The Challenge in Venezuela
ALEXANDAR, ROBERT J.
Unemployment, housing, national debt test new regime The Challenge In Venezuela By Robert J. Alexander Caracas In AN impressive ceremony in the Senate Chambers in Caracas, Romulo Betancourt was...
...Something more than half has been paid, but this has strained the Government's reserves to the limit...
...This is the cabinet which was sworn in on February 13, shortly after Betancourt's inauguration...
...However, the negotiations to this end were difficult...
...Almost everyone is agreed that if anyone is capable of putting democratic civilian government on a sound footing, it is Romulo Betancourt...
...The Betancourt Administration faces serious economic, social and political problems which will test to the full the widely recognized political talent, vision and dedication of the new President...
...There are certainly enough problems to keep Betancourt and his associates busy for the President's constitutional five-year term...
...The recession in the United States, plus moves to limit the shipment of oil into the U.S., has already reduced Venezuelan output and exports some, and it is feared that new restrictive measures by Washington are in the offing...
...Another immediate problem, largely out of the Venezuelan Governments hands, is that of oil exports...
...Betancourt also intends to make extensive use of the Venezuelan Development Corporation, established during his regime a dozen years ago, and of existing government banks, to give extensive financial aid to new and growing manufacturing enterprises...
...Venezuela has been governed by military men—usually dictators— throughout most of its history...
...The Democratic Action people feared that as one of the principal ministers he would be making frequent public appearances alongside the President and this might lead to unpleasant incidents...
...Longer-range problems with which the Betancourt Government proposes to deal include those of reorganizing Venezuelan agriculture and pushing forward economic development...
...He spent several weeks visiting the various garrisons and military units and talking with soldiers of all ranks...
...The Betancourt Government is faced with the problem of paying off the rest of this debt, while also commencing an ambitious program of public works and development...
...The new Administration will have to substitute public works for this relief program...
...Democratic Action had begun a program for redistributing the land, but met bitter opposition from the other political parties...
...But the URD and some elements in Democratic Action oppose using this loan or line of credit...
...The URD rejected this formula, and apparently urged that Admiral Larrazabal be Minister of Defense...
...Members of Democratic Action and COPEI seem in particular to have reservations about how long URD will remain in the coalition...
...These are merely some of the most pressing and spectacular problems facing Betancourt and his regime...
...The basic problem facing Betancourt is a political one: the stabilization of a democratic, civilian regime...
...On the other hand, one leading figure in URD assured me that he hoped the coalition would remain for all of Betancourt's term, because an open break among the parties would in all probability give ambitious elements among the military a chance to step in as "saviors of the country" against the "anarchy" of the political parties...
...The new regime faces serious immediate economic problems, as well as a critical long-range economic situation...
...The Betancourt regime will have to study carefully the problem of rent in these projects, which was admittedly too high under the dictatorship, but will also have to insist that the custom of paying a reasonable rent be re-established...
...In the organization of his Administration, too, Betancourt has shown political astuteness...
...If Betancourt can deal with these problems as ably as his friends expect, democracy will have been able to establish sounder roots by 1964 than it has ever had in Venezuela...
...The Provisional Government attempted to deal with unemployment by paying ''wages" to the unemployed without giving them work to do...
...This act was the culmination of a process of restoring political democracy which began with the overthrow of the dictatorship of General Marcos Perez Jimenez a little more than a year ago...
...The dictatorship left a tremendous debt, much of it incurred in an illegal form as mere IOUs to contractors and other firms...
...The Provisional Government also left a serious housing problem...
...Rafael Caldera, had agreed on the necessity of forming a coalition government...
...It is reported that these conversations have gone far to dispel the misgivings of the military men, and to convince them of the need for providing Venezuela with a modern democratic and progressive regime...
...An extensive program of irrigation, to bring potentially rich lands into production, is also contemplated...
...Its greatest accomplishment was its preparation and administration of honest elections...
...It is vital for the whole Hemisphere that he succeed...
...the extension of the educational system, which was seriously undermined by the dictatorship, to the more than 50 per cent of the population that is under 20 years of age...
...The key question is whether the armed forces will permit civilians to govern for any length of time, and whether it will be possible to establish a tradition of military neutrality in politics...
...Betancourt at first suggested that there be two ministries for each of the three parties, Democratic Action (Betancourt), Democratic Republican Union (URD—Larrazabal) and COPEI (Caldera), with the rest of the cabinet to consist of independents...
...This program is vitally necessary not only for the future welfare of the country but in order to deal with the serious unemployment problem, particularly in Caracas...
...The social security system will also have to be reorganized and developed, and labor-management relations will have to be firmly established on the basis of collective bargaining...
...Basic, too, and closely associated with the land redistribution, is the Administration's determination to diversify and increase agricultural production...
...This financial problem also may cause political difficulties...
...Democratic Action was unwilling to accept this because of the peculiar political situation in the capital...
...The dictatorship sought to cope with it by building spectacular apartment-house projects in Caracas...
...Fundamental is an agrarian reform...
...The Provisional Government which ruled Venezuela after the flight of Perez Jimenez left a lot of unfinished business...
...could still create grave financial difficulties for the Government...
...In the electoral campaign, all three candidates for the Presidency, Betancourt, Admiral Wolfgang Larrazabal and Dr...
...The dictatorship had suspended the program...
...But it only started the job of cleaning up the economic mess left by the dictator, and it left the constitutional regime the task of developing long-range plans for economic and social development...
...He has demonstrated his ability in the two months between his election and his inauguration...
...As a result, occupants of Government housing projects in the interior are also refusing to pay rent and the whole housing program is imperiled...
...There is some doubt as to whether this Government can last...
...Caracas has had a slum problem for decades...
...The Provisional Government negotiated a loan with a number of New York banks for something over $200 million, to run for two years, after which it is estimated the problems caused by the debt incurred by the dictatorship will be overcome...
...The last time it was in power, 1945-48...
...Credit, implements and technical advice are to be given to the small farmers who are given land...
...The significance of Betancourt's inauguration for the hemisphere as a whole was pointed up by the impressive group of democratic leaders from all over America which gathered in Caracas...
...This problem is offset slightly by the fact that the Provisional Government doubled the country's income tax and thus increased the Government's proportion of profits on the Venezuelan oil industry from 50 per cent to 60 per cent...
...The Provisional Government assumed all of this debt and agreed to pay it...
...Now, all civilian groups recognize the need for an agrarian reform, which has high priority in the plans of the Betancourt Administration...
...Moreover, his success or failure will determine the fate of democracy in Venezuela for many decades to come...
...Unemployment, housing, national debt test new regime The Challenge In Venezuela By Robert J. Alexander Caracas In AN impressive ceremony in the Senate Chambers in Caracas, Romulo Betancourt was formally inaugurated as Constitutional President of Venezuela on Friday, February 13...
...Since the occupants of these projects played a leading role in the overthrow of Perez Jimenez, the Provisional Government declared a moratorium on rent payments by these apartment dwellers...
...The Provisional Government increased protective tariffs considerably, and in his inaugural address Betancourt announced the Government's intention of renegotiating the existing commercial treaty with the U.S., with the aim of making possible further protective measures...
...Other items which will receive attention in the near future are the streamlining of the country's public administration and the establishment for the first time of a civil service...
...Larrazabal had won an overwhelming victory in Caracas, though losing to Betancourt in the country as a whole...
...He is a consummate politician and a man of unimpeachable good faith...
...However, a serious restriction of exports to the U.S...
...The Venezuelan economy lives on oil, much of which is shipped to the United States...
...Agreement was finally reached on a cabinet with three members of URD, three of COPEI and only two from the Democratic Action, with the other ministers being men of no particular party and with Admiral Larrazabal going to Chile as Ambassador...
...The three parties are also agreed on the need to stimulate industrialization of the country...
...This was not only wasteful but has intensified the tendency of country folk to drift to Caracas...
Vol. 42 • March 1959 • No. 10
