Venezuela's New Regime
ALEXANDER, ROBERT J.
The inauguration of Romulo Betancourt on January 23 will mark the country's return to rule by a democratically elected government after a decade of dictatorship VENEZUELA'S NEW REGIME By Robert J....
...For civilian support they turned to the principal opposition, the Democratic Action party, Betancourt and his associates were hesitant about entering any conspiracy...
...At the last moment it was joined by Gallegos's Minister of Defense, Colonel Carlos Delgado Chalbaud, who became President of the Military Junta established by the insurgents...
...The development of the trade unions was particularly important...
...Before they were named, there were months of negotiations among the parties in an attempt to get a candidate acceptable to all three groups...
...There is some fear that the military leaders may try to prevent his inauguration, but I do not think that any such attempt will succeed...
...He also will have the cooperation of the great majority of civilians, and of those military men who are convinced that the time has come to turn the government over to civilian hands...
...It is widely predicted that he will seek once again to renegotiate the oil concessions, to get a higher percentage of the profit for the Government...
...It was during Gomez's rule that petroleum became the country's major industry...
...For a little more than three years, the Government was controlled by Democratic Action...
...Except for a few programs that were already under way when Perez Jimenez took over, agriculture was allowed to stagnate...
...Three weeks after this, a general civilian insurrection culminated in Perez Jiminez's flight to the Dominican Republic...
...The educational system deteriorated...
...This coup was led by Colonel Marcos Perez Jimenez...
...Caldera, as did the Republican Integration Party, a new middle-class group which appeared after the January revolution...
...Their key position in the country's economy, particularly in the oil fields, created the possibility of a general strike to counter any coup attempted by the armed forces...
...The planned revolt took place on October 25, 1945...
...He relaxed the dictatorship but severely limited voting rights, intermittently persecuted the new political parties and trade unions which appeared in the wake of Gomez's demise, and kept the Army firmly in power...
...He was mysteriously assassinated in 1950, and the leadership of the Government, though not the nominal Presidency, passed to Colonel Perez Jimenez...
...Medina refused to allow free elections, however, and this proved his undoing...
...His country has gone through nine years of a ruthless and cold-blooded dictatorship, which has left a heritage of hatred and violence, a seriously weakened economy, and an Army with a tradition of strongarm rule...
...Three candidates, representing the three major parties, sought the Presidency...
...The officers agreed to these conditions...
...Thus the fate of democratic political life in Venezuela depends on the success of the Betancourt Administration...
...A small so-called Socialist Workers party endorsed Dr...
...Betancourt and his party are pledged not to nationalize the industry, however...
...Many military leaders saw in it the end of their influence in government affairs...
...But when all such attempts failed they joined with the rebel military leaders, headed by Majors Carlos Delgado Chalbaud and Marcos Perez Jimenez and Captain Mario Vargas...
...At the same time, Medina took the first steps to give Venezuela a larger percentage of return from the oil industry...
...While they behaved like gentlemen personally, their partisans clashed both verbally and in a few instances physically...
...The election of a successor to Medina was scheduled for late 1945, and the Democratic Action party urged him to go through with it...
...During this period, the party demonstrated what a democratic civilian regime could accomplish...
...The Communists backed Admiral Larrazabal, since their principal purpose was to prevent the election of Betancourt, whose Democratic Action party is their principal rival in the trade unions and peasant and student organizations...
...The growth of these civilian groups probably was responsible for the fall of the Democratic Action regime...
...its resources were supplemented by greatly increased reserves made available to the Government's agricultural and industrial banks...
...The smaller parties supported one or another of the three major candidates nominated...
...The outlawed Democratic Action party threw its support behind the Democratic Republican Union, and early returns showed that it was winning, with the Social Christian party second, and the dictatorship's Independent Electoral Front coming in a poor third...
...Several attempts by Army officers to overthrow Betancourt failed, but on November 24, 1948 they succeeded in ousting Betancourt's elected successor, Romulo Gallegos...
...for the first democratic selection of a President and members of Congress late in 1947...
...Two secretaries general of the Democratic Action party were murdered by the secret police in the streets of Caracas, and another died in a prison hospital after being denied adequate medical treatment...
...The campaign took the three nominees to all parts of the country...
...The underground political parties—the leftwing, non-Communist Democratic Action and the Communists—were allowed to come into the open...
...In contrast, a large number of the younger officers were well-trained military technicians...
...One of the most infamous of the Venezuelan military dictatorships was that of General Juan Vincente Gomez, the "Tyrant of the Andes" who ruled from 1909 until his peaceful death in 1935...
...Thousands of people were jailed, tortured and exiled...
...They demanded that the insurgent government junta be formed by five civilians and two military men, that a majority of the junta be members of the Democratic Action party, and that its president be chosen from among these party members...
...The discontented officers organized a conspiracy to overthrow Medina...
...The first step was to renegotiate the concessions which had been granted to the foreign oil companies under Gomez...
...and for Municipal Councils early in 1948...
...The President-elect's task is not easy...
...A program of agrarian reform was begun, designed to give land to the majority of the peasants of Venezuela...
...Little was done to continue the Democratic Action policy of "sowing petroleum...
...He opened a concentration camp in the steaming Orinoco River jungle...
...In 1941, Lopez Contreras named as his successor another general, Isaias Medina Angarita...
...The inauguration of Romulo Betancourt on January 23 will mark the country's return to rule by a democratically elected government after a decade of dictatorship VENEZUELA'S NEW REGIME By Robert J. Alexander WITH THE inauguration this month of Romulo Betancourt, who was elected President of Venezuela on December 7, an experiment in political democracy, social reform and economic development which he launched over 13 years ago will be renewed...
...The hospitals run by the Ministry of Health and Social Security were multiplied...
...One of the most important steps taken by the Democratic Action regime was the development under its protection of civilian organizations potentially capable of challenging the traditional military domination of Venezuela...
...The party leaders set conditions upon their cooperation...
...When Medina refused, Betancourt and other Democratic Action leaders suggested the naming of a single candidate who would enjoy the confidence of both Government and Opposition...
...Jovito Villalba, and the Social Christian COPEI party headed by Dr...
...The Democratic Republican Union named as its candidate the head of the Junta, Admiral Larrazabal, who had at first said that he would refuse to run unless all parties would support him...
...Except for a three-year period during which Betancourt's Democratic Action party controlled the government (1945-48), Venezuela has been under military control since the days of the Liberator, Simon Bolivar...
...The Ministry of Education developed a large-scale program of school building, and greatly increased school attendance by doubling the number of students in normal schools...
...was taken over by his son-in-law and Minister of War, General Eliazar Lopez Contreras...
...In December 1957, Perez Jimenez pulled what was widely regarded as his most outrageous action...
...The increased proceeds from the oil industry will be used to develop a more diversified economy, and to raise the income of the general public...
...and the establishment of a new Government Junta committed to restoration of democratic government...
...When these failed, the Democratic Action party put up its leader, Romulo Betancourt...
...Three elections were held—for a Constitutional Assembly early in 1946...
...Perez Jiminez presided over one of the most tyrannical regimes seen in Latin America in recent years...
...Rafael Caldera—but the trade unions, peasant unions and middle-class organizations likewise blossomed...
...Before the votes had all been counted, Colonel Perez Jimenez suspended the tally, proclaimed himself Provisional President, and announced that the regime's supporters had "won...
...It will take all Betancourt's political astuteness, dynamism and vision to get and keep power for the constitutional period of five years...
...Betancourt will have behind him the best disciplined party in the country...
...Late in January 1953 he was elected Constitutional President...
...Once in office, Betancourt will undoubtedly adapt the program of his earlier regime to present conditions in the country...
...Late in 1952, the Military Junta made the mistake of calling elections...
...He established a secret police force of notable brutality and sadism...
...The dictatorship was not only notable for its violence but for its corruption...
...The election itself was quiet and honest, though there was some rioting in the days following the poll Those favoring a return to military rule and the Communists may have had a hand in this rioting...
...Soon after Perez Jimenez fled the country in January 1958...
...In part at least Democratic Action was motivated by a desire to prevent the by then inevitable uprising from taking an undemocratic course...
...There was no calculation of the illicit gains of his associates...
...Furthermore, the Democratic Action Administration will probably take steps to establish alongside the foreign companies a National Petroleum Corporation, to produce, transport, refine and sell oil...
...Its work will be completed with the inauguration of the Constitutionally elected President on January 23...
...The new Junta was headed by Admiral Wolfgang Larrazabal and included representatives of the Army and Air Force as well as two civilians, noted businessmen...
...For the most part, their discontent had nothing to do with politics...
...It stemmed from the fact that the armed forces were still being run by generals left over from the Gomez regime, many of whom were virtually illiterate and had won their positions in civil wars or through favoritism...
...The profits from the exploitation went to the foreign companies and to Gomez and his close associates—though the dictator did pay off the national debt...
...Instead of allowing elections—even rigged elections—to choose a successor when his term expired, he called a "plebiscite" where there was no chance to vote for anyone except Perez Jiminez...
...Over the last year its composition has changed, but it has consistently worked to fulfill its promise to re-establish democracy...
...The Democratic Action Government carried out an economic and social policy of "sowing petroleum"—that is, using the returns from the oil industry to diversify the economy and build up the educational and social services of the nation...
...Romulo Betancourt became head of the Revolutionary Junta, and in effect provisional President of Venezuela...
...The Government's share was ploughed into economic and social development: The Venezuelan Development Corporation was established to carry out an extensive program of investment in both agriculture and industry...
...Plans for an agrarian reform will also be pushed, and education and health facilities will be greatly expanded...
...The Social Christian party named its founder and president, Dr...
...Betancourt's immediate job as the winner is to take office...
...Medina had served Gomez most of his life, but he surprised many observers by allowing extensive political discussion and organization...
...The famous "50-50" formula was evolved, whereby Venezuela got half of the profits of the oil industry...
...The public housing program started by Medina was vastly expanded and was taken out of Caracas to most of the provincial cities and towns...
...Not only did two new parties join Democratic Action—the Democratic Republican Union led by Dr...
...the New York Times reported that he had gotten away with $235 million...
...Rafael Caldera...
...The wages of workers, which had risen rapidly under Democratic Action, remained at 1948 levels when they didn't fall below them, in spite of marked inflation...
...Gomez, who treated the country as his own private hacienda, granted concessions to numerous relatives, friends and retainers, who in turn sold them to the large foreign oil companies...
...He "won," but in a little more than two weeks the Air Force revolted, and when its uprising failed, flew off to neighboring Colombia...
...first they tried to reach an agreement with Medina on the selection of his successor...
...The December 7 election was the Junta's penultimate act in this direction...
...Meanwhile, a group of young Army officers had grown discontented...
Vol. 42 • January 1959 • No. 1
