Independence Day (Venezuela)

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Independence Day (Spanish: Día de la Independencia), also known as the Fifth of July (Cinco de Julio) is the national independence holiday of Venezuela, marked every year on July 5 which celebrates the anniversary since the enactment of the 1811 Venezuelan Declaration of Independence, making the country the first Spanish colony in South America to declare independence.^[1] In recent years, it is also marked as National Armed Forces Day (Día de la Fuerza Armada Nacional) to honor the faithful service of all the serving men and women and veterans of the National Bolivarian Armed Forces of Venezuela.

The Caracas Independence Day parade, or Joint Civil-Military Parade of the 5th of July (Spanish: Desfile civico-militar conjunto del 5 de julio) is one of the largest in the Americas.^{[citation needed]}

The other independence holiday is on 19 April, honoring the declaration of a local junta in Caracas on 19 April 1810, launching the road towards the First Republic of Venezuela and the start of the independence struggle.