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- The headquarters of the Venezuelan State Department in Caracas. It was originally a colonial prison.
President Guzmán Blanco made it the presidential palace in the nineteenth century and had it painted yellow, the color of the Liberal Party, hence the name.
Casa Amarilla is also the name of the Presidential Palace in San José, Costa Rica.
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BOGOTÁ: Has morning and evening newspapers representing the major political parties. All are government controlled. Dailies include El Tiempo (www.eltiempo.com), El Espectador (www.elespectador.com), and La República.
BUENOS AIRES: Morning papers of long standing and of national importance are: La Prensa, La Nación (www.lanacion.com.ar), the country's oldest, The Buenos Aires Herald (www.buenosairesherald.com), The Standard, the oldest English-language newspaper, and Clarín (www.clarín.com), a morning daily. La Razón and La Crónica come out in the evening.
CARACAS: has a wide press service. The most important dailies are El Nacional (www.el-nacional.terra.com.ve), El Universal (www.eud.com), Últimas Noticias, La Religión, and La Verdad (www.laverdad.com), all appearing in the afternoon, and the evening newspapers El Meridiano, El Mundo, El Globo, and Extra. There is also an English-language daily, The Daily Journal.
HAVANA: Has three dailies. The best known is Granma(www.granma.cubaweb.cu), official newspaper of the Cuban Communist Party. Trabajadores is published by the Cuban trade union movement, and the more lively Juventud Rebelde is aimed at a younger readership.
LIMA: has a dozen daily newspapers. El Comercio (www.elcomercioperu.com), founded in 1939, is Peru's oldest newspaper. Ojo, a morning newspaper, has the largest circulation. El Peruano (www.editoraperu.com) is the official state gazette, and Expreso is the leading opposition daily.
MEXICO CITY: Has twenty dailies. The morning daily Excelsior (www.excelsior.com.mx), established in 1917, is often considered the nation's best and one of the most important newspapers of the Spanish-speaking world. La Jornada is another important daily, and there is an English-language daily, The News.
MONTEVIDEO: The British, who occupied the city in 1807, published the first newspaper in the capital, The Southern Star. The city has had newspapers ever since, representing the views of all political parties and factions.
SANTIAGO DE CHILE: There are almost a dozen newspapers. The most important dailies are El Mercurio (www.elmercurio.cl), founded in 1900, La Nación, and La Tercera (www.tercera.cl).
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- Spain's War of Independence against Napoleon Bonaparte's French occupation was ignited by the popular revolt in Madrid on 2 May 1808 against the French army. The reprisal executions are commemorated in a famous painting by Francisco de Goya. With support from the Duke of Wellington, Spanish resistance continued for over five years in a guerra de guerrillas which gave the world the concept and the term guerrilla warfare. The autocratic Fernando VII was restored to the throne in 1814, and his first act was to abolish the progressive Constitution of Cadiz adopted in 1812.
The Wars of Independence of Spain's Latin American colonies were inspired partly by the ideas of the French encyclopédistes, partly by the example of the American and French Revolutions, and partly by Spain's own resistance to French domination. Argentina achieved independence in 1816. Simón Bolívar of Caracas led a freedom movement that was to sweep South America and earned him the title El Libertador. By 1840 all the mainland Spanish colonies were independent. Others who played a crucial roles in the independence struggles of Spain's colonies during the nineteenth century include Hidalgo, Morelos and Guerrero (Mexico), Sucre and Miranda (Venezuela, Peru), San Martín, Brown and Belgrano (Argentina), O'Higgins, San Martín (Chile), Céspedes and Martí (Cuba).
