Great Liberal Party of Venezuela explained

Liberal Party
Native Name:	Spanish; Castilian: Partido Liberal
Leader1 Title:	Founder
Leader1 Name:	Antonio Leocadio Guzmán
Slogan:	Dios y Federación
Headquarters:	Caracas, Venezuela
Newspaper:	El Venezolano
Ideology:	Liberalism Federalism
Colours:	Amber
Country:	Venezuela

The Liberal Party (Spanish; Castilian: Partido Liberal, PL), better known as Great Liberal Party of Venezuela (Spanish; Castilian: Gran Partido Liberal de Venezuela, GPLV), was a political party in Venezuela, founded on August 20, 1840, by Antonio Leocadio Guzmán and Tomás Lander, through an editorial published by Guzmán at El Venezolano newspaper. It was the rival of the Conservative Party.

History

The party very successfully promoted liberal policies during the early days of the Republic. Several of the early presidents of the country were members of the Liberal Party, including José Tadeo Monagas (in office from 1 March 1847 – 5 February 1851 and 20 January 1855 – 15 March 1858) who abolished capital punishment for political crimes. President José Gregorio Monagas proclaimed that Venezuela was a nation free of slavery in an edict signed on 24 March 1854.^[1] In 1863, under the leadership of President Juan Crisóstomo Falcón (in office 15 June 1863 – 25 April 1868), a member of the Liberal Party, Venezuela became the first country to totally abolish the death penalty for all crimes.^[2]

Presidents of Venezuela

State of Venezuela (1830–1864)

No.^[3]	Portrait	President		State	Term of office	Term^[4]
7			José Gregorio Monagas	Monagas	5 February 1851–20 January 1855	6
(6)			José Tadeo Monagas	Monagas	20 January 1855–15 March 1858	7
8			Pedro Gual Escandón	Caracas	15 March 1858–18 March 1858
10			Manuel Felipe de Tovar		29 September 1859–20 May 1861
						8
(8)			Pedro Gual Escandón	Caracas	20 May 1861–29 August 1861

United States of Venezuela (1864–1953)

No.	Portrait	President		State	Term of office	Term
13			Guillermo Tell Villegas	Carabobo	28 June 1868–20 February 1869	9
(13)			Guillermo Tell Villegas	Carabobo	16 April 1870–27 April 1870
15			Antonio Guzmán Blanco	Caracas	27 April 1870–27 February 1877
						10
16			Francisco Linares Alcántara	Aragua	27 February 1877–30 November 1878	11
17			José Gregorio Valera		30 November 1878–26 February 1879
(15)			Antonio Guzmán Blanco	Caracas	26 February 1879–26 April 1884
						12
18			Joaquín Crespo	Aragua	26 April 1884–15 September 1886
(15)			Antonio Guzmán Blanco	Caracas	15 September 1886–8 August 1887
20			Juan Pablo Rojas Paúl	Caracas	2 July 1888–19 March 1890	13
(13)			Guillermo Tell Villegas	Carabobo	17 June 1892–31 August 1892	14
22			Guillermo Tell Villegas Pulido	Barinas	31 August 1892–7 October 1892
23			Ignacio Andrade	Mérida	28 February 1898–20 October 1899	16

See also

• Federal War
• Dios y Federación
• Liberalism and conservatism in Latin America

Notes and References

1. Robert William Fogel and Stanley L. Engerman. Time on the Cross: The Economics of American Negro Slavery, 1995. Page 34.
2. Web site: Capital punishment | Definition, Debate, Examples, & Facts.
3. For the purposes of numbering, a presidency is defined as an uninterrupted period of time in office served by one person. For example, Carlos Soublette was both the 8th and 10th President because the two periods where he was president were not consecutive. A period during which a vice-president temporarily becomes acting president under the Constitution is not a presidency, because the president remains in office during such a period.
4. For the purposes of numbering, a term is a period between two presidential elections. Some terms might be longer than originally expected due to coup d'états or the installation of military dictatorships, thus extending the time between two elections. Venezuela's unique history has allowed several presidents to serve during a single term, as well as some presidents, such as Jose Maria Vargas, serving twice during a single term.