Jacinto Gutiérrez Martínez

Jacinto Gutiérrez Martínez (27 September 1808 – 16 September 1884) was a Venezuelan politician, soldier and journalist. He was the son of José Gutiérrez and María Martínez, raised in Cumaná before moving to Caracas. In November 1878 he was designated President of Venezuela by the High Federal Court following the death of Francisco Linares Alcántara.

Biography Gutiérrez graduated as a bachelor of philosophy on 28 July 1828 under José María Vargas, then rector of the Central University of Venezuela. While still a student, he served as an amanuensis to the Liberator Simón Bolívar when the latter came to Caracas in 1827, owing to the illness of his secretary José Rafael Revenga. After this he returned to Cumaná, where for a time he served as acting secretary of the High Court of Justice of the East and later as professor of philosophy at the Colegio Nacional de Cumaná. In this city he married Inés Coll Sánchez around 1834. As a journalist, he edited La Revista Oriental (Cumaná, 1835) together with Blas Bruzual, and sympathised with the Reforms Revolution. As a deputy, he represented the interests of the province of Cumaná on several occasions: in 1840, 1842, 1843 and 1844. His name appeared on the list of the Bolivian (later Bolivarian) Society, of which he was a member in 1843.

He was administrator of the Caja de Ahorros de Caracas in 1842 and a member of the jury for press trials in the capital in 1843. As a senator, he represented the interests of the province of Maracaibo in 1848 and 1849, and those of the province of Cumaná in 1855. A prominent member of the second government of José Tadeo Monagas, serving as Minister of Finance (1855 and 1857) and Minister of the Interior and Justice (1856), he had to seek asylum in the French Legation following the government's fall in March 1858, and left the country. Until 1863 he resided in the Antilles. Upon his return to Venezuela, he served as senator for the state of Bolívar (today Miranda, 1865–1867), and was appointed Minister Plenipotentiary of Venezuela to Peru, Brazil and Ecuador (1867–1868). As Minister of Finance (1870, 1871), he was president of the states of Guayana (1872) and Barquisimeto (1873), and again held the portfolio of Foreign Relations (1873).

During the Coro Revolution, he was mobilised to Zulia to fight General León Colina. Shortly thereafter he was appointed president of the High Federal Court and temporarily took charge of the executive power that same year. Minister of Relations (1875), he was senator for the state of Zulia (1875–1876). He was a candidate for the presidency of the Republic in the 1876 elections, which he lost to Francisco Linares Alcántara. As acting president, Gutiérrez decreed on 9 December 1878 the transfer of the remains of Francisco Linares Alcántara to the National Pantheon.

In 1879 he again held the Finance portfolio. He was widowed by his first wife and remarried in Curaçao to Sofía Ana Hart, mother of Pedro Elías Gutiérrez. Like many figures of his time, Jacinto Gutiérrez was a Freemason, reaching the 18th degree.