Rubén González Cárdenas (14 March 1875 – 26 August 1939)[1] was a lawyer with an intense early political life in his native State of Táchira between 1899 and 1908.

From this part of his life, three distinct variables will stand out and accompany him for the rest of his life: his extraordinary academic performance, to the point of being considered an exceptionally gifted student; his unbending rebellious character and his relationship with the school's director, Father Jesús Manuel Jáuregui Moreno, who will mark him permanently for his "true pedagogical sense".

[2]González Cárdenas departs for Mérida, supported through enormous economical efforts from his parents, to undergo Law studies at the Universidad de Los Andes (ULA).

In 1895 he is elected by the student body to pronounce the speech in remembrance of Field Marshal Mariscal Antonio José de Sucre's birth at the university's main auditorium.

In a report delivered to president Cipriano Castro he displays a brilliant mind when he stays "ever watchful to the imminent dangers of uprisings and invasions such as the one Colombia attempted a year later".

Furthermore, he worries about “ Venezuela’s international image, the intervention of foreign ventures in the country as he analyses German investments in Tachira state, the very-much desired Tachira railway, telegraph lines and their dire necessity; the problems with smuggling through the Zulia and Catatumbo rivers, and especially, the political problems of the country, focused on the urgent need of educating young men to replace the worn out political parties".

[5] As Cipriano Castro's regime falls, González Cárdenas remains at San Cristobal, where he was falsely accused of participating in a conspiracy movement.

He was jailed at Cuartel San Carlos in 1910 and eight months later was set free, thanks to General Régulo Olivares, Military Commander of Arms, who after an investigation was convinced of González Cárdenas' innocence.

"Years later, he confided to me (his son, Dr. César González) that his mistake was leaving for Colombia instead of traveling to Caracas, because President Juan Vicente Gómez had proved that it wasn’t his design to place him in jail…, but his youth, his impulsive character, and his resolve made him take that path".

All this circumstances and his deplorable economical situation, near destitution, makes him take the decision of asking for safe passage to Gomez's government through Román Cárdenas, a relative who was at the time Minister of Internal Revenue.

Upon his arrival to Caracas in 1917, González visits acting Venezuelan President General Gómez, who makes it clear that it was not his idea to imprison him at San Carlos Fort.

He also informs him that he is well aware of Gonzalez's views regarding his government, and lets him know his knowledge of opposition activities outside the country; however, González's position, always aligned to the Constitution and the Law, convince the chief of state to freely trust him.

The strategy developed during González Cárdenas stay as Minister represented a milestone in Venezuela's public education due to the great impact he had in this sector.

It is still a school house that "is limited in providing basic knowledge as a consequence of a routine teaching system boring and lacking interest to the students"[9] (Mudarra, 1978, p. 97) Rubén González Cárdenas understood that "something more than correcting vices in the application of the law and making compliance was needed in order to reach a true and complete organization of the system"(González, cit.

A small measure of this was that in six years of work (1922 – 1928) wages were increased 140% but demanding reciprocity he insisted professionalizing teaching activities that up till then were basic and rudimentary.

This reform revolved around the separation of the teaching and evaluation functions implemented in 1914 but "...with a better perspective and judicial criteria, Rubén González makes the Organic Law of Public Instruction declare expressly that the evaluation function that grants official titles and certificates pertains only to the State"[11] Rubén González Cárdenas was always a guardian of the patriotic interests and as Minister of Public Tuition focused to ennoble the interest of the Nation.

Rubén González enacted a disposition by which the teaching of these programs was reserved for Venezuelan born nationals and other educational matters intimately related with the Republic and its institutions, against the destructive approach that Jesuit teachers were preaching.

[13] With the installment of legislation, a personal project of Rubén González Cárdenas, the anarchy of the so-called "liberal studies" were eliminated and clearly defined the concept of "a liberty of teaching that now would not permit a student practice that presented themselves for examination based on the subscription that any teacher, without certification or necessary elements could apply towards the Ministry of Public Tuition, that made possible lawyers, doctors, engineers, etc, graduating in less than two years"[14] Of his personal work stands out a particular decree that establishes two hundred (200) elementary schools and a few months later thirty (3) graduate schools in a country with a population of 3 million citizens.

He grants the ULA (Universidad de Los Andes) with new buildings and labs, and through a decree reopens the school where he studied, today the Liceo Militar Jáuregui.

Another episode as Minister of Public Instruction that marked Rubén González Cárdenas unbreakable character happened in 1924, the Secretary General of the Presidency called him to office and presented a letter where Archbishop Felipe Rincón presses the government to "include a Christian doctrine as one of the required courses in elementary, primary and high school, and to exempt from it those children whose parents or guardians declare that they will provide such teachings personally";[15] In that letter he was informed that by Presidential decision he should incorporate these dispositions into the memorandums of law drafted and almost ready.

He started his appointment in the middle of great political turmoil as when General Juan Vicente Gomez finishes his presidential period in 1929 he decide to retire and leave for his home in Maracay.

One day later, on 4 May, both Chambers convey to hear the negative by Gómez to assume the First Magistrate of the country by saying: “… I will always and on all occasions be with our country and its legitimate representatives, and be useful to the homeland when needing of my services" Since 22 April, Rubén González had been assigned, in absolute secrecy, to draft a partial Constitutional reform that added four transitory dispositions where Congress could elect a Commander in Chief and the President of the Republic.

His approach followed that of Minister of Public Education and he made his theme: "Vitalize the National feeling" and worked hard and steady to obtain it.

He met many times with Bishops to change this situation but was not heard and in defense of his ideas confronts the Church, he was then deemed anticlerical and of lacking religious principles which was not the case.

He ignored the situation to the point that he forbid family and friends to respond in his defense or inspect records or files, many of his assets were seized by political enemies.