From antiquity, when the wheel appears in human civilization, man begins, restless by nature, to search incessantly for a means of locomotion that would allow him to cross great distances in a short time without any exhaustion. This idea subjugates it; does not rest; it sounds; rush This is how the means of land transportation of different shapes and styles appear at different times. In short, try to find a substitute for muscular energy capable of moving the vehicle on its own. Or what is the same, replace the draft horses for a motor. In that intense and slow evolution of triumphs and failures in the history of motorsport, we arrived in France in 1894, July 22, specifically, when the first automobile race was held, And it is precisely a De Dion Bouton the car reviewed by the margariteña press of the time as the one brought in the Manzanares steamer and disembarked by the quay of Pampatar on August 31, 1908; the same that was dragged to the poles until Porlamar so that the skillful of José Isabel León could mend a piece that had been damaged at the time of disembarkation; the same that the teacher Jesus Manuel Subero gives as the first to set foot on Margaritean soil and that Germán León's family preserves as a historical jewel, not as a De Dion Bouton, but as a HOLSMAN, as stated by Germán León himself in an interview that he granted to the journalist Alfredo Arismendi, published in the "Insular" newspaper on Sunday, May 8, 1987. On that occasion Germán said: -I still remember very well. It was very small, but nevertheless I remember everything clearly. Moreover, as stated by the teacher Jesus Manuel Subero, my father, José Isabel León, was the one who repaired the car on his arrival in Porlamar after having broken one of his main pieces to be able to shoot.

-How was the car at the hands of his father? - asked the journalist.

"Jose Isabel Leon, my father," Germán replied, "acquired it from a man, but I do not remember how much. The truth of the case was that the first owner of the original model car HOLSMAN, with three spark plugs, ten horsepower and three speeds: two forward and one back, handed it to a friend of his to take care of him. This, for not being able to assist him, left him abandoned in a workshop and that was when he offered it to the head of my family. For that reason we keep it as a true relic. Was this, in fact, the first car to reach Margarita? I doubt it. Except that later the missing link in this case shows me the opposite. This is because the data I have processed to date is given to me by the rest of a file in which a traffic accident occurred in El Valle del Espíritu Santo on September 8, 1908, the year that is regarded as the arrival of the first car to Margarita. I base my doubts on the statements of the driver of the car involved in the accident, a person who does not resemble any of those that Subero says were the drivers of his De Dion Bouton. Those were, according to Subero: Hercules Salem, JB Carreño and Rodolfo Bertolucci. The one in my file, on the other hand, was called Francisco Gasson, he was 23 years old at the time, Venezuelan, a mechanic by profession and a neighbor of Porlamar. I base my doubts on the statements of the driver of the car involved in the accident, a person who does not resemble any of those that Subero says were the drivers of his De Dion Bouton. Those were, according to Subero: Hercules Salem, JB Carreño and Rodolfo Bertolucci. The one in my file, on the other hand, was called Francisco Gasson, he was 23 years old at the time, Venezuelan, a mechanic by profession and a neighbor of Porlamar. I base my doubts on the statements of the driver of the car involved in the accident, a person who does not resemble any of those that Subero says were the drivers of his De Dion Bouton. Those were, according to Subero: Hercules Salem, JB Carreño and Rodolfo Bertolucci. The one in my file, on the other hand, was called Francisco Gasson, he was 23 years old at the time, Venezuelan, a mechanic by profession and a neighbor of Porlamar.

-The eight of the present, day of the festival of NS of the Valley of the Holy Spirit, I was in the Plaza de la Iglesia and came in the car for Porlamar driving some passengers, at a time when there was also a car from Porlamar to El Valle ; a boy came running behind the car to hit him and when I opened to expand the car, leaving a clear of three rods between the car and the boy, who was looking back, the coachman perceived the boy who came At full speed for the car, he put his horse to the bridle, but the boy, finding himself between the two vehicles, gave his chest to the wheel of the car, and for more efforts he made to avoid a misfortune he could not help it, because the horse was scared passing the carriage over. At the moment of the event, the coachman got off picking up the boy and putting him in a house. I followed my route to Porlamar to drive the passengers I brought.

-The day of the NS festival of the Valley of the Holy Spirit came in the car with other friends and I saw a car was going to El Valle and when he got near the car he took the right and the car his, leaving a space like the one of three rods, observing by the noise of boys that the car had stepped on one and after informed I have come to know, by report of the same driver of the car, that the boy who stepped on the car came running alongside the car without realizing that a car was coming and when crossing, it collided with the wheel and fell to the ground passing the wheel over it.

Finally I insert the statement of the victim who turned out to be the child Rufino Díaz, twelve years old, servant by profession. Reclused in the steam grinding of Moraos Hermanos, at the request of the Judge, who visited him on the morning of September 9, 1908, reported:

-I'm broken and at home and today I came to know that said damage was made to me by a car that passed over me, because when I fell I was completely deprived. It happened that, coming from the Valley and in front of Teodora Castro's First Aid Kit, we found the car that was coming to Porlamar and the car that José Félix Rodríguez, Jr., (aka Languillo) was going to for El Valle; I was in the company of Andrés Avelino Meneses, but I was ahead and he was behind me. The car touched whistle, I moved away and I did not notice the car, ruining myself in the act, not being able to give reason of the others, but I can assure that the coachman José Félix Rodríguez was not guilty. This Rufino Díaz of our history, with time, was very popular in Porlamar. He married Modesta Jiménez. Rosario was born of such a union, which, as an irony of fate, she became wife of Germán León. The corner located to the north of the intersection of Miranda Avenue and Marcano Street, is still known as "Esquina de Rufinito", where, for decades, it served a pulpería of their property.

It would be necessary to clarify the characteristics of the car alluded to in my mutilated file. I hope that those characteristics correspond to those of De Dion Bou ton that Subero teacher talks about. Otherwise, we should change the course of the history of motorsports in Margarita, whether or not we thank our most gratifying Jesús Manuel Subero.

From the book, Margarita Bajo Ruedas by Nicanor Navarror