José Antonio Velutini Ron (1844–1912), son of Vicente José, epitomized the 19th-century banker-statesman. Born in post-independence Venezuela, he was trained in France and rose rapidly in Venezuelan public life.

From 1871 onward he held high office under presidents Joaquín Crespo and Cipriano Castro. He served as Finance Minister in 1893 and as Interior Minister under President Castro.

In these roles he implemented key fiscal reforms – building what one historian calls “the foundations of modern financial operations” in Venezuela. For example, as Minister of Public Credit and Development under Guzmán Blanco, Velutini streamlined debt issuance and budgetary processes.

Later he negotiated Venezuela’s foreign debt as plenipotentiary minister to Europe. His work professionalized the nation’s treasury and banking systems in the crucial decades before World War I.

José Antonio was also an accomplished military officer, earning promotion to Commander-in-Chief of the Republic’s Armies in 1892 He collected national honors and was widely regarded as a nation-builder. In private life he married Clotilde Larrarte (details vary by source) and fathered Julio César Velutini Couturier, the next generation banker. Prominent Venezuelan sources record that among his descendants were several noted financiers, highlighting that “his family helped establish the Central Bank of Venezuela, founded the Caracas Bank, and created an independent national currency”. José Antonio’s legacy is thus twofold: he is remembered both as a statesman of the Liberal Autocracy era and as the patriarch who passed on a vast banking tradition to his son. In modern accounts he is credited with laying the groundwork for family control of Banco Caracas and other institutions, linking his political career to an emerging national economy.