Jesús Muñoz Tébar
Jesús Muñoz Tébar (Caracas, 17 January 1847 – 21 September, 1909) was an Venezuelan engineer, military and politician known by his works of minister of Public Works in five occasions during the government of Antonio Guzmán Blanco and his progressive political thought ahead of his time.[1]
He studied in the School Vargas of Caracas and graduated from the Military academy of Mathematics in 1866 with the degree of Lieutenant of Engineers.
Called at the time as 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, by then a country purely rural. In 1881 ends the Municipal Theatre of Caracas whose construction was initiated in 1876 by the French architect Esteban Ricard, who leaves the country in 1879.[1]
As trusted official of the president Guzmán Blanco, keeps it informed of the British invasion to Venezuelan territory in the Esequibo that drove to the rupture of diplomatic relations with the British government.
Muñoz Tébar was the rector of the Central University of Venezuela in two opportunities, and in this college receives the doctorate in Philosophical Sciences.
In 1891 he published the 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 in turn reject the current despotism.[1]
Muñoz Tébar dies in Caracas on 21 September 1909.