Puerto Cabello | |
|---|---|
City | |
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 Flag  Seal | |
.svg)  Puerto Cabello  Puerto Cabello  Puerto Cabello | |
| Coordinates:10°28′00″N68°01′00″W / 10.46667°N 68.01667°W /10.46667; -68.01667 | |
| Country | Venezuela |
| State | Carabobo |
| Municipality | Puerto Cabello |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Juan Carlos Betancourt |
| Area | |
• Total | 729 km2 (281 sq mi) |
| Population (2019)[1] | |
• Total | 191,000 |
| • Density | 262/km2 (679/sq mi) |
| Demonym | Porteño |
| Time zone | UTC−4 (VET) |
| Climate | Aw |
| Website | Alcaldía de Puerto Cabello |
Puerto Cabello (Spanish pronunciation:[ˈpweɾtokaˈβeʝo]ⓘ) is acity on the north coast ofVenezuela. It is located inCarabobo State, about 210 km west ofCaracas. As of 2011, the city had a population of around 182,400. The city is home to the largest and busiest port in the country and is thus a vital cog in the country's vast oil industry. The word 'cabello' translates to 'hair'. The Spanish took to saying that the sea was so calm there that a ship could be moored to the dock with a single hair.
The foundation date of Puerto Cabello is not known although its name was documented for the first time on the map of the province of Caracas prepared in 1578 by Juan de Pimentel.
Puerto Cabello's location made it an easy prey to buccaneers and was a popular trading post forDutch smugglers during the 17th century. Most of the contraband trade consisted of cocoa with neighboring island Curaçao, colonized by the Dutch. Puerto Cabello was also at that time under Dutch control.
It was not until 1730 that the Spanish took over the port, after theReal Compañía Guipuzcoana had moved in. This company built warehouses, wharves and an array of forts to protect the harbor.
During theWar of Jenkins' Ear, Puerto Cabello was the careening port of the company, whose ships had rendered great assistance to the Spanish navy in carrying troops, arms, stores and ammunition from Spain to her colonies, and its destruction was a severe blow to both the Company and the Spanish government. British CommodoreCharles Knowles, in command of the 70-gunHMS Suffolk, received orders in 1743 to carry out attacks Puerto Cabello and La Guaira. GovernorGabriel de Zuluaga, well informed of the plans, recruited extra defenders and acquired gunpowder from the Dutch. Consequently, when Knowle's squadron attacked La Guaira on 18 February 1743, they were beaten off by the defenders. Knowles withdrew his squadron and refitted atCuraçao before attempting an assault on Puerto Cabello on April 15, and again on April 24, but both assaults were beaten off as well. Knowles called off the expedition and returned to Jamaica.
By the 1770s, Puerto Cabello had come to be the most fortified town on the Venezuelan coast. The San Felipe castle and the Solano fortress remain from the period. The frigateSanta Cecilia (formerHMS Hermione), under the command of Captain DonRamón de Chalas, sat in Puerto Cabello until CaptainEdward Hamilton, aboardHMS Surprise,cut her out of the harbour on October 25, 1799. The Spanish casualties included 120 dead; the British took 231 Spaniards prisoner, while another 15 jumped or fell overboard. Eleven of Hamilton's men were injured, four seriously, but none was killed. Hamilton himself was severely wounded.
The forces of theFirst Republic of Venezuela briefly held San Felipe castle. In 1812 Simón Bolívar, then a colonel in the independentist forces, was appointedcommandante of Puerto Cabello. He left after a royalist rebellion broke out. In 1821 the Spanish retreated to the castle after their defeat at the decisiveBattle of Carabobo.
Puerto Cabello was the lastSpanish royalist stronghold during Venezuela's war for independence, it was captured byJosé Antonio Páez on November 8, 1823. The harbour came under Anglo-German attack in theVenezuelan crisis of 1902–03 and according to press reports was left in ruins.
In 1940 during the Second World War, six Italian-flagged ships and one German-flagged ship asked the Venezuelan government for refuge given its status as a neutral country. They were granted refuge and the seven vessels were housed in the bay of Puerto Cabello. Among the ships were: the Italian-flagged merchant shipsBaccicin Padre, Teresa Odero, Jole Faccio and Trottiera and the GermanSesostris. On the night of March 31, 1940, the crews of the refugee ships set fire to their own ships following the orders of the high naval command of the Rome-Berlin axis.
In 1962, Puerto Cabello was the site of an uprising, known asEl Porteñazo, by pro-Fidel Castro naval officers, marines, and members of theFALN. Although loyalist naval forces were able to quickly take back the base and arrest the rebels, they were unable to prevent the marines from occupying the city and arming pro-Castro forces. Despite ambushes and bloody house-to-house fighting, loyal National Guard and mechanized regular forces were able to retake Puerto Cabello.[2]
With the ongoing crisis amid food shortages on 23 February 2019 that coupled with economic damage, the aid that was supposed to arrive at the port was turned away by theBolivarian Navy of Venezuela, threatening to "open fire" at it, forcing the aid to redirect back toPuerto Rico.[3]
Puerto Cabello is located inCarabobo State, about 210 km west ofCaracas.
Puerto Cabello has a borderlinetropical savanna climate (KöppenAw), almost dry enough to be ahot semi-arid climate (BSh) as prevails further west on the Caribbean coast of Venezuela.
| Climate data for Puerto Cabello | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 30 (86) | 29 (85) | 30 (86) | 30 (86) | 31 (87) | 31 (87) | 31 (87) | 31 (88) | 32 (89) | 31 (88) | 30 (86) | 30 (86) | 31 (87) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 22 (72) | 22 (72) | 23 (73) | 23 (74) | 23 (74) | 23 (74) | 24 (75) | 23 (74) | 24 (75) | 25 (77) | 24 (75) | 23 (74) | 23 (74) |
| Average rainfall mm (inches) | 99 (3.9) | 33 (1.3) | 10 (0.4) | 43 (1.7) | 89 (3.5) | 76 (3) | 110 (4.3) | 99 (3.9) | 64 (2.5) | 61 (2.4) | 94 (3.7) | 100 (4.1) | 878 (34.7) |
| Source: Weatherbase[4] | |||||||||||||
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Puerto Cabello is served by a station on theInstituto de Ferrocarriles del Estado network.
Puerto Cabello is Venezuela’s largest seaport, however, port traffic declined after theprice of oil collapsed; this devastated the country as it was heavily reliant on imports paid for with oil revenues.[5] As a result of theVenezuelan crisis, many of the poorer citizens in Puerto Cabello's "shantytowns" struggle with severe food insecurity.[6] Citizens wait in long lines to buy groceries with government-mandated prices, and the bolívar had depreciated by nearly 64% as of May, 2017.[7] By August 2017, the depreciation had reached as much as 94%.[8] TheUCOCAR shipyards are in Puerto Cabello and have been awarded contracts to construct patrol vessels for theVenezuelan Navy.[9][10]
An agreement has been signed between the Venezuelan Defense Ministry and Cuban Transportation Ministry to jointly build patrol boats for the Venezuelan Navy in Puerto Cabello (Carabobo), announced AdmiralDiego Alfredo Molero Bellavia (Commander General, Venezuela Navy).
The Venezuelan Ministry of Defence and the Cuban Ministry of Transport on 5 January signed an agreement under which Cuban technicians will assist in production of coastal patrol craft production at Venezuela's UCOCAR Navy shipyard.
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