Venezuela began its fateful career under the guardianship of General Paez, one of the principal heroes of the revolution.  It was Paez who had led his Llanero cavalry so often to victory against the Spaniards, and who, as already related in these pages, had achieved the unique feat of capturing a flotilla of Spanish gunboats—­or, to be more accurate, gun-barges—­by means of this very cavalry.  Those were certainly remarkable men who swam their horses into the river where the flotilla was anchored, and succeeded in this most extraordinary onslaught!

Paez, whose strain was half Spanish and half Indian, was intensely practical in his views of government.  Caring nothing for idealists and for those who indulged in abstract theories, he severed himself abruptly from Bolivar shortly after the final patriot victories, and in the end was the chief cause of the exile of the Liberator.  There is no doubt that both his views and those of the Liberator had changed considerably in the interval, for it is said that in 1826 General Paez had implored Bolivar to mount the throne of the new kingdom which it was proposed to found.  The career of Paez fluctuated between a tenure of the office of President and an apparent retirement into private life, in the course of which, however, his influence and actual power remained as great as ever.

Eventually Jose Tadeo Monagas, who had long enjoyed the support of Paez, revolted against the authority of the old chief.  Paez, nothing loath, accepted the challenge, rallied his followers, and marched to battle.  Here he was defeated and subsequently exiled, while Monagas was left in power.

Paez eventually made his way to the United States.  In his absence the condition of Venezuela became chaotic, and its populace writhed in a ceaseless frenzy of civil strife.  Paez returned from the United States in 1861, and at the spectacle of the terrible condition of his country he resolved, though eighty years and more of age, to enter once again the arena of public life.  He succeeded in obtaining power, but only for a short while.  The spirited but tottering old man was followed by Guzman-Blanco, and died in 1873.

Guzman-Blanco was a man of education, who had enjoyed the advantage of travel in various parts of the world, and proved himself an able leader.  It was not long, however, before the party of the Monagas rose in rebellion against his authority.  These adherents of the Monagas were now known as the “Blues,” and the party of Guzman-Blanco was christened the “Yellows.”

In 1870, after various victories and defeats, Guzman-Blanco caused himself to be declared Dictator.  He enjoyed immense popularity until his resignation in 1877.  He was succeeded by General Alcantara, and left for Europe.  On his return he found that his influence and power had already been destroyed.  Placing himself at the head of a revolution, he again became chief of the State, which he continued to govern, either from within the Republic itself, or from the banks of the Seine, until 1889, when his power was finally overthrown.  Blanco himself made no attempt to return to the country.  He remained in Paris, where he died in 1898.