Manuel Antonio Caballero Agüero (5 December 1931 – 12 December 2010) was a notable Venezuelan

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...

, journalist, best-selling author and professor of contemporary Venezuelan History at the

Central University of Venezuela Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...

Biography

Caballero was born in

Barquisimeto Barquisimeto (; ) is a city in Venezuela. Barquisimeto is located in the Central-Western Region, Venezuela. It is the capital of the state of Lara (state), Lara and head of Iribarren Municipality. It is an important urban, industrial, commercial a ...

, studied history at the

and obtained a PhD at

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

. With the publication of his PhD dissertation he became the first Venezuelan author to be published by

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...

. In 1989 he was invited to teach at Universitá degli Studi di Napoli in Italy. He received the National Award on Journalism (Premio Nacional de Periodismo) and the National History Award (Premio Nacional de Historia, 1994) and in 2005 he was elected as a member of the ''Academia Nacional de la Historia'' (or National Academy of History of Venezuela). He wrote regularly for Venezuelan newspapers '' El Nacional, El Diario de Caracas'' and most recently '' El Universal.'' Despite his past as a left-wing thinker and political activist, in particular against president

Rómulo Betancourt Rómulo Ernesto Betancourt Bello (22 February 1908 – 28 September 1981; ), known as "The Father of Venezuelan Democracy", was a Venezuelan politician who served as the president of Venezuela, from and again from Second presidency of Rómulo ...

, in his latter years he became one of the most vocal and vehement critics of president

Hugo Chávez Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías (; ; 28 July 1954 – 5 March 2013) was a Venezuelan politician, Bolivarian Revolution, revolutionary, and Officer (armed forces), military officer who served as the 52nd president of Venezuela from 1999 until De ...

and his administration. He revised his perspective on President Betancourt in a biography written in 2004. On 2010, he underwent a prostate surgery that triggered a series of infections unresponsive to antibiotics, further complicated by diabetes. He died on 12 December 2010.

Works

*La Pasión de Comprender: ensayos de historia (y de) política (1983) *EL Orgullo de Leer (1988) * Las Elecciones Presidenciales: ¿la última o la primera? (1989) * Gómez, El Tirano Liberal: vida y muerte del siglo XIX (1993) * De la "Pequeña Venecia" a la "Gran Venezuela": una historia de cinco siglos (1997) * Contra el golpe, la dictadura militar y la guerra civil (1998) *La Crisis de la Venezuela Contemporánea 1903–1992 (1998) * La gestación de Hugo Chávez: 40 años de luces y sombras en la democracia venezolana (2000) * Latin America and the Comintern, 1919–1943 (2002) * Rómulo Betancourt, Político de Nación (2004) * El Desorden de los Refugiados (2004) * Dramatis Personae: doce ensayos biográficos (2004) * ¿Por qué no soy bolivariano? (2006) * La Peste Militar (2007) * Contra la abolición de la historia (2008) * Polémicas y otras formas de escritura (2008) * No más de una cuartilla (2009) * Historia de los venezolanos en el siglo XX (2010)

External links

Selected Essays

Profile at the Academia Nacional de Historia

"El Poder Popular es una ficción" interview
by the newspaper El Universal
Interview to Manuel Caballero about his book "Historia de los venezolanos en el siglo XX" – Lo afirmativo venezolano
{{DEFAULTSORT:Caballero, Manuel 1931 births Alumni of University College London Writers from Caracas Venezuelan male writers 20th-century Venezuelan historians Central University of Venezuela alumni Academic staff of the Central University of Venezuela 2010 deaths 21st-century Venezuelan historians