The New York herald., 1922-05-16
WANTS VENEZUELA
SUED FOR MILLION
Fernandez, on False ImprisOn-
ment Charge, Would Give
Lawyer S25O,000.
WAS BURIED TEN YEARS
Asserts Similar Treatment Of
Porto Ricans and Demands
Revenge.

Wanted-Lawyer willing to gamble
time and personal safety against chance
to win s25o.OOO in gold.
This Is the advertisement broadcasted
by Gerardo Fernandez. Spaniard. who.
If his story Is accurate. has been horri-
bly, mistreated by the Government of
Venezuela, and who purposes to spend
the rest OF his life in making the vene-
zuelans pay for it. He intends to sue
Venezuela for 100000 gold and will
give his lawyer a quarter of 1t If he
wins.
Dragged from an American steam
ship. the Maracaibo Of the Red d Line.
in September. 1920. surrendered by the
captain OF the steamship in spite of
his appeals for the protection of the
American flag, and thrown into the
San Carlos prison near Caracas. the
capital. Fernandez was buried there for
ten years, he asserts. submitted to
shocking torture and finally released
on a charge Of being an agent OF the
one time dictator. Cipriano Castro. and
robbed of cash, jewelry. an automobile
and other personal effects to the value
of $4,000. he says. When finally ne was
let out of prison. ruined in fortune and
broken in body. it was through an
error, a wrong name having been given
to him, by the prison authorities.
Complains to Gov. Reilly.
The question s in Fernandez's mind.
burning with anger, how to get even?
He is a Spanish subject and he has
been advised to proceed for satisfac-
ton through diplomatic channels. To-
ward that end he will go to Washington
to ask the Spanish Ambassador to ask
the Spanish Foreign Office to demand
satisfaction, both in the way of apollo
gies and restitution of property and in
heavy damages also, and to ask his
Ambassador TO present the facts to our
State Department so that the United
States Government can give it's moral
support to the demands of Spain. and
he wants to sue in the courts on his
own behalf
There Is an excellent reason, accord
ing to Fernandez, why the United States
Government should send battleship
or two to lie off Caracas with blunt
nosed fourteen inch rifles leveled at the
white sea wall A number of Ameri-
cans, Porto Ricans, are buried In Vene-
zuelan prisons and submitted to torture
by the authorities. he asserts, and he has
given to Gov. Reilly of Porto Rico, at the
request OF our State Department all the
information that he has on this matter
He has fled too. an affidavit describing
the savage cruelty with which an Ameri-
can citizen. John Williams of Tucson,
Arz. a friend of his. wcs put to death
In his sight in the San Carlos prison
a fact kept secret by Venezuela
DenOunces Gen. Gomez.
Fernandez denounced Gen. Gomez, the
perennial "President-elect' who never
takes office. but who remains the power
behind the puppet executive, as a cruel
and despotic ruler. with positive hatred
for Americans. He claims to have a
letter from Gomez admitting that he
Fernandez. was unJustly imprisoned, and
he asserts that the Venezuelan Consul
in Porto Rico begged him not to tell
the tale Of his Imprisonment and suf-
ferings, as the story would be embar-
RAISING to Gomez. and appealing to him
TO be patient and accept a private set
tlement from Gomez. He was told that
he, as a Latin. should stand with the
Latin Americans against the accursed
North Americans and was promised full
satisfaction IL he would hold his tongue
Fernandezs story has interested many
Spaniards in New York and there was
procession of such citizens to his
rooms yesterday. He told a reporter for
THE New York HERALD that he has
complete documentary evidence, includ-
ing a letter from Gomez, and could call
at least 200 witnesses to back his story.