Glossary

AD = Democratic Action party
adeco = member of AD
Angostura = former name of today’s Ciudad Bolivar, on the Orinoco river
Apure = Venezuelan state in the llanos
Arcaya = name of an important family in Venezuela
Arria, Diego = important Venezuelan politician
audiencia = high appeals court in Spanish colonial times
Ayacucho = Peruvian city and province, site of famous battle
Barcelona = eastern Venezuelan city
Barquisimeto = west central Venezuelan city
barrio = improved ranchería
Bello, Andres = Venezuelan polymath in colonial times
Betancourt, Romulo = founder of AD, sometimes called the "father of Venezuelan democracy"
Bogotá = capital of Colombia
Bolivar, Simon = known as The Liberator (of Venezuela and other Spanish American countries)
Boves, Jose Tomás = Spanish caudillo who fought against Venezuelan independence
cacique = Amerindian chieftain
Caldera, Rafael = founder of COPEI
captaincy-general = a political provincial rank in the Ibero-American colonial empires
Caracas = capital of Venezuela
Carúpano = east Venezuelan port
caudillo = a political and/or military chieftain
caudillismo = rule by caudillos
chavista = having to do with Hugo Chavez
COPEI = Social Christian party
copeyano = member of COPEI
Coro = city in western Venezuela, east of Maracaibo
Cúcuta = city in Colombia
Cumaná = east Venezuelan port
El Callao = Lima’s port
El Nacional = important Caracas daily
gomecista = having to do with Juan Vicente Gomez
Gomez, Juan Vicente = the longest lasting Venezuelan dictator
grandes cacaos = mantuanos in colonial times
Great Colombia = the union of Venezuela, Colombia, and Ecuador espoused by Bolivar
Great War of the Caudillos = also known as the Federalist war in Venezuela’s 19th century
Guaicapuro = Venezuelan Amerindian cacique
Guayana = the Venezuelan region south of the Orinoco river
Guayaquil = largest city and principal port of Ecuador
Guzman Blanco, Jose Antonio = a long-lasting, Paris-loving Venezuelan caudillo
Herrera Campins, Luis = copeyano Venezuelan ex-president
La Guaira = the port of Caracas
La Plata = colonial name of Argentina
leftists = in Venezuela, the gamut from extreme Marxists to all other forms of political radicalism
Leoni, Raul = adeco Venezuelan ex-president
Lima = Perú’s capital
llanos = Venezuelan plains, also sabanas
Lusinchi, Jaime = adeco Venezuelan ex-president
mantuanos = name for the Venezuelan upper crust since colonial times
Maracaibo = Venezuela’s second largest city near large oil fields
Maracay = important city in central Venezuela
Mérida = Andean Venezuelan city
mestizo = pardo
Miquilena, Luis = important Venezuelan politician, former communist
Miranda, Francisco = called the Precursor, Venezuelan general during the French Revolution
Monagas = name of ruling dynasty in Venezuela
Morillo, Pablo = Spanish marshal who led expeditionary army against Venezuela
New Granada = modern Colombia
OAS = Organization of American States
Otero Silva, Miguel = founder of El Nacional
Paez, Jose Antonio = the caudillo who separated Venezuela from Great Colombia
pardo = same as mestizo (mixed European- Amerindian, and African ancestry)
Pedevesa = the Venezuelan oil company
Perez Jiménez, Marcos = Venezuelan dictator
perezjimenista = having to do with Marcos Perez Jimenez
Petkoff, Teodoro = important Venezuelan politician, former communist
Puerto Cabello = the port of Valencia
Quijada, Manuel = important Venezuelan politician
Quito = capital of Ecuador, but the name for the entire country during colonial times
ranchería = shantytown
rancho = shanty
Rangel, Jose Vicente = important Venezuelan politician
Saez, Irene = Venezuelan beauty queen and politician
San Cristóbal = capital of Táchira
San Martin, José de = Argetine Liberator of his country and Chile
Santander, Francisco de Paula = Colombian independence leader
Sucre, Jose Antonio = Venezuelan independence marshal
Táchira = Andean Venezuelan state
Trujillo = Andean Venezuelan state
Upper Perú = today’s Bolivia
URD = Republic Democratic Union party
Villalba, Jóvito = important Venezuelan politician
Valencia = third largest Venezuelan city, west of Caracas
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