THE PRESIDENT OF VENEZUELA.

Otago Witness, Issue 2857, 16 December 1908, Page 13

THE PRESIDENT OF VENEZUELA.

President Caefcro, of Venezuela, ifl reported to bo about to visit Europe for the sake of his health. To such an extent has Castro achieved celebrity or notoriety that v ho has been described variously as the " International Pest " and the " lirernationa! Nuisance." A bitter character 6ketoh of which he is the subject •.nd of which George W. Orickfield is the author, the opinions expressed in it being said to be based on personal observation, appears in Everybody's Magazine. It gives curious glimpses of the Presidents methods. A piquant extract" reads: "Thousands of "the very best of citizens of Venezuela have been imprisoned, tortured, and terrorised by the present Venezuelan despot. The motives are various. Frequently Castro, or someone of his coterie, wants a man's property. The victim may hay« failed to join the band of maudlin man-worshippere who fawn upon the vainglorious dictator with extravagant and disgusting eyooph&ncy, and this is construed into hoatility. Or the victim may have $poken in reprobation of ,«ome of the unnumbered outrages,- committed by the military adherents of Cafetro. But hun<lrocl» of the beat citizen.-, of Venezuela ha\o txen imprisoned for no known caiise at all. At one time it w s stated that more than 1500 of th<>6e unfortunates were incarcerated in various dungeon, throughout the country.'" The description ghen of the state of the prison* i>- appalling. Elsewhere we read that Ciprina Custio was originally a cattleman, v\.ho=-p business consisted in getting up revolutions in some section on the border line between Venezuela and Colombia, and then running other people's cattle into the adjoining country, where he would «ell thorn. The outrages on British vesselv and the events generally which, inspired by Castro, led up to the blockade of 1903 are a matt-er of history. To-diy the President is said to bo a millionaire — the only one in Venezuela. His ascendancy since he overthrew the constituted authority and seize-d the rein* of power is a*-crihod to the weapon he wields in hiti licentious army, a savage aggregation made up of unlettered peons, a inixe-d breed in which there is a predomination of Indian and negro blood. Coming from the Andean Province that was his home with scarcely the rudiments of an education, Caetro is said to have nerer

| yet been out of Venezuela, save on one I trip to Curacoa, a Jit tie Dutcn is-iaixi off ; the Venezuelan eoa-sr. Under s-uch cir- , cumstances, it is conceivable that tho Presi1 dent's trip to Europe may considerably ! enlarge his mental equipment, and it majr, , eyen tend J& jdi'rn'Si.'sh ther v2st "prcportions_ . i oj his own estimate ,-o f 5-hhrkelf.^ ,;