Venezuela's 1814 'Year Zero' Turmoil Analyzed by Ángel Lombardi Boscán

The essay by Ángel Rafael Lombardi Boscán portrays 1814 as a pivotal and chaotic year in Venezuela’s struggle for independence. It describes how the colonial order collapsed, the 1813 Decree of War to the Death ignited a civil war, and various regional leaders—including Fernando Miyares, Monteverde, and the indigenous figure Reyes Vargas—acted independently.

Lombardi highlights the rise of José Tomás Boves and his irregular forces of pardos and llaneros, whose brutal campaigns earned the year the nickname “El Terror.” The author notes that Simón Bolívar’s advances opened a path that Boves followed, and that major urban centers such as Valencia, Puerto Cabello and Caracas became focal points for wealth and conflict. The piece situates these events within the broader breakdown of the Spanish colonial military presence in America.