Venezuelan federalism is a disaster in practice.…

Venezuelan federalism is a disaster in practice.

President Falcón's general lack of interest in ruling and his failure to exert strong leadership allows local caudillos to exert oppressive authoritarian control over their fiefdoms even while they continue to pay lip service to the concept of federalism.

Central government authority is finally restored in 1870 by Falcón's chief aide, Antonio Guzmán Blanco, who established a dictatorship that will endure for eighteen years.