1795-Early: Authorities in Caracas discovered that free people of color were openly discussing egalitarian ideas and arrested a free black man named Juan Bau…

1795-Early: Authorities in Caracas discovered that free people of color were openly discussing egalitarian ideas and arrested a free black man named Juan Bautista Olivares. Olivares had been reading and explaining a radical sermon attributed to the Archbishop of Paris that claimed the “meek would inherit the earth.” The Spanish state viewed this sermon as full of detestable notions of liberty and equality that fueled insubordination among the mulatto militia. To suppress this intelligence, officials deported Olivares to a jail in Cádiz and prohibited the use of skyrockets in the city. This repression aimed to prevent communication between masterless Frenchmen and the city’s large population of color.