New-York tribune., 1909-06-07
4 VENEzrEL4N,S T4PORTNG.

An extraordinary circular letter has been pub
lished by General CeestinO Peraza, Of Nenez-
uela who was once Mr.. Ciprano Castros sec
retary and general faCtOtum, who later was the
leader OF the Congressional Opposition 10 Mr.
Castro's administration, and who is now leading
the attacks upon the administration Of Presi-
dent Gomez and is suspected Of being again in
league with Mr.. Castro This versatile and ami
mated publicist Is now particularly hot against
the United States for what II did 10 prevent
Mr. Castro from returning TO Venezuela 10 make
trouble and also against those Venezuelans who
sought or accepted such American aid, and he
would amend the constitution OF Venezuela so
as to make It high trea son. punishable. sup
pose with death, for a Venezuelan 10 solicit
such in BventOn or indeed, any Intervention
by fC VI n power in the domestic 'ructions' Of
that ccuo'r Why? He tells his cOuntrymen
There's a common danger which it is the task
of US Deputies to avoid. thus saving the republic
from final catastrophe. Recently there has
arisen above the horizon OF the Fatherand
dark cloud. which threatens 10 transform itself
into a cyclone so as TO carry away on Its wings
our very nationality. The cloud threatens from
the north. From that direction comes the noise
of the tempest. The statesmen OF a foreign n1-
ton, with their intoleraole Imperialism, appear
to pretend 10 rights based the might
of steel in the portfolios Of its battleships. that
is TO say. the right Of force. Just the same ds
Spain five centuries ago, when she murdered
twelve millions of our forefathers. The Same
u
Those lands TO the south are an emporium OF
wealth. Therein lies the commerce OF the future
Seize them on the pretext of establishing order
Now. It really ought not to be necessary to
answer such vapOrings Of goodness knows how
many calOries of temperature. We believe that
there is snow the SUBMITS of the Andes, and
there ought TO be enough Of it 10 moderate the
intensity of General Perazas incandescence.
But because there may be some infammabIe
minds in Venezuela and other Latin-American
republics, susceptible to the influence Of his
truly burning words. it may be worth while to
remark what everybody of normal temperature
knows that all such talk is the widest sort of
craziness. The consistent attitude and actions
of the United States for the last hundred years
ought TO be sufficient proof of its disinterested
benevOlence. If not, the array Of vexng prob
lens, some of them relating to its territorial
possessions with which the United States is at
this moment laboring ought to convince any
observer that unless we were nation Of mad
men we should not want TO add to our perpexi-
ties
There is probably not country in the West
ern Hemisphere for which the United States
has rendered more important services than it
has rendered for Venezuela. There is not a
country IN the world more free fro~l sinister
designs upon another than the United States Is
in respect 10 Venezuela There is nothing fur
ther from the minds of the American govern
ment and the American people than such cam
paign of conquest and spoliation against South
America General Peraza forebodes and we
believe that 90 per cent Of the intelligent citi-
zens of Venezuela know and feel these things
to be true AS for General Peraza we would
not venture to presume to estimate his knOwl-
edge or his belief. But we cannot help won
dering where on the map of Venezuela Is the
Buncombe County the Tarascon for which
he has concOcted his circular lampoon.