[1] Falcón was a member of the Liberal Venezuelan Federalist Party, and had been exiled to Curaçao after the Conservative March Revolution of 1858.

At the outbreak of the Federal War, he returned to Venezuela as the supreme chief of the rebel movement in August 1859.

[2] After the Battle of Coplé, the Federal War transformed mainly into a successful guerrilla warfare campaign, which ended in a victory for the Federalists in 1863, and the Treaty of Coche, which made him the new President of Venezuela.

In 1863, under the presidency of Juan Crisóstomo Falcon Zavarce, Venezuela became the first country to abolish capital punishment for all crimes, including serious offenses against the state.

[3] Falcón Zavarce was married to Luisa Isabel Pachano Muñoz, who served as First Lady of Venezuela from 1863 to 1868.