Luis Cárdenas Saavedra was a professor and founder of the first public school of Caracas in Venezuela.
[1] In May 1591, Saavedra went to the local government (Cabildo) and offered to teach orphaned children in the city of Caracas.
The Cabildo approved his request and named a commission headed by the mayor Alonso Díaz Moreno and alderman Lorenzo Martínez, who gathered 50 ducats of 8 Spanish reals to pay Saavedra's salary for a year.
Assistants at the meeting and signatories included the Governor and Captain General of the province of Venezuela, Diego de Osorio; the captain Sebastián Díaz Moreno; and Lorenzo Martínez.
At that time, education was limited to the children of wealthy families who paid teachers, priests or university students.