Joaquin Crespo

Joaquín Sinforiano de Jesús Crespo Torres (San Francisco de Cara, Aragua, August 22, 1841 - La Mata Carmelera, Cojedes, April 16, 1898) was a Venezuelan military and politician, President of the Republic on two occasions: 1884-1886, and 1892-1898.

A prominent member of the so-called Yellow Liberalism, he was the most faithful ally and follower of Antonio Guzmán Blanco, from whose hand he received the presidency for the longest period during that period, only surpassed by Antonio Guzmán himself. White.

Joaquín Crespo, became the most powerful leader of Venezuela after the political retirement and subsequent death of Guzmán Blanco, becoming president for a period of six years, during which he sought to emulate the brilliance of the government Guzmancista, but he was confronted with a different reality, economic problems, social decomposition and the decline of Yellow Liberalism, which was finally consummated during the period of his successor, Ignacio Andrade, the which he himself promoted and is believed to have placed, through electoral fraud, at the head of the country.

Crespo would die defending Ignacio Andrade himself from the Queipa Revolution, led by José Manuel Hernández, who was the opposition candidate for the Nationalist Liberal Party against Andrade and the alleged real winner of the elections.

Biography

Joaquín Crespo was born in San Francisco de Cara, Aragua state. He began his military career at a very young age in 1858, when he enlisted in the ranks of the federal army, under the orders of Colonel Jesús de Jesús, Donato Rodríguez and later Zoilo Medrano, finally going on to serve directly by promoting generals Ezequiel Zamora, Juan Crisóstomo Falcón and Antonio Guzmán Blanco during the final phases of the Federal War, being with the last of these with whom he began to cultivate a very close friendship, since then being the right hand and most loyal man of the great leader. On March 17, 1864, he was promoted to the rank of brigadier general, at the suggestion of Guzmán Blanco himself. On September 18 of the same year he married Jacinta Parejo, widow of Ramón Silva de Mercado, in Parapara.

Then, under the government of Marshal Juan Crisóstomo Falcón, he was a deputy to the Legislative Assembly of the Guárico State (1864), being the main deputy for the same state in the National Congress (1865-1868). At the end of his term as deputy, he once again took up arms against the Blue Revolution (1868-1870) and stood out as one of the main followers of President Antonio Guzmán Blanco, who promoted him to the rank of general in chief of the Armies. of Venezuela (December 4, 1871).

In September 1876 Crespo was part of the ministerial group of President General Francisco Linares Alcántara; After Linares Alcántara died, Crespo joined the movement of General Gregorio Cedeño known as the Reclaiming Revolution, which restored Guzmán Blanco to power in 1879, who held the presidency during the period called El Quinquenio from 1879 to 1884. During the Guzmancist five-year period, he was Civil and Military Chief of the Maracay Federal Territory (1880) and president of the Guzmán Blanco State (1882).

On February 14, 1884, Guzmán appointed Crespo Minister of War and Navy and was then elected senator, later to be named President of the Republic by Congress for the period 1884-1886, when his government ended. He delivers it to Manuel Antonio Diez, until Guzmán arrives.

On June 27, 1888, Juan Pablo Rojas Paúl was elected the new President, an event that forced Crespo to reside in Trinidad and Saint Thomas, a Danish colony in the Virgin Islands archipelago, from where he attempted to invade Venezuela aboard the schooner Ana Jacinta. Being defeated by the government, he was taken as a prisoner to La Rotunda prison, then he was pardoned by President Rojas Paúl with the promise to temporarily retire from politics. He dedicated himself to taking care of his El Totumo ranch in Guárico and then went into exile in Peru.

Second Presidency

In February 1892, the Legalist Revolution led by Crespo broke out, which sought to prevent the continuity in power of President Raimundo Andueza Palacio. In October 1892 Crespo entered Caracas triumphantly and exercised power for five years and four months. One of the first measures of the new Government is the decree of October 28, 1892 by which the assets of 340 officials of the regime of President Raimundo Andueza Palacio are declared seized, also providing that said officials would be subjected to a liability trial. civil and administrative. However, some time later, the course of this policy changed, as it granted amnesties, freed political prisoners and at the same time allowed the return of those who were exiled.

Throughout his government, Crespo would seek to emulate as much as possible the «Illustrious American», the man to whom he had been most loyal and whom he most admired, trying to provide his management of the brilliance that the «Guzmancista» government possessed, but was confronted with a very different reality. The last presidential administrations had left the country mired in severe economic problems and social decomposition was sprouting everywhere, the result was that the «Ensayo de Civismo», initiated by Antonio Guzmán Blanco, was now in a critical situation, and for the first time in more than two decades, Yellow Liberalism began to weaken. Even so, Crespo made an effort to encourage the economy, especially through the banking sector, previously introduced by Guzmán Blanco himself, by progressively strengthening it and using it as an ally.

He also subdivided the country into 8 military regions, created institutions for the development and production of weapons, purchased new weapons and equipment and made an attempt to institutionalize and systematize the military corps. He also endorsed the formation of the chambers of commerce of Maracaibo, Puerto Cabello, Caracas, Valencia and Barquisimeto.

The most outstanding characteristics and aspects of Joaquín Crespo's second government are that there was great administrative corruption and freedoms in the field of politics, because there was freedom of assembly i>, industries, absolute printing, among many others. However, several loans were contracted abroad that in the end were skillfully manipulated for the benefit of the people who were part of the government.

Paradoxically, having come to power defending the "Guzmancista Constitution of 1881", on June 16, 1893, a new Constitution was implemented that would establish in its article 63, direct and secret voting, in addition to presidential terms of 4 years in article 71. Thus he was the winner in the presidential elections of 1894 for the period 1894-1898. Crespo became the supreme leader of the Yellow Liberal Party and dominated the political life of Venezuela in the last decade of the XIX century.

In 1893 a period of economic recession began due to the decline in the prices of export items. Without many maneuvers to carry out, the government had to reduce the salaries of employees between 10 and 30%. This caused the Guzmancista opposition to re-emerge, under the leadership of Manuel Antonio Matos, advised from Paris by his brother-in-law, the Illustrious American. Crespo decides to get ahead of events and proposes to Matos himself to form a new Cabinet of national understanding. Matos accepts (March 1895); The manifesto-program of the new Cabinet promises to fight against waste and embezzlement and offers to introduce order in the management of finances. The Matos Ministry only lasts a scant 6 months; It was, from its beginning, an attempt to avoid a political crisis, seeking the effective “integration” of national banking capital into the Crespista government apparatus. The failure of this attempt, together with the need to meet the obligations contracted, both with Venezuelan financial institutions and with foreign railway companies, led the administration of President Crespo to seek new financing avenues. Of course, this led to The country's external debt skyrocketed and several international problems began. In 1896, the Civil Code of Venezuela was reformed.

The diplomatic crisis with Great Britain over the territory of Guyana Essequiba (1895-1896) has led, through the intervention of the United States, to the submission of the case to the Arbitration Court of The Hague (beginning 1897) through the Arbitration Treaty Washington of 1897, ruling proposing a new arbitration treaty in 1899 in which the United States will represent Venezuela. The way in which the Venezuelan Government has treated the situation is questioned. On February 22, 1897, Crespo admitted to the country that Venezuela had been marginalized from the negotiations and recorded his protest in this regard.