Venezuela was experiencing very active political events. Although in the country since the beginning of the Federal War, constant uprisings by regional leaders called by Guzmán Blanco "the Venezuela of dry leather" had become common. Táchira remained exempt, for a certain time, from those conflicts that devastated the other provinces of Venezuela with poverty and pain. For many years, the people of Táchira had been characterized by being peaceful and industrious, typical of the idiosyncrasy of a worker who did not lack a plot or orchard to carry out his agricultural work. It took little time for coffee to become the gold that brought good fortune to the region's producers and, consequently, largely filled the nation's treasury coffers.

By the mid-nineties, coffee prices on the international market had reached the highest levels in history. This fruit became so attractive that some decades before, in anticipation of the increase in world consumption that was foreseen for these years, foreign investors, mainly the firms of German commercial houses established in Maracaibo, since the second half of the century XIX founded several branches in Cúcuta and in the center of San Cristóbal, with the purpose of taking this important product abroad, which around 1897 It represented 80% of the country's agricultural exports, placing Venezuela as the second largest exporter of this sector internationally.

At this time, proverbial wealth was generated in the region. Of course, all the great variety of products offered by these prestigious houses were not entirely for the consumption of common people, since although in Táchira a latifundist social class of great potentates was not formed as in other regions of the center and the plains, nor was the slave regime promoted because it had not been an important colonial enclave, if a wealthy sector had been generated, owner of large and medium extensions of land planted mainly with coffee plantations, whose activity produced at the same time, a class peasant, illiterate and exploited, dependent on very poor payments for days of agricultural work or for the provision of domestic services in houses or farms, with little access to consumer goods. A social class, whose idea of a country did not go beyond the borders of its municipality or, at most, the limits of the Section. Due to this situation, the adventure of war filled, for many, the expectation of a stroke of luck that would change their lives, forming part of the entourage of some governor, general or at least a civil leader, at the end of a triumphant campaign, this desire would lead them to venture to the outskirts of their region to the Venezuelan capital and conquer the country.

«... War was part of everyday life. It was even, even a social promotion mechanism. In fact, in the political vocabulary, military terms were installed which showed that the “normal” was the state of permanent disastrous that the country suffered.”

In Venezuela at the end of the 19th century, General Cipriano Castro set out to organize a group of men and supplies in the city of Cúcuta, with the aim of invading Táchira, a fact accomplished on May 23, 1899, when he crossed the border with Colombia through the site of Los Vados, at the head of sixty armed men, accompanied by his brother Celestino Castro. and his compadre and financier Juan Vicente Gómez; who, once they arrived in Capacho at dawn on May 24 of that year, held their first meeting with the local government forces at the so-called Tononó site.

In 1899, within a great national crisis, and through the so-called Restorative Liberal Revolution, the rise to power of the Andean people occurred. Initially, at the head of the government would be its head, General Cipriano Castro, who had led his movement invading from Colombia, under the revolutionary proclamation of: "New men, new ideals, new procedures.". Castro would govern until 1908, when he was removed from power by a clever maneuver; and then, Juan Vicente Gómez (1857-1935), who would remain in power until his natural death. During this long Andean domination, which would continue, with important adjustments, in the regimes of generals López Contreras (1883-1973), Medina Angarita (1897-1953) and Marcos Pérez Jiménez (1953-1958), the bases would be consolidated. of the new Venezuelan society where after independence it would be the first period of peace for the country that would lead to social and economic development that would turn Venezuela into a regional power.

The main features of this new moment in Venezuelan history are given by the disappearance of caudillismo, the foundation of the political instability and atomization that characterized Venezuela in the century XIX; the advancement of the process of institutionalization of national life, especially that referred to the centralization of political power in the State; the profound reformulation of the political-ideological instruments used (liberal ideology); and the revitalization of Venezuelan society, which would no longer have an agrarian economic support but would be based on oil wealth, a dynamic agent whose impact would cause a reactivation of the implementation process, thereby overcoming the long structural crisis. The rise to power of the Andean people would occur within the framework of a great crisis, in which the destabilization of the caudillo system, the decrease in tax revenues and foreign pressures to demand payment of the public debt come together. With the death of General Joaquín Crespo, the last of the great leaders of Yellow Liberalism, the country had sunk into anarchy, because in the absence of leadership, the ambitions of the regional leaders were unleashed, against which there was very little anyone could do. The government was then presided over by: General Ignacio Andrade (1836-1925).

The difficulties that the leaders would have in exercising control over Castro and his nationalist policy, which would lead him to a confrontation with foreign capital, will cause a break between liberal caudillism and the Castro government.

Conflicts with Colombia

Venezuelan diplomacy was not very effective by the end of the 19th century, as it broke relations with France (1881 and 1895), the Kingdom of the Netherlands (1875-1894), and Belgium (1873-1897). Not to mention that in 1901 the enmity between General Cipriano Castro and the Colombian president José Manuel Marroquín became evident. The authors who have written about it agree that the differences were for ideological reasons, since the first was liberal and the second was conservative. However, President Marroquín was motivated by resource considerations, an issue that was reflected in Colombia's interests in the Zulia-Catatumbo river system, a necessary route for Colombia to be able to ship its coffee through Maracaibo, which would also allow it to obtaining an outlet to the Caribbean Sea, added to this, the oil and asphalt abundant in that area of the country, were projected as highly beneficial riches. The naval combat of Rio Hacha was the product of the invasion of the Colombian army into Venezuelan territory, that is, this fact corresponds to the almost immediate response on the part of Venezuela against the aggressor country. Carlos Rangel Garbiras launched no less than four separate invasions from Colombia to Táchira after July 1901 in the context of the Thousand Days War. The immediate antecedent to the naval combat of Río Hacha takes place chronologically on July 26, 1901, when 6,000 men of the Colombian army under the command of Rangel Garbirás occupied San Antonio and were heading to San Cristóbal, causing destruction in their path. In addition to marching towards Caracas to establish a conservative government in Venezuela, the Marroquín government had the objective of marching on Maracaibo to separate that Basin from the rest of the country, this would allow the exit of Santander products and access to the bituminous potential of the zone. But on July 29, Celestino Castro, advised by the Colombian general Uribe Uribe, defeated them by concentrating 1,500 men in the battle of San Cristóbal.

On July 28, another attack was carried out by 7,000 Colombian troops who sailed down the Catatumbo River, kidnapping the Colombian-Venezuelan boundary demarcation commission. They later marched towards Founded, taking this plaza, although it would soon be recovered by the Venezuelan general Régulo Olivares who advanced on Dondedos and retook it, pushing the invaders down the river with the steamship “Progreso” and rescued the boundary commissioners. Venezuela's response to this aggression was immediate, Castro sent Venezuelan General Rufo Nieves under the orders of General Castillo and the advance through Guajira began, leaving through Paraguipoa, until the battle of Garapasera took place on August 22. 1901 where the army would win again, this conflict, including the battle of San Cristóbal and Rio Hancha would be the great conflicts of Venezuela against Colombia, in which the Gocho government would emerge victorious in all combats.

Gochos against European imperialism

Evidently European colonialism represented a threat to the survival of the Venezuelan nation, however there were other elements of Venezuelan internal politics that put the consolidation of the republic in equal danger. Some elements that contributed to the appearance of caudillos in Venezuela were the absence of a professional army with a national character capable of subduing local troops and the absence of roads that favored the integration of the territory. The continuous civil wars or armed uprisings that lasted almost 100 years increased the debts and turned Venezuela into a chronic debtor and delinquent country, which lacked credit and was the subject of continuous claims for compensation, sometimes unfounded, but which were a source of international threats.. A few years later the Liberating Revolution, commanded by the banker and merchant Manuel Antonio Matos, deepened the effects of the enormous crisis that shook the country and served as an argument for England, Germany and Italy to justify the aggression they carried out against Venezuela through the blockade. naval of 1902.

The reason for that aggression according to the powers was the delay in which Venezuela had incurred in the payment of a debt with the European banks due to the piles and mismanagement of the government before the Andean ones, behind these reasons, it hid the intention on the part of the European hegemonies to take positions in the Caribbean, in the vicinity of the construction of the Panama Canal. The Americans, for their part, would finance the Liberating Revolution with transnational companies such as New York & Bermudez Company, Orinoco Steamship Company and the Europeans for the French Telegraph Cable Company that would end in the last great civil war in Venezuela.

The naval blockade, the civil war and the conflicts with Colombia were events that shook all at once to remove the Andean government from power due to its nationalist tendencies that would put an end to the imperialist intentions of the European powers and the United States of America., the Gochos would end up being victorious and consolidating themselves as the dominant and civilizing faction in the country until the fall of General Marcos Perez Jimenez, due to Medina's intention to eliminate the Venezuelan navy, Pérez Jiménez would turn Venezuela into the Latin American power of the time., having an authoritarian, nationalist government focused on the creation of an infrastructure that would allow the development of the country, all of this under the doctrine of the new national ideal. During the rest of Venezuelan history, prominent figures of Andean origin continued to appear in national politics, such as Carlos Andrés Pérez (president on two occasions, between 1974 and 1979 and 1989 and 1993), Ramón José Velásquez (president between 1993 and 1994)..

Life in the wasteland of yesteryear

The mountain range and its inhabitants

Ferdinand Bellermann, gives us a look at life in the Venezuelan mountain range in the 19th century, characterized by its unique flora, rain, fog and scorching cold comparable to the Norwegian one. The vegetation and landscapes were alpine, covered with frailejones of different species with silver green leaves and yellow flowers, the cows and horses in those mountains were covered with long hair; but in these cold areas it was not easy to get forage. Rain, hail or thick fog could be permanent companions on a tour through the moor, so much so that today it is folklore said that the Andean people (gochos) are children of the fog and the mountains. Bridges and crosses were common in the region, and in parts baskets or sacks with food, such as bread, bananas, cassava, were found hanging from the trunk of a tree; placed there to help travelers who ran out of provisions; Because in those places it was difficult to get food.

"The mountains rise majestic but horribly bleak in the whole melting place; a destroyed church, which one stands at the pace, fits perfectly into this region. In the lateral gorges of the mountain torrents rush their waters in the Chama and fearful bridges pass over these indomitous torrents. »

Ferdinand Bellermann

«In the snowy mountains of Norway I did not so much as here in the wilderness»

Ferdinand Bellermann

The real estate of the mountain range, perhaps due to the geographical difference and isolation, was particularly different from the Venezuelan lands of the hot lands. Bellermann describes Mérida as the second capital of Venezuela.

« The interior of the house differed little from the rest of the houses of the country, the earth walls were unwhite and a groin of palm leaves formed the ceiling; on the main wall there was a wooden shelf full of figures and images of saints that seemed to be a kind of home altar; plague and a harp were something new and different from the furniture of the houses that I had seen in other provinces, and since I found them afterwards to be typical. The rest of the walls were garrisoned with weapons and mounting attachments, on the ground they had extended bear and tiger skins as milk. »

Ferdinand Bellermann

"Mérida is in a beautiful plateau surrounded by three rivers, the Chama, the Milla and the Albarregas. It is built very regularly, it has churches and a cathedral under construction, the market square is large and has a pile in the middle, there is a beautiful cemetery, it is the seat of the bishop and the governor, it has a school and it is called to itself the second capital of Venezuela (...) in all the streets grows the grass on the pavement and in many peace the animals, the bananas surpass the walls and the houses. Great are the surroundings: there are beautiful views all over (...) Here you see apples in flower, orange, agaves, yuca, palm trees and bananas, all mixed. »

Ferdinand Bellermann

The ruana or blanket

The ruana is a loose coat without sleeves and open in its central part under the hole where the head of the wearer is placed, in the form of a cape made by hand that is worn on top of other garments, which is shaped square or rectangular and has a hole in the center to pass the head through. This clothing is the garment par excellence of the Venezuelan Andes, forming part of the gocha clothing from the colony until it became its typical and iconic clothing, even coming to be used in past times throughout the Colombian-Venezuelan region (Completely disused and currently only covered in the Andean departments of Colombia and the Venezuelan Andes).

According to the RAE, the term ruana comes from the disused adjective "ruano", which refers to a woven wool garment for going to the street, which in the Portuguese language is called rúa.

Different hypotheses are put forward regarding its origin. In popular jargon it is said that it is the fusion of the blanket or chircate of the indigenous Muiscas and Timoto-cuicas with the Spanish capes; while others believe that this name was taken from the cloths that the Spanish brought from Rouen in France.

According to ProColombia (tourism agency) the ruana is a Chibcha word that means “Land of blankets” referring to the wool fabrics made by the Muiscas.

Ramón Páez, son of José Antonio Páez, documented the use of the ruana or blanket in the plain region, showing that it was a garment used by all regions of ancient Venezuela.

"...They used a thick blanket of wool to keep the body cool and wet during the day and hot at night (...) the usual thing was to dress with a double blanket, what we call today reversible, formed with overlapping fabrics: dark blue and intense red. For wet days they used the blue color outward; and in the very sunny days, they turned the rhinestone so that the red color would remain out. »

Ramón Páez

Captain Vowel points out in his book "The Sabanas of Barinas"

«... this coat is given the name of blanket or chamarra, which consists of a square of berry, of double incarnated and blue lid, with the neck in the center»

Captain Vowel

The ruana, despite its blurred origin and having lost its importance in the region, is still in use and manufactured in a traditional way in the Andean regions of Venezuela and some departments of Colombia such as Antioquia and Boyacá.

The Andean people were especially striking and different in their outfits for the German painter Ferdinand Belllermann, especially for their ruanas and riding pants.

"They also carry many small brown blankets, men are almost always wrapped in blankets and wear glowing hats of waxed fabrics of all colors; on horseback they wear pants riding tiger or bear skins... »

Ferdinand Bellermann

Bullfighters and coffee growers

Bullfighting

The gochos, along with the llaneros, are in Venezuelan territory the ones that tend to have the greatest inclination towards things related to bullfighting, perhaps due to the day-to-day presence that this animal had in the peasant work of the old province. from Mérida or because of the high Spanish influence in the area.

Unlike other bullfighting lands in Latin America, the bullfight continues to be a matter of the city or rather of the metropolis and a small elite. However, we cannot conclude that the practice will be irremediable since the number of shows has remained stable in the last two decades. In addition, Venezuela has three important fairs, those of San Cristóbal, Mérida and Valencia, where the great figures of world bullfighting go. The bullring in these bullfighting cities has very impressive dimensions: those in San Cristóbal have 22,000 spectators and those in Mérida 17,500. Proof of its dynamism. A golden age of bullfighting located in the 1950s, a capital no longer a major bullfighting city, and a currency collapse since the mid-1980s, accentuated the overall impression of the Venezuelan decline of bullfighting passion.

The distribution of arenas and shows in 2004 clearly shows the weight of the mountain ranges in the location of bullfights. The sands are mainly divided into two disjoint geographical areas: the Mérida mountain range and the coastal mountain range. The states of the Mérida Mountain Range (Táchira, Mérida, Trujillo) and those of the Coastal Mountain Range represent 80% of the bull races. This distribution gives added value in relation to the taurine density of the Mérida mountain range, because almost 50% of the Venezuelan population is found in the coastal mountain range. Between San Cristóbal and Mérida, there is a high concentration of sands that allow us to delimit a local bullfighting country of primary importance on the scale of the Andean zone, quite comparable to that which extends in Colombia between the departments of Cundinamarca and Boyacá. Several farms are also concentrated in this region for this type of show. Of the thirty-two fighting bull farms in the country, ten are located between the capitals of Mérida and Táchira. This region is also where the colonial heritage is most visible in architecture and traditions. The presence of bullfighting in the Andes confirms the conservation of this heritage.

We found traces of one hundred bullrings in Venezuela, fifty of which operate regularly. In the hundred sands that exist and that existed in the near past, the weight of the Venezuelan Andes and the central mountain range is not questioned since they make up 70% of them. The Mérida mountain range alone has 49 places.

Finally, the mid-1960s corresponded to a period of dynamism in bullfighting activities, particularly with the inauguration of numerous stadiums such as the Monumental de San Cristóbal in 1965, and the Monumental de Mérida in 1967. These years They correspond to a period of political stability, democratization and increase in oil income that allows to translate into stone what the auspicious period of the previous decade had planted as a hobby.

One of the most important festive dates in Venezuela is the Feria del Sol de Mérida, established in 1969, also known as "The Bullfighting Carnival of America". The Feria del Sol is a powerful brand image of the city during which many extra bullfighting deals are negotiated. In San Cristóbal, the San Sebastián International Fair plays a similar role and can boast the ancient origins of a colonial fair. The fairs and festivals of San Sebastián changed their name and became the international fair of San Sebastián in 1965 with the inauguration of the bullring of the Monumental de Pueblo Nuevo and the fair complex called "Pavilion of Colombia and Venezuela" 3. 4;. It was at this time that bullfighting became one of the main windows of the Fair.

Coffee farmers

The main economic activity of the Venezuelan Andes has been since the XVIII century the cultivation of coffee, gochos, apart of bullfighting have been coffee growers for the vast majority of their history, even achieving in 1895 that Venezuela occupied third place among the world's largest coffee producers, after Brazil and the Dutch Islands. At the time, the country was responsible for between 6.5 and 6.7 percent of world production and between 15 and 16 percent of the world's total of mild coffees. A year later, Venezuela had already become the second largest producer in the world and the first among the world's largest producers of mild coffee.

The introduction of the Coffee Tree, the plant from which the coffee bean is obtained for processing, was for the first time in Venezuela by Spanish missions residing in the Caroní River basins in 1730. Although later in 1776 crops were found in Cumaná and the Caribbean, four years later the cultivation spread to the West, to distribute and reach Andean territory. In Mérida, where the first plant of this type was found before 1777 and after the War of Independence, plantations began in this area. Just as in Táchira, thanks to the initiative of Gervasio Rubio, the one who introduced coffee seeds in 1794, on the Yegüera hacienda, later named Rubio. The same thing happened in Trujillo in 1801, but this time brought by Francisco Labastida. Likewise, following the Tachiran Andes, the coffee tree continued its journey to Colombia, penetrating through Cúcuta and Salvador de Palmas.

Coffee was very relevant in the Andean towns with respect to the changes in living conditions, especially in Mérida, improving all social and infrastructure aspects of the state, due to the large income coming from production. of said grain. Likewise, great advances in the economy, such as trade and exchange with the port of Maracaibo, were decisive steps for the country, since through it the product was exported to Europe and North America so that the farmers would later return, with products and technologies typical of those nations, which brought progress to the mountainous regions of the Andes, where there was most coffee activity in Venezuelan territory.

The Andean states attracted immigrants during the Federal War of 1859-1869. In 1868, Venezuelan coffee production stagnated for about fifteen years, at around 7 million kilos per year, before returning to a cycle of expansion between 1872 and 1893, with crops grown in particular in the three Andean states, Táchira, Trujillo and Mérida, which together represented 45% of the country's production in the 1920s, at its peak.

As a result of great changes in the production and consumption of coffee worldwide, there is the expansion of its cultivation in Venezuela. Since the beginning of the 19th century the consumption of this product had increased rapidly, especially in the United States, which imported at the beginning of the century 100,000 bags annually.

Trees can be harvested four years after planting. Each tree has a lifespan of around 50 years. The harvest period varies depending on altitude and local conditions: trees above 3,000 feet are harvested later than those at lower altitudes. Coffee production peaked at 1 million bags per year before 1914. In the border region of the Andes, coffee production increased tenfold between 1830 and 1930. In 1919, more than 82,000 tons of coffee were produced; However, poor agricultural practices, soil erosion and, to a lesser extent, the incidence of rainfall and excessive land use caused the yield rate to fall sharply in the 1920s, which has led to the decline of the coffee industry. Oil extraction worsened its decline. Coffee grown in Venezuela is sold mainly to the United States, Belgium and Germany.

Despite the fact that Venezuela was a major coffee exporter at the beginning of the XX century, known for its high quality, oil has been reducing the importance of this product and although it is no longer produced as before, it is still important in the Venezuelan agricultural economy.

Idioms and dialect

The place and position in geographical space give Táchira special characteristics. It is here where the South American Andes reach their lowest altitude, which allows it to be an obligatory passage for migratory movements and goods in the system of relations established particularly between Venezuela and Colombia. That is why this part of the border between the two countries, that of Táchira and Norte de Santander, is classified as one of the most active on the continent, it is thanks to this that the Spanish of the Andean region of Venezuela has an accent and a particular intonation when speaking that differentiates it from the rest of the country. Likewise, it has idioms and words used only in the Andean region of a regional and local nature.

Native, Venezuelan and various idioms and voices from Colombia would form the glossary of Gocho speech, expressions as colloquial as "Ora" (Exclamation that precedes phrases or expressions) of autochthonous origin, "toche" voice from Colombia or " "miche" (Clandestinely produced cane liquor) are also native phrases that, despite their different origins, converge into a single regional speech.

In addition to using the pronoun usted instead of you given the inclination towards more formal speech used in this region, in contrast to the familiarity of treatment of the central region or the voseo of the Zulia region.

Musical expressions

The music that makes up the Tachiran repertoire and constitutes its identity has its origin in the fusion of rhythms from European immigrant currents with the native sounds of indigenous tribes. He gained very little influence from African music. It is estimated that very few Negroid tribes arrived in this region.

Although folk music itself is not abundant today, some pieces have managed to be rescued from oblivion. Among its varied titles are La Perrabaya, El Pato Bombiao, El Manzanares, La Pala, La Molinera, La Lumbarda, La Severiana. All of these pieces and the others that correspond to the genre of ancient dance music belong to the category of Venezuelan music called Golpe, characterized by elemental harmony, repetitions and improvisations.

Typical instruments

The instruments used to produce this typical music are, among others, the tachirense bandolín, the tiple, the charrasca and the maracas. Improvisation is an important traditional element, almost completely lost today. We still find, however, good examples of "canto accommodationo" or "accommodate verses" which designate certain old peasant customs such as passing the maracas to each other while singing or singing "a la string" or next to the instruments. Another traditional element that is difficult to rescue now is the custom of women singing alongside men. This was common in past times and is a very important detail due to its rarity. Women, except in the area of black or indigenous influence, do not sing in our country.

Important Figures

In history there have been several presidents who are classified with this name:

• Ignacio Andrade 28 February 1898-20 October 1899
• Cipriano Castro October 23, 1899, until December 19, 1908
• Juan Vicente Gómez 19 December 1908, until 5 August 1913;24 June 1922, until 30 May 1929;13 June 1931, until 17 December 1935
• Eleazar López Contreras December 17, 1935, until May 5, 1941
• Isaias Medina Angarita 5 May 1941, until 18 October 1945
• Marcos Pérez Jiménez 2 December 1952, until 23 January 1958
• Carlos Andrés Pérez 11 March 1974 until 12 March 1979, second period from 2 February 1989 until 20 May 1993

• Ramón José Velázquez 5 June 1993 to 2 February 1994

Other important figures

• José Vivas, one of the most recognized Venezuelan architects nationally and internationally.
• Just Briceño Otálora, Venezuelan military who participated in the Independence of Venezuela and New Granada (present-day Colombia).

• Rafael González Pacheco, participates in countless battles throughout the War of Independence, obtaining the title of Brigade General. He was a supporter of the Great Colombia. During the republican period his attitude was no less remarkable, as he participated and suffocated continuous uprisings.

• Rafael de Nogales Méndez, was a Venezuelan military, writer and adventurer. He participated in various conflicts among which the First World War stands out, at the service of the Ottoman army.

• Mariano Picón Salas, was a Venezuelan writer, diplomat and academic. His work highlights the historical, literary criticism and cultural history of Latin America, which make him one of the most universal Venezuelan intellectuals.

• Alberto Adriani, outstanding economist, writer and Venezuelan politician. He was Minister of Agriculture and later of the Treasury.

• Johan Santana Venezuelan professional baseball player playing in the pitcher position, won the Cy Young Prize of the American League in 2004 and 2006.

• Richard Páez Médico, Venezuelan ex-futbolist and football coach.

• Tomás Rincón Professional footballer of the largest selection of Football of Venezuela and current player of the Torino FC of Italy.

• Édgar Ramírez Venezuelan actor, film and television, winner of a César Award, winner of an ALMA Award, nominated for the Golden Globe, the Prizes of the Union of Actors and the Emmy Awards.
• Chucho Corrales, called "The Táchira singer", he was a singer, announcer, politician and Venezuelan composer. By his artistic sensitivity to his land he was also known as the romantic trouber of the Andes.

• Kent James, of San Cristobal, is known in the Venezuelan, Boricua and American musical world for having played songs of the urban and ballad genre. In groups such as Calle Ciega and Los cadillacs became a creditor on 2 occasions of the Orchid Prize, one of diamonds and one of gold. He was the winner in 2015 of the HTV heat prize as a revealing artist of the year in his last installment in Cap Cana.

• María Edilia Rangel Márquez Known as "La Gocha", Cantautora, Músico, Ganadora del Reality Protagonistas de Novela. Award for Best Performer Festival Viña del Mar.

• Pedro León Zapata was a painter, writer, cartoonist and Venezuelan humorist.