Jesús Muñoz Tébar ( Caracas, 17 January 1847 – 21 September, 1909) was a Venezuelan

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the limit ...

, soldier and politician, Minister of Public Works on five occasions during the government of

Antonio Guzmán Blanco Antonio José Ramón de La Trinidad y María Guzmán Blanco (28 February 1829 – 28 July 1899) was a Venezuelan military leader, statesman, diplomat and politician. He was the president of Venezuela for three separate terms, from 1870 until ...

. He was the

Minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...

from 1908 to 1909.

Career

He studied in the Vargas School of Caracas and graduated from the

Military Academy A military academy or service academy is an educational institution which prepares candidates for service in the officer corps. It normally provides education in a military environment, the exact definition depending on the country concerned. ...

of Mathematics in 1866 with the rank of Lieutenant of Engineers. A trusted official of Guzmán Blanco, three times president of Venezuela, he was called at the time the “constructor of the guzmancismo". Under his tenure as minister of Public Works, the government developed the construction of roads, bridges and railways in an attempt to improve the quality of life of Venezuela, then a purely

rural In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry typically are descri ...

nation. In 1881 he finished the Municipal Theatre of Caracas whose construction was initiated in 1876 by the French architect Esteban Ricard, who had left the country in 1879. He kept the Venezuelan government informed about British presence near the two nations' disputed border, leading to the rupture of diplomatic relations with the British government. Muñoz Tébar was the rector of the

Central University of Venezuela The Central University of Venezuela (Spanish: ''Universidad Central de Venezuela''; UCV) is a public university of Venezuela located in Caracas. It is widely held to be the highest ranking institution in the country, and it also ranks 18th in ...

for two terms, and the institution awarded him a Doctorate in Philosophical Sciences. In 1891 he published his book ''Personalismo y Legalismo'', dedicated to pointing out the conditions of the region after independence, focusing in the need to improve the educational system to achieve sustainable development and consequently end the current despotism. Muñoz Tébar died in Caracas on 21 September 1909.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Munoz Tebar, Jesus 1847 births 1909 deaths Finance ministers of Venezuela Venezuelan engineers Members of the Venezuelan Academy of Language Venezuelan military personnel Public works ministers of Venezuela Central University of Venezuela rectors People from Caracas