United Kingdom–Venezuela relations

United Kingdom–Venezuela relations are the bilateral relations between the United Kingdom and Venezuela since 1821 when so-called "British Legions" of former British soldiers fought to defend the Second Republic of Venezuela against Spanish royalists in the Venezuelan War of Independence.
Early contact with the area known today as Venezuela began in the 16th century with the limited expeditionary forces of Elizabeth I's privateers, most famously in the search for the mythical city of El Dorado. Until the early modern period British maritime activity, exploration and trade was limited to these skirmishes in the Caribbean such as the Battle of San Juan de Ulúa (1568), which would lead to the Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604) and other successive Anglo-Spanish wars in the area.
By the 17th century the British began to become interested in the South American continent due to these trade and naval rivalries with Spain, with the British fighting Spain over a War of the Austrian Succession resulting in their defeat in the War of Jenkins' Ear (1739 to 1748), which lead to the British withdrawing to focus naval efforts on their North American wars (1775–1783) and resulting in the Anglo-Spanish War in the Americas (1779–1783). British maritime activity in the late 1790s became more aggressive and began actively gaining Trinidad island in the Caribbean a province of Captain General of Venezuela Spanish until 1797, to enable greater British mercantile trade in the area. At the time, they also furthered their interest against Spain, (see the Black Legend).
After Napoleonic Invasion of Spain in 1808 looking to gain independence, the Venezuelan Junta formed in Caracas by 1810 was the first Junta to engage in diplomacy to gain ties to Great Britain.In June 1810 Simon Bolivar travelled to London with Luis Lopez Mendez and Andrés Bello to explain why the Junta of Caracas broke relations with the Spanish Monarchy; to the British Foreign Office under secretary Richard Wellesley; seeking British naval and diplomatic protection, however the Spanish ambassador on the grounds Bolivar had at the time no diplomatic capacity to demand self-rule, engaged the British Foreign Office to turn Bolivar away. Bolivar instead returned to Venezuela and his entourage stayed behind in Somers Town, London, and in the following years did not gain further in their activities due to the fluctuation and instability of the parties and states they represented. Their case was also not helped by how in-flux the first statehoods of Venezuela were also viewed by the British as being too unstable to consider offering support to.
War of Independence
By 1814, the United Province of New Granada sent José Maria del Real as an envoy to London for British support against Spanish military intervention, but as part of a long delay tactics on Britains part due to the defeat of Napoleon and the return of Fernando VII's restoration, Britain did not immediately recognise the new states representatives, denying requests for British assistance against Spanish attack by the Spanish General Pablo Morillo in 1815. Cartagena de Indias, under siege of Spanish fleet, even declared itself a British dominion, but was denied the request eventually falling back under Spanish control by 1816. However Bolivar, exiled in Jamaica in 1815, wrote from Kingston to Richard Wellesley, asking for military support against Spain, yet this was ignored based on the foreign policy of the British Foreign secretary Viscount Castlereagh who was aiming to keep the peace amongst the French, Spanish and European powers following a fine tightrope which British foreign policy makers walked in regards to South America after the close of the Napoleonic wars, culminating in the 1814–1815 Grand Alliance at Congress of Vienna, under which France supported Spain keeping its American colonies, and thus Britain supporting Spanish rule in the Americas. However around this time Lopez Mendez had begun recruiting what became the British Legions, over 7,000 ex-military Irish and Englishmen who had been dismissed after the Napoleonic wars ended; who went on to fight for Venezuelan and Colombian Independence.
The British Government on paper however were still in support of Spain in official channels, apart from a number of liberal politicians, but British public favour went with Colombian and Venezuelan patriots and favoured pressuring government to open new trade markets with these newly formed Spanish American countries in 1817 and 1818 as United Provinces of River Plate and Chile.
Of Bolívar's force in the Battle of Carabobo, of 6,500 or 8,000, between 340 or 350 were men of the British Rangers battalion, the great majority of them of Anglophone origin, commanded by Colonel Thomas Ilderton Ferrier and including many former members of the King's German Legion. Though greatly outnumbered and low on supplies, the legion soldiers managed to maintain control of tactically critical hills. By the battle's end, the legionary force had suffered 119 deaths, of which 11 were officers. Col. Ferrier was among the dead. Bolívar later praised the Legion troops and called them the "Saviors of my Fatherland", noting that they had distinguished themselves among other armies. In October 1821, Francisco Antonio Zea was appointed by Bolivar as special diplomatic agent of Colombia to Europe and United States. In London he negotiated loans of financial creditors Herring & Richardson and gained recognition of his new country only from the United States. A year later he ambassador Zea dies in Bath, and a large amount of British private investment is made in the new state of Colombia. Jose Rafael Revenga as substitute of Zea as Minister Plenipotentiary of Colombia in London, negotiated Great Britain's recognition of Colombia as an independent country. With the independence of several Spanish colonies such as Mexico and Peru between 1817 – 1821 by 1822 at the Congress of Verona, Castlereagh shifted position to favour Colombian independence, after the accession of British interest to the Western Question, due to the fluctuating relations with regards to the French Empire and its interests and power relations with the Spanish Empire. The success of Bolivars armies with the signing of the United States-Colombia Trade agreement in 1822, the UK under George Canning eventually recognised the Colombian state in 1825.
Formal relations
The formal relations were established with the Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Navigation Between Colombia and the United Kingdom. The two countries established diplomatic relations on March 1823 and John Potter Hamilton ESP was appointed as Secretary of Legation in Santafe de Bogota. Thomas Edward Rowcroft the first British diplomatic representative in Peru arrived in Lima as consul general in 1824, At this time, Lima was temporarily in the power of the royalists after the order of evacuation dictated by Bolivar army. Conditions in the city were awful. However, shortly after Rowcroft's arrival, Bolívar returned to Lima from the interior after the Battle of Junin and the Spanish retreated to Castle of Real Felipe. Rowcroft decided to go to Callao, the port of Lima, to deliver letters to under Captain Thomas James Maling and arranged for a safe pass through the royalist lines. On the return from his visit he handed in his safe pass but, as his coach left the outpost, it was struck by a hail of bullets. Rowcroft was wounded in the hand and the torso and died on 7 December 1824 at the home of a British merchant. There is now little doubt that Rowcroft was accidentally shot by the Independents under Simon Bolivar. It is said that the royalist officer who gave him the safe pass had, unbeknownst to Rowcroft, written a death sentence on it.
In 1825 the Gran Colombia was recognised formally by United Kingdom in first South American envoy recognised by European state.
In 1826 the London stock market crashes reducing the already small number of private brokers willing to invest in what is now considered as a risky financial investment. The new ambassador of Colombia José Fernández Madrid lives in London.
Assassination attempt
On the night of September 25, 1827 about twelve civilians and twenty-five soldiers led by Pedro Carujo broke into the Presidential Palace (Palacio de San Carlos) and killed the guards. They then searched for Bolívar's room. Manuela Sáenz, who was with Bolívar that night, woke him up. Upon learning of the attack, Bolívar grabbed his pistol and sword and tried to open the door, but Manuela convinced him to escape through the window.
Bolívar sent to find out the situation in the barracks while he was under a bridge all night. Bolívar managed to jump out of the window while Manuela entertained and engaged the conspirators. The result of this conspiracy was the death of Colonel William Ferguson, an English aide-de-camp of Bolivar army , the injury of young Andrés Ibarra, and a concussion from a blow to the forehead received by the rescuer of the illustrious Caracas native. The freed slave carried the newly saved from death to a safe place. Vargas's battalion led by Colonel Whittle contributed to the failure of the conspiracy. Finally, it was up to Generals Rafael Urdaneta and José María Córdova to put an end to the plot, control the situation in the capital and imprison those involved in this sinister attack.
In 1831 the Gran Colombia was dissolved due to the political differences that existed between supporters of federalism and centralism, as well as regional tensions among the peoples that made up the republic. It broke into the successor states of Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela. Since Gran Colombia's territory corresponded more or less to the original jurisdiction of the former Viceroyalty of New Granada, it also claimed the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua, the Mosquito Coast, as well as most of Esequib0. Venezuela began to outline a foreign policy favouring relations with Britain, which became one of the main buyers of Venezuela raw materials and one of the major sources of investment in the country. By mid century, London bankers were sending in capital, to invest in railways, docks, cattle farms, mines and utilities. London sent in 800 agents to handle shipping, insurance, and banking. In 1830, economic ties between Britain and Venezuela increased substantially. Britain’s textile exports to Venezuela grew by 9.4% yearly between 1817 and 1874. Nearly 8 percent of Britain’s capital outflows between 1865 and 1914 went to Venezuela; this was similar to the British capital outflow to India.
Copper mines of Aroa
In 1824 Bolivar leased his copper mines of Aroa to British entrepreneurs. According to some sources his aim was to help finance the struggle for independence from Spain.
Captain Joseph Malachy sailed from Plymouth in March 1825 to take up his position as agent and resident director of the Bolivar Mining Association at the Aroa copper mines.
Malachy was given the huge salary of £1,200, compared to the typical salary of about £300 for a mine manager in Cornwall.
The British employed about 1,200 workers in the mines, including British and Venezuelans.
They used the Aroa River to carry the ore by barge to the coast, where it was loaded onto ships.
In 1832 Bolivar's sisters Juana and Maria Antonia sold the mines to Robert Dent, an Englishman who owned the Bolívar Mining Association.
In the 1830s Cornishmen in the reduction department of the Aroa mines made significant advances in methods of calcinating the copper ore.
However, the company closed the mines in 1836 due to high mortality among the European workers and tensions with the native workers.
The Bolívar Mining Association was succeeded by companies such as the Quebrada Land Mining Company, Quebrada Railway Land and Copper Company Limited, Aroa Mines Limited and Bolívar Railway Company Limited.
El Callao gold rush
The gold mine at El Callao started in 1871, was for a time one of the richest in the world, and the goldfields as a whole saw over a million ounces exported between 1860 and 1883. The gold mining was dominated by immigrants from the British Isles and the British West Indies, giving an appearance of almost creating an English colony on Venezuelan territory. The real number of inhabitants may be five times higher than the official one, which is around 25.000. This is due to gold mines in the area.
One of the most outstanding facts was that in 1876, this population prepared and witnessed the first soccer game in Venezuela. El Callao and some neighboring towns such as Guasipati, Tumeremo, El Dorado, Kavanayen and Santa Elena de Uairen are the areas with more foreign languages in Venezuela, due to the great migration of foreigners who settled in search of gold. The strongest established languages were the English, the French and the Portuguese, with the lowest influence being Dutch.
Venezuelan crisis of 1895
Following the establishment of Gran Colombia in 1819, territorial disputes at west or Essequibo river began between Gran Colombia, later Venezuela, and the British. In 1822 José Rafael Revenga, Minister Plenipotentiary of Gran Colombia to Britain, complained to the British government at the direction of Simón Bolívar about the presence of British settlers in territory claimed by Venezuela: "The colonists of Demerara and Berbice have usurped a large portion of land, which according to recent treaties between Spain and Holland, belongs to our country at the west of Essequibo River. It is absolutely essential that these settlers be put under the jurisdiction and obedience to our laws, or be withdrawn to their former possessions."
In 1824 Venezuela appointed José Manuel Hurtado as its new Ambassador to Britain. Hurtado officially presented to the British government Venezuela's claim to the border at the Essequibo River, which was not objected to by Britain. However, the British government continued to promote colonisation of territory west of the Essequibo River in succeeding years. In 1831, Britain merged the former Dutch territories of Berbice, Demerara, and Essequibo into a single colony, British Guiana.
During the late 19th century, Britain refused to include in the proposed international arbitration the disputed territory with Venezuela east of the "Schomburgk Line", which a surveyor had drawn half-a-century earlier as a boundary between Venezuela and the former Dutch territory of British Guiana. In October 1886, Britain declared the line to be the provisional frontier of British Guiana, and in February 1887 Venezuela severed diplomatic relations. Proposals for a renewal of relations and settlement of the dispute failed repeatedly, and by summer 1894, diplomatic relations had been severed for seven years. In addition, both sides had established police or military stations at key points in the area, partly to defend claims to the Caratal goldfield of the region's Yuruari basin, which was within Venezuelan territory but claimed by the British. The mine at El Callao, started in 1871, was dominated by immigrants from the British Isles and the British West Indies, giving an appearance of almost creating a British colony on Venezuelan territory.
The dispute ultimately saw Britain accept the United States mediation to force arbitration of the entire dispute territory, and tacitly accept the US right to intervene under the Monroe Doctrine. A tribunal convened in Paris in 1898 to decide the matter, and in 1899 awarded the bulk of the disputed territory to British Guiana.v
Venezuelan Crisis of 1902–1903
Britain was involved in the Venezuela Crisis of 1902–1903, during an Italo-German blockade of Venezuela to enforce payment of Venezuelan debts. On 7 December 1902, both London and Berlin issued ultimatums to Venezuelan government of Cipriano Castro, even though there was still disagreement about whether to impose a pacific blockade (as the Germans wanted) or a war blockade (as the British wanted). Germany ultimately agreed to a war blockade, and after receiving no reply to their ultimatums, an unofficial naval blockade was imposed on 9 December with SMS Panther, SMS Falke, SMS Gazelle and SMS Vineta as major Kaiserliche Marine warships in Caribbean Sea. On 11 December, Italy offered its own ultimatum, which Venezuela also rejected. Venezuela maintained that its national laws were final,and said "the so-named foreign debt ought not to be and never had been a matter of discussion beyond the legal guaranties found in the law of Venezuela on the public debt". The German naval contingent followed the Royal Navy lead in operational terms with eight warships to block the Venezuelan coast. The British ships of the Particular Service Squadron under Commodore Robert Montgomerie included the sloop HMS Alert and the protected cruiser HMS Charybdis. An Italian naval contingent arrived in support of the blockade on 16 December. On 21 January the German cruiser SMS Vineta bombarded the fort San Carlos de La Barra, destroying it with the death of 25 civilians in the nearby town]. The action had not been approved by the British commander, who had been told by Admiralty after the incident of 13 December not to engage in such action without consulting London; the message was not passed to the German commander, who had been told previously to follow the British commander's lead. The incident caused "considerable negative reaction in the United States against Germany"; the Germans said that the Venezuelans fired first, which the British concurred with but declared the bombardment "unfortunate and inopportune" nonetheless.
After agreeing to arbitration under pressure of US Navy and Roosevelt administration, Britain, Germany, and Italy reached a settlement with Venezuela on 1903, 13 February, resulting in the Washington Protocols. Venezuela was represented by the U.S. Ambassador to Caracas Herbert W. Bowen. Venezuela's debts had been very large relative to its income. The agreement reduced the outstanding claims by Bs150m, and created a payment plan taking into account the country's income. However, the blockading nations argued for preferential treatment for their claims, which Venezuela rejected, and on 7 May 1903 a total of ten powers with grievances against Venezuela, including the United States, signed protocols referring the issue to the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague. The Court held on 22 February 1904 that the blockading powers were entitled to preferential treatment in the payment of their claims. The Roosevelt administration disagreed with the decision in principle,and feared it would encourage future European intervention to gain such advantage. As a result, the crisis produced the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine, described in Roosevelt's 1904 message to Congress.The Corollary asserted a right of the United States to intervene to "stabilize" the economic affairs of small states in the Caribbean and Central America if they were unable to pay their international debts, in order to preclude European intervention to do so. The Venezuela crisis, and in particular the arbitral award, were key in the development of the Corollary.
Venezuela oil rush
Despite the knowledge of the existence of oil reserves in Venezuela for centuries, the first oil wells of significance were not drilled until the early 1910s. In 1908, Juan Vicente Gómez replaced his ailing predecessor, Cipriano Castro, as the president of Venezuela. Over the next few years, Gómez granted several concessions to explore, produce, and refine oil. Most of these oil concessions were granted to his closest friends, and they in turn passed them on to foreign oil companies that could actually develop them. One such concession was granted to Rafael Max Valladares who hired Caribbean Petroleum Company (later acquired by Royal Dutch Shell) to carry out his oil exploration project. On 15 April 1914, upon the completion of the Zumaque-I (now called MG-I) oil well, the first Venezuelan oilfield of importance, Mene Grande, was discovered by Caribbean Petroleum in the Maracaibo Basin. This major discovery encouraged a massive wave of foreign oil companies to Venezuela in an attempt to gain a foothold in the burgeoning market.
From 1914 to 1917, several more oil fields were discovered across the country including the emblematic Bolivar Coastal Field; however World War I slowed significant development of the industry. Due to the difficulty in purchasing and transporting the necessary tools and machinery, some oil companies were forced to forego drilling until after the war. By the end of 1917, the first refining operations began at the San Lorenzo refinery to process the Mene Grande field production, and the first significant exports of Venezuelan oil by Caribbean Petroleum left from the San Lorenzo terminal. By the end of 1918, petroleum appeared for the first time on the Venezuelan export statistics at 21,194 metric tons.
It was the blowout of the Barroso No. 2 well in Cabimas in 1922 that marked the beginning of Venezuela's modern history as a major producer. This discovery captured the attention of the nation and the world. Soon dozens of foreign companies acquired vast tracts of territory in the hope of striking it rich, and by 1928 Venezuela became the world's leading oil exporter. Oil ended Venezuela's relative anonymity in the eyes of world powers, making it a linchpin of an ever-expanding international oil industry and a new consideration in global policymaking.
Geneva Agreement of 1966
The status of the Essequibo territory became subject to the Geneva Agreement, which was signed by the United Kingdom, Venezuela and British Guiana on 17 February 1966. This treaty stipulates that the parties will agree to find a practical, peaceful and satisfactory solution to the dispute. Disputes over the territory have continued since, even after Guyana was granted independence the same year.
Falklands Islands
Although in the 20th century both countries were mostly on good terms, Venezuela expressed its support to Argentina over the Falklands Islands dispute that eventually led to the Falklands War between the United Kingdom and Argentina in 1982.
Model United Nations
In many Models of United Nations in Venezuela, particularly Caracas, as guests, many British representatives gave a speech in what is known as a "opening act".
Venezuelan presidential crisis
As of August 2017, the British Government advised against 'all but essential travel' to Venezuela, and withdrew dependents of British Embassy staff, due to the 'ongoing unrest and instability', citing the protests and crime in the country.
In January 2019 during a visit to the United States, UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt stated that "Nicolás Maduro is not the legitimate leader of Venezuela" and Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó should become President of Venezuela. On 4 February 2019, Hunt stated that the UK officially recognised Guaidó as president. However the United Kingdom continued to maintain consular and diplomatic relations with the Maduro controlled government, suggesting some ambiguity. This policy is a partial exception to the UK's long held policy of recognising states rather than specific governments.
In Autumn 2019 the Foreign and Commonwealth Office created the 'Venezuela Reconstruction Unit' led by John Saville, formerly UK ambassador to Venezuela, to coordinate a UK effort to support Venezuela. After this became public in May 2020, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza summoned the UK's Chargé d'Affaires "to present a formal protest and demand explanations", and in a Twitter post wrote "We demand that the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland withdraw from Washington's coup plans and from any destabilizing initiative". Venezuela characterised the Venezuela Reconstruction Unit as an attempt to give future preferred status to British companies in Venezuela.
Control of gold in London
Since 2018, the Bank of England has delayed releasing 31 tonnes of Venezuelan gold to the Maduro government. UK foreign office minister Alan Duncan said in January 2019 that while the disposition of the gold was a Bank of England decision, "they will take into account there are now a large number of countries across the world questioning the legitimacy of Nicolás Maduro and recognising that of Juan Guaidó.".
On 14 May 2020, the Central Bank of Venezuela filed a legal action against the Bank of England, to force Britain to release the €930m worth of gold to the United Nations Development Programme to buy healthcare equipment, medicine, and food for the COVID-19 pandemic in Venezuela. Guaidó has appointed a parallel Venezuelan central bank board of directors, so the court will have to decide which board of directors legally controls the gold. In July 2020 the High Court ruled that Guaidó was interim president, but the Court of Appeal ruled in October 2020 that the British Foreign Secretary's statement on recognition was ambiguous, clarified the legal importance of the distinction between de jure president and de facto president, and returned the case to the High Court for reconsideration.
Resident diplomatic missions
United Kingdom has an embassy in Caracas.
Venezuela has an embassy and a consulate-general in London.
See also
Venezuela Crisis of 1895, a border conflict about sovereignty of Venezuelan territory of Essequibo which the UK claimed as part of British Guiana.
Venezuela Crisis of 1902–1903, in which the UK was involved in a military blockade to enforce payment of Venezuelan debts
Latin America-United Kingdom relations
Venezuelans in the United Kingdom
References
Venezuela
Bilateral relations of Venezuela