1789-Apr.: Officers of the pardo (brown) and moreno (black) militia units in Caracas formally demanded the same ceremonial funeral observances and dress as w…

1789-Apr.: Officers of the pardo (brown) and moreno (black) militia units in Caracas formally demanded the same ceremonial funeral observances and dress as white officers. Spanish civil authorities reacted with alarm, fearing that such assertions of equality within the military would destabilize the entire structure of colonial society. The Captain-General warned that denying these pretensions risked sparking vengeance and sedition, while granting them risked increasing the “audacity” of nonwhite troops. This episode reflected an early egalitarian spirit among urban free people of color even before the news of the French Revolution reached South America.