1790-Sept.: The arrival of a shipment of thirty-one slaves from Curaçao prompted Venezuelan officials to prohibit nine of them from landing because they had …

1790-Sept.: The arrival of a shipment of thirty-one slaves from Curaçao prompted Venezuelan officials to prohibit nine of them from landing because they had been “educated” in the Dutch colony. Intendente Juan Guillelmi argued that creole slaves brought up in foreign territories were inherently harmful to the security of the province. This specific fear of “creole contagion” was validated five years later when a runaway from Curaçao led the largest slave revolt in Venezuelan history. These landing prohibitions reflected a broader Caribbean-wide effort to restrict the movement of politically aware or “refractory” laborers.