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Note Details

Set Details
Note Description: Venezuela, Banco Central
20 Bolívares 2014 - Printer: CMV
Grade: 66 EPQ
Country: VEN
Note Number: VEN91g
Signatures/
Vignettes:		 - Wmk: L. Arismendi & 20
Certification #: 8046364-053  
Owner: Revenant
Sets Competing: Not competing in any sets
Date Added: 7/13/2020
Research: Currently not available

Owner's Description

At the time it was announced and placed into circulation, at least officially, this note was worth about US$9.30.

The front of this note shows Luisa Cáceres de Arismendi – the wife of Juan Bautista Arismendi, a general in the rebel army. She was 13 years old and living with her family in Caracas when the 1812 earthquake flattened the city. She met her future husband on Christmas Eve in 1813. Her father was killed by royalist troops. Her brother then joined the rebels and was captured and executed only a few days after enlisting. After that, they moved to the Island of Margarita – where the Arismendi family offered security – but four of her aunts died making the trip. She married her husband on 4 December 1814 – she was 15 and he was 39.

On 24 September 1815 she was captured and imprisoned on the day before her 16th birthday to put pressure on her husband, who had been appointed governor of the island. She was pregnant at the time and initially placed under house arrest before being moved to a dungeon. After months of poor food and poor treatment she gave birth to a daughter in January 1816, who died shortly thereafter.

She was moved several times to prevent her from falling into rebel hands. The decision was eventually made to send her to Spain, but the ship was hit by pirates and stranded on an island for a time. Spanish authorities eventually recovered her and others in 1817. Later, in mid-1818, with help including that of an Englishman, she escaped on a Frigate and made it to Philadelphia in the United States.

Her husband sent a Colonel to bring her home and she arrived back in Margarita in July 1818. In September 1819, about a week before she turned 20, the Council of the Indies dictated that she would be granted liberty to choose her residence.

She had 11 total children before her death at the age of 66.

The back of the note shows Hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) with Macanao Mountain in the background. Hawksbill sea turtle is the only surviving member of the Eretmochelys genus, and it is listed critically endangered by the World Conservation Union – primarily due to human fishing activity, even though they have a worldwide distribution. The capture of and trade in this species or products derived from it is banned under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITIES).

These turtles get their name from a sharp, curving beak with a prominent cutting edge – which is kind of interesting for something that eats mostly sea sponges, jellyfish, and sea anemones. They are well adapted for open ocean swimming but spend most of their lives in shallow lagoons and coral reefs. Adults are about 1 meter long and weigh about 80 kg (180 lbs) – about the same as an adult male human. It takes 20 years for one to reach maturity – also in line with humans.

Macanao Mountain is the highest peak in the Macanao peninsula on Margarita Island (gotta love that name). Christopher Colombus landed on the island in 1498. It was on this island that Simon Bolivar was confirmed as Commander-in-Chief of the Second Republic of Venezuela in 1816. The primary industry on the island, until recently, was tourism – which has declined 90% from 2010 to 2020 as the troubles in Venezuela have dragged on and deepened.

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