[1] He went on to study law from 1916 to 1919 at the Central University of Venezuela, when he went into exile following his involvement in the unsuccessful conspiracy of Luis Rafael Pimentel.

[3] This movement involved the kidnapping of the governor of Curaçao, Leonard Albert Fruytier [nl],[3] by 250 men with the support of communists [3] as Miguel Otero Silva, José Tomás Jiménez, and Guillermo Prince Lara.

They plundered weapons, ammunition and the treasury of the island[4] and hauled the governor Fruytier off to Venezuelan coasts on the stolen American ship Maracaibo.

[3] The revolutionaries landing at La Vela de Coro but were defeated by Gómez forces, and the raid ended in failure.

[citation needed] Machado returned to Venezuela again in 1944 and began distributing Mexican and Soviet films and explained plans of creating a Communist organization.

[citation needed] After the 1948 Venezuelan coup d'état had brought to an end the three-year democratic period known as El Trienio Adeco he was imprisoned again in 1950, and expelled from the country in 1951.

[2] A biography, Gustavo Machado: un caudillo prestado al comunismo (by José Agustín Catalá and Domingo Alberto Rangel) was published in 2001 by Ediciones Centauro.