Dutch–Venezuelan crisis of 1908

Dutch–Venezuelan crisis of 1908
Gelderland towing a Venezuelan coast guard vessel seized as prize into Willemstad in December 1908.
Date 26 November – 23 December 1908[1] Location Venezuela Result Dutch victory
Belligerents
Venezuela	Netherlands
Commanders and leaders
Cipriano Castro	Wilhelmina of the Netherlands
Strength
	1 pantserschip (coastal defence ship) 2 protected cruisers

The Dutch–Venezuelan crisis of 1908 was a dispute that broke out between the Netherlands and Venezuela after the Venezuelan president, Cipriano Castro, issued a number of decrees that undermined trade with the Dutch Caribbean island of Curaçao.^[2]

Venezuela expelled the Dutch ambassador, prompting a Dutch dispatch of three warships: Jacob van Heemskerck, Gelderland, and Friesland.^{[disputed – discuss]} The Dutch warships had orders to intercept every ship that was sailing under the Venezuelan flag. On 12 December, Gelderland captured the Venezuelan coast guard ship Alix (Alejo in Spanish) off Puerto Cabello.^[3] She and another ship, 23 de Mayo, were interned in the harbor of Willemstad.

A few days later, on 19 December 1908, Vice President Juan Vicente Gómez seized power in Caracas during the absence of President Castro, who had left for Berlin for a surgical operation, installing himself as de facto president.^[4] Gómez reverted Castro's measures in the following days, and the Netherlands proceeded to withdraw its warships.^[1]

Footnotes

1. Bas Kromhout (March 2010). "Politieke geschiedenis: Bijna-oorlog met Venezuela" (in Dutch). Historisch Nieuwsblad.
2. Goslinga (1990), pp. 597-599.
3. "Dutch at war with Venezuela". The New York Times. 14 December 1908.
4. McBeth (2001), pp. 213–214.

Bibliography

• Goslinga, Cornelis Ch. (1990). The Dutch in the Caribbean and in Surinam 1791/5-1942. Assen: Van Gorcum. ISBN 90-232-2495-7.
• McBeth, B. S. (2001). Gunboats, Corruption, and Claims: Foreign Intervention in Venezuela, 1899–1900. Santa Barbara: Greenwood. ISBN 9780313313561.

Further reading

• Hartog, J. (1968). Curaçao: from colonial dependence to autonomy. History of the Netherlands Antilles. Vol. III. Aruba: De Wit.