Castro Is Leading Venezuelan Revolt.

New York Times 100 years ago today, July 31, 1913:
The Country Is Being Invaded at Various Points on the Colombian Frontier.
EX-PRESIDENT WITH TROOPS
Reported to Have Landed in Venezuela on Tuesday — Two of His Nephews Sail from Curacao.
    BOGOTA, July 30.— Active revolutionary movements in Venezuela and the invasion of that country simultaneously at various points on the Colombian frontier by adherents of ex-President Cipriano Castro are reported by the newspapers here.
    The Colombian Government is observing complete neutrality.

    WILLEMSTAD, July 30.— Rumors have reached here that the town of Coro, in the State of Falcon, Venezuela, has been occupied by Castro's partisans and that Gen. Leon Jurado, Governor of Falcon, has been taken prisoner by them.
    It is also rumored that Castro landed in Venezuela yesterday.
    A number of Castro's followers, including two of his young nephews, clandestinely embarked here to-day, bound for Coro.
    The political situation in Venezuela has become most critical. Scores of important personages have been imprisoned.

    PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad, July 30.— It is reported here that a small party of Venezuelan revolutionists made an unsuccessful attack on Monday on the port of Cristobal Colon, and that Gen. Bustamente, on board a Government warship, is now in pursuit of them.
    Cristobal Colon is a port on the Peninsula of Paria, in the northeastern part of Venezuela. The town lies at the western end of Aricagua Bay.
    Confirmation of the reports that Cipriano Castro has begun revolutionary activities in Venezuela was received here yesterday in a cablegram to Gen. José Manuel Hernandez, leader of the National Liberal Party in Venezuela, now a political exile in this country. The message, dated Tuesday, and sent by one of the General's agents at Cucuta, Colombia, near the Venezuelan border, read: "Castro's followers have begun invasion."
    "This is what I expected," said Gen. Hernandez last night, "but I have no further information of Castro's activities."
    Gen. Hernandez, who is popularly known as "El Mocho," is opposed both to Castro and the present Gomez Government, and is said to be waiting an opportunity to return to his native land and lead a revolution of his own party against Gomez. He issued the following statement last night:
    Gen. Hernandez, as the recognized leader of the National Liberal Party of Venezuela, has with him the backing of the great majority of the country, and in the present state of affairs he can only say that he is closely watching events to see what can and must be done at the proper time and when due opportunity presents itself. With reference to Gomez and Castro, both are hated and distrusted both at home and abroad, and therefore there is no doubt that both will be forced to disappear from the political scene by public opinion. What the country wants is not merely a change of men, but a change in the whole, rotten system. The last definite news of the whereabouts of Castro was his arrival in Berlin from New York. After he left the German capital he was reported to have reached the Canary Islands, whence he disappeared. He was later supposed at various times to have been in Key West, in Curacao, and at Panama. Later he was said to have departed for Colombia, whither his brother, Carmelo, had preceded him.
    The political situation in Venezuela has attracted attention for some time, owing to the flight from that country of prominent politicians, some of whom arrived in Curaçao and at other points in the West Indies, where they took refuge from threatened imprisonment by President Gomez.
    Rumors have been current that many shipments of arms have been sent to Venezuela for distribution among Castro's partisans.