Democratic Action (Venezuela)

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Democratic Action
Acción Democrática
1 / 23
State legislatures
17 / 237
Mayors
0 / 335
Website
ademocratica.com

Democratic Action (

COPEI
.

Since 2000, the party's general secretary has been Henry Ramos Allup. In the 2015 Venezuelan parliamentary election, AD backed the opposition electoral alliance Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) which managed to grasp a supermajority. AD won 26 constituency representatives out of 167 seats in the unicameral National Assembly, making it the second-largest party in opposition to Nicolás Maduro. In July 2018, AD left the Democratic Unity Roundtable opposition coalition.[12]

History

Early years: 1931–1958

The party had a chaotic early history. The Agrupación Revolucionaria de Izquierda (ARDI) was founded in 1931 in Colombia by Rómulo Betancourt and other exile Venezuelans. In 1936 this became the Movimiento de Organización Venezolana (ORVE), which was then dissolved into the Partido Democrático Nacional (PDN). Finally, in 1941, after Isaías Medina Angarita legalized all political parties in Venezuela, Acción Democrática was founded by Betancourt and others. These included Rómulo Gallegos, Andrés Eloy Blanco, Luis Beltrán Prieto, Juan Oropeza, Luis Lander, Raúl Ramos Jiménez, Medardo Medina Febres, Enrique H. Marín, Rafael Padrón, Fernando Peñalver, Luis Augusto Dubuc, César Hernández, José V. Hernández and Ricardo Montilla. Gallegos was a highly prestigious writer, author of the iconic novel, Doña Bárbara (1929), while Eloy Blanco was a celebrated Venezuelan poet and witty humorist.

After the

1947 election (generally believed to be the first free and fair elections in Venezuelan history). Gallegos governed until being overthrown in the 1948 Venezuelan coup d'état. The 1945–48 period is known as the trienio. Many of AD's founders and early members went into exile during the subsequent dictatorship of Marcos Pérez Jiménez
, and returned for the restoration of democracy in 1958.

Political dominance: 1958–1999

After the

), and one of those occurred during a major split in AD.

Splits

The

social democrat faction (led by Betancourt) in favor of Gonzalo Barrios, with the Betancourt faction considering Prieto too far left.[13]

Prieto Figueroa, at the time President of the

]

An earlier split, in 1960, saw the Revolutionary Left Movement break away from AD. Its subsequent engagement in armed struggle against the government meant the split posed less of a partisan problem compared the later MEP split.[citation needed]

Chávez/Maduro era: 1999–present

AD posters during a rally in support of RCTV in 2007

The Puntofijo Pact and AD-

National Assembly of Venezuela, AD won 29 out of 165 seats; four additional seats were won by an AD-COPEI alliance. At the 2005 legislative elections Democratic Action staged an electoral boycott and consequently did not win any seats.[14]

During the 2010 and 2015 elections, AD was part of the

Constituent Assembly and participated in an unofficial referendum against its formation.[15] In July 2018, AD left the Democratic Unity Roundtable, citing "operative problems inside the organization" and difficulties in electing the new secretary general of the coalition.[12]

Acción Democrática's

Secretary General is Henry Ramos Allup. The trade union confederation CTV is closely linked to AD. AD is a member of the Socialist International,[16] and a member of COPPPAL.[17]

Venezuelan Presidents from AD

President Dates in office Form of entry Occupation
Rómulo Betancourt 1945–1948 Coup d'état Politician
Rómulo Gallegos 1948-1948 Direct elections Writer / Novelist
Rómulo Betancourt 1959–1964 Direct elections Politician
Raúl Leoni 1964–1969 Direct elections Lawyer
Carlos Andrés Pérez 1974–1979 Direct elections Politician
Jaime Lusinchi 1984–1989 Direct elections Physician
Carlos Andrés Pérez 1989–1993 Direct elections Politician
Ramón José Velásquez 1993–1994 Interim president Historian

See also

References

  1. ^ "Rubén Limas (AD-Gutiérrez): Una verdadera unidad nacional debe estar por encima de todo cálculo y de toda mezquindad…". El Informador Venezuela. 6 February 2021.
  2. ^ "AD de Ramos Allup no pactará con "usurpadores de su tarjeta"". El Universal. 13 September 2021. Retrieved 4 October 2021.
  3. ^ Nacional, El (16 June 2020). "TSJ suspendió directiva de AD y designó una mesa ad hoc presidida por Bernabé Gutiérrez". El Nacional.
  4. ^ "Is Social Democracy Possible in Latin America?". Retrieved 29 December 2021.
  5. ^ Lamb, Peter; Docherty, James C. (2006), Historical Dictionary or Socialism (Second ed.), Scarecrow Press, p. 100
  6. ^ "Partido Acción Democrática. Postulados doctrinarios | Nueva Sociedad". Nueva Sociedad | Democracia y política en América Latina. 1 January 1979. Retrieved 29 December 2021.
  7. ^ Rivas, Darlene (2002), Missionary Capitalist: Nelson Rockefeller in Venezuela, University of North Carolina Press, p. 108
  8. ^ Derham, Michael (2010), Politics in Venezuela: Explaining Hugo Chávez, Peter Lang, p. 155
  9. ^ "¿Qué es Acción Democrática? » Su Definición y Significado [2022]". Concepto de - Definición de (in Spanish). Retrieved 17 March 2022.
  10. ^ "Venepress". Archived from the original on 30 March 2020.
  11. ^ Buckman, Robert T. (2012), The World Today Series, 2012: Latin America, Stryker-Post, p. 366
  12. ^
    El Nacional
    (in Spanish). 5 July 2018. Retrieved 6 July 2018.
  13. ^ a b David L. Swanson, Paolo Mancini (1996), Politics, media, and modern democracy: an international study of innovations in electoral campaigning and their consequences, Greenwood Publishing Group. p244
  14. ^ "Opposition parties pull out of Venezuela elections". The Irish Times. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
  15. ^ "Clashes as new body meets in Venezuela". BBC News. 5 August 2017. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
  16. ^ Socialist International MEMBER PARTIES of the SOCIALIST INTERNATIONAL, accessed 10 June 2012
  17. ^ (in Spanish) COPPPAL, Partidos Miembros Archived 5 June 2014 at the Wayback Machine, accessed 10 June 2012

External links