Tello Mendoza, Jose Ramon. Ligeros Rasgos del General Juan Vicente Gomez. Caracas: Tipografia Universal, 1904. Jose Tello was a writer and a close friend of Juan Vicente Gomez, thus Tello’s composition about Gomez attempted to honor his ideas and describe the difficulties he overcame before taking over as president of Venezuela. The book does not have a central argument, rather it compiles an array of telegrams, thoughts, decrees, and letters to build a biography of Gomez. Tello described the General as an assertive man with strong character, and also highlighted his integrity and patriotic spirit.
According to the telegrams described in the book, the author indirectly implies that the General used hostility against civilians during his conquering process. Tello remarks that Gomez’s government was repeatedly accused of crimes they did not commit, and that these accusations were made to hurt the government’s legacy. The author made short and blunt statements, and drew upon metaphors to exemplify his ideas. One could say that this book is strongly biased based on the author’s overly enthusiastic descriptions of Gomez, making the conclusions on this book unreliable.
However, this source discloses documents that provide accurate information on Gomez’s early dictatorial governing style. It effectively helps my research to demonstrate the beginnings of this dictator as one of the most oppressive figures in Venezuelan history. McBeth, Brian. “Foreign Support for Venezuelan Political Exiles During the Regime of Juan Vicente Gomez: The Case of Mexico, 192333” Historian Summer Vol. 69 (2007): 275-304. McBeth examines the support given by the Mexican government to the Venezuelan exiles in their attempt to eliminate the Gomez regime.
He traces the history of international affairs between Latin American nations, specifically Venezuela and Mexico. McBeth discusses and defines historical events to narrate the sequence that led to a stronger Venezuelan opposition. He discovered that Mexico wanted to outweigh the influence of the United States over Venezuela. He also found that Mexico wanted to implement more liberal values over Venezuela. According to the article, one of the measures the Mexican government carried out was to aid Venezuelan resistance with guns and mercenaries to defeat Gomez.
This source illustrates the vigorous intolerance of Gomez of political plurality, thus supporting my research’s idea that he enforced oppressive policies. Likewise, this article provides specific examples of exhaustive opposition to Gomez’s brutal regime from an international entity. The author, a professor at St. Anthony’s College, based his research on one hundred and forty-four primary and secondary sources. He also showed a slight bias in opposition to Gomez, pushing his ideas towards criticizing the Venezuelan dictator.
The utilization of this article is essential for the research since it sustains with specific instances the claim that exhaustive resistance against Gomez was carried out in Venezuela and other countries. Lluch, Amalia. “La Campana contra el Dictador Juan Vicente Gomez y la Implicacion del Embajador Espanol en Caracas” Cuadernos de Investigacion Historica (1990) Vol. 13: 47-53. Lluch outlines an array of events occurring worldwide against the military regime of Juan Vicente Gomez.
While her work is mainly a narrative, her description of facts and her in depth analysis of the resistance against Gomez makes the topic easier to understand. Her main points discussed the experience of Venezuelan exiles in Puerto Rico, the role of the pro-Gomez Spanish ambassador in debilitating the resistance, and the world wide campaign against Gomez conducted by Cipriano Castro and later on by Luis Martin. Her central argument effectively portrays the exhaustive resistance against Gomez internationally, which is why it is fundamental to nclude it in the research. The article is easy to read and shapes the discussion about Venezuelan resistance by providing a different perspective and precise examples on how the Gomez regime could be fought without needing violence. In addition, this source’s validity is enhanced by the proximity this author has to the background of the article for being Latin American. Also, her recognized professional stand as a professor of the University Sagrado Corazon (Puerto Rico) furthers the reliability on her article for my research.
Kozloff, Nikolas. “Asserting State Authority through Environmental Monitoring: Venezuela in the Post-Gomez Era, 1935-1945” Bulletin of Latin American Research. (2006) Vol. 25: 282-300. Nikolas Kozloff is a professor in the University of Oxford with a Ph. D in Latin American history. In his article, he argues that the Venezuelan government, during and after the Gomez era, sought to control the petroleum industry through a system of environmental monitoring.
In order to defend his thesis, he analyzed the events that linked the oil industry with environmental policies in Venezuela with an unbiased mindset, making this source remarkably reliable and helpful. Kozloff points out how Gomez carried an “iron fist government”, censored all the media that criticized him, was rarely motivated by moral convictions, and monitored his enemies. This discussion epitomizes the idea contended in the thesis that Gomez’s regime was built upon oppressive policies that would later on inspire a fierce resistance.
It contains many claims about national resistance media that could also be used to support my research thesis. Yarrington, Doug. “Cattle, Corruption, and Venezuelan State Formation During the Regime of Juan Vicente Gomez, 1908-35” Latin American Research Review (2003) Vol. 38: 3-33 Yarrington’s article offers a straightforward critique on the formation of the Venezuelan nation during the Gomez era, discussing the relationship between the state and society. Taking an argumentative approach, Yarrington expands the understanding of the importance of the extensive control that
Gomez and his political allies enhanced over the national agricultural wealth. This text is indispensable for the research because of its honest review on the corruption and centralization of power in Venezuela obtained through monopolized wealth. This led to a strong psychological control over the Venezuelan people that could be characterized as oppression, which yielded protests among Venezuelans against the officials. Yarrington’s review could be used as evidence to back up the thesis of my research and explain the reasons why Gomez’s government was characterized as oppressive.
Even though the author intends to write an unbiased review, he leans towards an anti-Gomez opinion, yet that does not alter the article’s dependability. Yarrington’s writing should be found reliable since he earned a PhD on Latin American History and is currently a professor in Colorado State University, where he has specialized his research in Venezuelan governments in the 20th century. Ellner, Steve. “Venezuelan revisionist political history, 1908-1958: New motives and criteria for analyzing the past” Latin American Research Review (1995) Vol. 0: 91-122. Steve Ellner received a PhD in Latin American History at the University of Mexico and has been a professor at the Universidad del Oriente (Venezuela) for the last 30 years. In his scholarly article, Ellner reviews the depiction of the government and writers associated with political parties during the Gomez era given by historians. This source offers solid argumentation to expose the oppressive nature of Gomez’s regime, describing it as one of the most ruthless dictatorships experienced in Latin America.
Through the primary sources, Ellner emphasizes Gomez’s role in the cruelties carried out during his regime, describing also financial policies that aimed to appropriate land and could be characterized as controlling. The author provided a collection of primary sources and concepts that help the reader follow their comprehensive analysis on Gomez’s oppressive but financially successful policies. Ellner’s review certainly furthers the insight of my research on the tyrannical land and financial control that led the Venezuelan society to build up a resistance.
Besides, the review appears to be unquestionably objective since Ellner manages to acknowledge the effectiveness of some of Gomez’s financial plans. Suarez Figueroa, Naudy. “La prensa de oposicion antigomecista en el exilio” Boletin Historico (1976) Issue 41: 209-219. Suarez narrates the struggles the Venezuelan opposition media goes through during Gomez’s regime while offering detailed examples of their battle against oppressive policies. In order to shape the narrative, Suarez goes through a sequence of characteristic patterns of Gomez’s administration of the press.
These patterns encompass the suppression of many civil liberties, such as freedom of speech, in response to critiques of his authority and sponsorship of his opponents. Suarez analyzes the ruthless imprisonments and deduces that Gomez executed to suppress the media criticism that lasted more than three decades. He also notes that the political exiles continued their anti-Gomez campaign in the United States and other Latin American countries. This article embodies all the ideas included in my research’s thesis, from political oppression to resistance movements in the homeland and abroad, making it a suitable source.
Suarez’s writing would be critical at shaping process of the discussion on my research, since it provides patterns that can be compared with all other sources. Also, the author backs up his review with strong anecdotes and reflections that seem to argue in against Gomez’s regime. In addition, Suarez not only has experience in earning a PhD in History, but also he possesses a native Venezuelan background that helps him shape the article to his unequivocal personal opinion.
