CASTRO

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 8343, 1 February 1913, Page 6

CASTRO

NOT ADMITTED TO THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. THE KILLING OF GENERAL PARADEZ. By Telegraph—Press Association-Copyright (Received January 31, 10.30 p.m.) WASHINGTON, January 31. Mr Nagel, Secretary of Commerce, has finally ordered ex-Presidcnt Castro to be deported, on the ground that Castro flatly refused to answer a question as to whether he (Castro) participated in tho killing of General Paradez during tho Venezuelan insurrection. Tho crime was held to bo non-poli-tical, involving moral turpitude. Cipriano Castro is a native of El Tachira, one of the Andine provinces of Venezuela. In the early nineties he was sent to the Federal Senate at Caracas, and there snubbed for his uncouth provincialism. He returned to his ranche vowing revenge. After a brush with tax-collectors he raised tho standard of revolt, and in a few weeks was proclaimed President of tho Amtino Province. Towards tho end of 1898, under President Andrade, he w-as called in by dis-aiisiied military loaders to bring about 'a revolution. This he did with the help of his Andinos, and with such success that he w-as proclaimed Andrade’s successor, much to the disgust of lhe generals who had summoned him. Tho President of Venezuela has always in a general way been the owner of rue country, but no one owned it quite so completely as General Castro. He annulled most of the concessions granted to foreigners by his predecessors, aim inflicted indignities on foreign residents. As a result, his ports were blockaded, and he has perhaps received more ultimatums than any other man living. In 1909 his reign came to an end, and Castro went to Europe. His movements since have invariably been accompanied by sensational developments. On one occasion, when en route to Venezuela in a French steamer, the Venezuelan Government warned the company that ho would bo arrested if he landed. The company proposed to land him-at Trinidad, but the British Government, at tho request of the United States, declined the honour. On arriving in tho West Indies, Castro found that tho only port not barred against him was Fort do France, Martinique, and hero he was landed, the steamship company declining to carr yhim any further. Two days later the French Government ordered him to depart, and as he protested that the state of his health made it impossible for him to leave his bod, tho colonial police, after receiving the assurance of medical experts that another eoa voyage would be beneficial to his malady, placed him upon a stretcher and carried him —protesting vigorously against this “'violation of the rights of man”-—to the steamship Versailles, w-hich conveyed him back again to Europe.