Revenant's Bolivares Soberanos Notes
10 Bolivares 2018 Issue P103

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Note Details

Set Details
Note Description: Venezuela, Banco Central
10 Bolívares 2018 - Printer: CMV
Grade: 67 EPQ
Country: VEN
Note Number: VEN103a
Signatures/
Vignettes:		 - Wmk: S. Bolívar & BCV
Certification #: 8083261-008  
Owner: Revenant
Sets Competing: Revenant's Bolivares Soberanos Notes  Score: 41
Revenant's Venezuelan Bolivares  Score: 41
Date Added: 5/22/2021
Research: Currently not available

Owner's Description

The front of this note has an image of Rafael Urdaneta. Prior to the independence war, he was a student of Latin and philosophy. He traveled to Sante Fe at the encouragement of his uncle in 1804. When a junta formed in Santa Fe in 1810 he joined and became a lieutenant in the first battalion of the “patriot army of New Granado. He was captured after the battle of Santa Fe in 1813 and spent several months in prison after that. He then became part of Bolivar’s “Admirable Campaign” and Bolivar later described him as “worthy of recommendation and deserving of all esteem from the government for the valor and intelligence with which he distinguished himself in action.”

After that he lead many military actions for the patriots but did not fight in the battle of Carabobo - which he helped set the stage for - because Bolivar judged that his troops were too exhausted to fight. Bolivar requested that he be promoted to “General Officer” and, after the battle and with Venezuela independent, he became one of Bolivar’s closest friends.

He married Dolores Vargas París, a young and renowned heroine of the city of Santa Fe, on August 31, 1822. Before Gran Colombia was dissolved in 1831, the marriage and the couple were popular. However, following the dissolution and the establishment of a dictatorship in the Republic of New Granada, they were forced to flee the country. They fled to Venezuela and suffered persecution from General Páez, who had become one of Simon Bolívar's ideological adversaries after the end of the Venezuelan War of Independence. Urdaneta and Dolores had been supporters of Bolívar's, so they were forced to flee again, this time to Curaçao.

They were able to return to Caracas in 1832 through a license granted by the government of Venezuela -but it stipulated that Urdaneta was not to intervene in the politics of the country. The family moved to Santa Ana de Coro, where a revolt erupted against the government. Urdaneta was able to use this to get back into Venezuelan politics and he was eventually able to retain a position as a senator until 1845.

In 1845, he was appointed Envoy of Venezuela to Spain, but he died in Paris, France, on August 23rd, 1845 from complications from kidney stones before he ever reached Spain.

Urdaneta is buried in the National Pantheon of Venezuela since May 16, 1876. In 2015, the 24th of October was decreed as a national holiday in Venezuela to commemorate him. I’d be tempted to say some of this (him being on this note and the national holiday) was the result of his association with Bolivar and Chavez’s obsession with Bolivar, but Chavez died in 2013, the holiday was declared in 2015 and this note did not release until 2018.

The back of this note shows a giant anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla) - also known as the ant bear - with the Catatumbo lightning in the background.

The giant anteater is listed as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and has been eliminated from many parts of its former range. Threats to its survival include habitat destruction, fire, and poaching for fur and bushmeat. With its distinctive appearance and habits, the anteater has been featured in pre-Columbian myths and folktales, as well as modern popular culture.

The Catatumbo lightning is an atmospheric phenomenon that occurs over the mouth of the Catatumbo River where it empties into Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela. It comes from a mass of storm clouds at an altitude of more than 1 km, and occurs about 140 to 160 nights a year, for nine hours a day, and with lightning striking 16 to 40 times per minute.

Italian geographer Agustin Codazzi described it in 1841 as "like a continuous lightning, and its position such that, located almost on the meridian of the mouth of the lake, it directs the navigators as a lighthouse" and the phenomenon has been known for centuries now as the "Lighthouse of Maracaibo", since it is visible for miles around the lake, It did not occur from January to March 2010, apparently due to drought. It has been known to vary in frequency through the year and from year to year, but this “dry spell” lead to speculation and concern that it might have been extinguished permanently. This is an interesting choice in that it features a weather phenomenon - though admittedly one tied to a very specific location - and not a national park.

The storms are thought to be the result of winds blowing across Lake Maracaibo and the surrounding swampy plains. The heat and moisture collected across the plains create electrical charges and, as the air masses are destabilized by the mountain ridges, result in thunderstorm activity and nearly continuous lightning - mostly in the clouds.

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