TORO, Fermin, Venezuelan statesman, born in Caracas in 1807; died there in 1865. He received an excellent private education, but was never graduate& After being employed in his early years in the national treasury, he was promoted collector of the island of Margarita, and in 1831 was elected, before the legal age, to congress, where he soon became known as an orator. He was also a member of the constituent congress, and was called to the cabinet by General Soublette as secretary of state and provisionally of the treasury, also representing his country as minister in Bogota and Madrid in 1845-'6, with Juan M. Cajigal, he edited "El Correo de Caracas." In 1858 he was one of the intimate advisers of General Castro, and under General Paez formed part of his cabinet. He published "Los Martires," a romance (Caracas, 1834): "Disertacion sobre la ley de 10 de Abril de 1834" (1835); "America y Europa" (1836); and many poems published by his friend, Manuel Cafiete, under the pen-name of Emiro Kastos (Paris, 1847). He left a manuscript "La Sibila de los Andes," a novel, and "La Hecatonfonia" and "El veinticuatro de Enero," poems.