:''For other similarly named places, see
San Fernando''.
'San Fernando de Atabapo' was the capital city of
Venezuela's
Amazonas State until the early 1900s. The population in 1997 was approximately 5,000.
It was ruled for a long time by
Tomas Funes, a powerful
caudillo who controlled the local
rubber industry (derived from indigenous rubber plants) by enslaving the local native populations. His power eventually became great enough to threaten the Venezuelan authorities and he was ultimately executed in the town square in the early 1930s. The town displays a photograph of a
United States military aircraft that was shot down and crashed into the
Orinoco River around this time. A
Venezuelan National Guard unit is stationed here.