At last the partisans of the federation
movement were victorious, and Venezuela adopted a federal constitution, in
which the most advanced principles with regard to individual rights were
incorporated. The epoch of independence was to be called the Colombian
epoch, and the first country to free itself from the bond of Spain was to
be called Colombia. Colombia (from the name of Columbus) was an ideal of
the South American patriots, and the greatest apostle of this ideal was
Bolivar, as will be readily seen by this study. Valencia was selected as
the capital, and in this city the government established itself on March 1,
1812.
The work of organizing the new government did not interrupt the royalist
activity in Venezuela nor the preparations made by Spain to suppress the
revolution. The East and the Orinoco valley were in constant agitation,
and we have seen that in the West, Coro and Maracaibo were on the side
of Spain, and their governors ready to send help to the enemies of
independence. Domingo Monteverde, a Spanish naval officer, had arrived in
Coro as a member of a Spanish contingent, and when the governor learned
that a royalist conspiracy was being prepared in a town called Siquisique,
he organized an expedition and gave command of the troops to Monteverde,
with instructions to help the conspirators. At that place more men joined
his troops. Transgressing the orders he had received, which were only
to occupy the town, Monteverde constituted himself head of the army and
advanced to fight the insurgents.
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