First presidency of Carlos Andrés Pérez
The first presidency of Carlos Andrés Pérez (from 1974 to 1979) coincided with the oil boom of 1974, which saw Venezuela's economy prosper.
Background
Venezuelan Presidential election 1973 [1] | |||||||||||||||||||||
Results | |||||||||||||||||||||
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In 1973, Carlos Andrés Pérez was nominated to run for the presidency for AD. Youthful and energetic, Perez ran a vibrant and triumphalist campaign, one of the first to use the services of American advertising gurus and political consultants in the country's history. During the run up to elections, he visited nearly all the villages and cities of Venezuela by foot and walked more than 5800 kilometers. He was elected in December of that year, receiving 48.7% of the vote against the 36.7% of his main rival. Turnout in these elections reached an unprecedented 97% of all eligible voters, a level which has not been achieved since.
Many people were skeptical that Venezuelans would choose such a controversial figure as Pérez, but when the results were in they showed he had won a clear a victory, but, what was even more important, AD had an absolute majority in Congress: the pardo masses were still adecos to the core (1973). Pérez's appeal was not only to the poor but also to the elite and the middle class, for, it was widely reported in political circles and the media, that his political advisor Diego Arria created his public persona as a well-tailored man and in general refurbished his "image".[1]
Presidency
Domestic policy
One of the most radical aspects of Pérez's program for government was the notion that petroleum oil was a tool for under-developed nations like Venezuela to attain first world status and usher a fairer, more equitable international order. International events, including the Yom Kippur War of 1973, contributed to the implementation of this vision. Drastic increases in petroleum prices led to an economic bonanza for the country just as Pérez started his term. His policies, including the nationalization of the iron and petroleum industries, investment in large state-owned industrial projects for the production of aluminium and hydroelectric energy, infrastructure improvements, and the funding of social welfare and scholarship programs, were extremely ambitious and involved massive government spending, to the tune of almost $53 billion. His measures to protect the environment and foster sustainable development earned him the Earth Care award in 1975, the first time a Latin American leader had received this recognition.
Congress gave Pérez a mandate to rule by decree for 100 days - and then for a further 100 days. He also had a fiscal fortune in his hands such as no Venezuelan president ever had. And Pérez didn’t lose time to start spending it. He commissioned a report on government, which was prepared and carried out by Arnoldo Gabaldón. It contained a blueprint for further large scale bureaucratic expansion. Gabaldón himself was named to a super-ministry, which combined public works and communications.
Only in the television market did Pérez show scruples against rampant consumerism: Possibly[
The vulgarity and rot that was eating into Venezuelan society is difficult to describe in terms that would seem comprehensible, although foreign academics went on talking about Venezuelan society as if it were normal and not in the grasp of a collective frenzy. Yet Pérez's credentials as a nationalist leader were not soiled. In fact, for many they were enhanced because in 1975 he nationalized the iron industry, and in 1976 he jumped further and nationalized the oil industry. Since by that time Venezuela was equipped to manage it, not much harm was done by that in itself, but with all the new collaterals that the government could offer, Pérez, after having gone through the "surplus" for investments, started taking out international loans and not small ones but sizable ones. Pérez "statized" the Venezuelan economy to such a degree that the load of paperwork to open a business was so heavy that a service branch was created called "permisologia" (approximately, the "science" of permits), to which businessmen had to recur as a matter of course if they wanted to get the necessary bureaucratic approval. Permisologia was not meant to deter foreigners, and it was more burdensome on Venezuelan small entrepreneurs than on any other economic sector. Leftists were in a dazzled quandary because, on one hand, they disliked Pérez, but, on the other, they couldn’t complain about the state's interference because that was part of their own social and economic agenda. Labor unions, which in Venezuela were corrupt and pervasive and AD-managed, stood solidly behind Pérez.
One thing that can be credited to Pérez is that he introduced legislation to protect the environment, whereas Caldera had tried to build a road into the vast southern area of Venezuela known as Amazonas, which his government wanted to settle and exploit.[4] Since soils there are barren, all that could have been achieved would have been the destruction of forested areas where only Amerindian tribes and missionaries, both Catholic and Baptist, lived. By the time that Pérez was through with Venezuela, it was palpable that its society was more unequal than it ever had been: The pardos had been done in again, and as to economic diversification, there was essentially none. Even import-substitution in the automobile industry went down the drain when Pérez started importing Dodge Darts and selling them at subsidized prices.
Foreign policy
In the international arena, Perez supported democratic and progressive causes in Latin America and the world. He opposed the
Legacy
Towards the end of his first term in office, Pérez's reputation was tarnished by accusations of excessive, and disorderly, government spending. His administration was often referred to as Saudi Venezuela for its grandiose and extravagant ambitions. In addition, there were allegations of corruption and trafficking of influence, often involving members of Pérez's intimate circle or financiers and businessmen who donated to his campaign. A well-publicized rift with his former mentor
Nonetheless, the memory of CAP's first term proved powerful enough and positive enough in his
Cabinet
Ministries [5] | ||
---|---|---|
OFFICE | NAME | TERM |
President | Carlos Andrés Pérez | 1974–1979 |
Home Affairs | Luis Piñerúa Ordaz | 1974–1975 |
Octavio Lepage | 1975–1978 | |
Manuel Mantilla | 1978–1979 | |
Foreign Relations | Efraín Schacht Aristeguieta | 1974–1975 |
Ramón Escovar Salom | 1975–1977 | |
Simón Alberto Consalvi | 1977–1979 | |
Finance | Héctor Hurtado | 1974–1977 |
Luis José Silva Luongo | 1977–1979 | |
Defense | Homero Leal Torres | 1974–1976 |
Francisco Álvarez Torres | 1976–1977 | |
Fernando Paredes Bello | 1977–1979 | |
Development | Carmelo Lauría Lesseur | 1974 |
Constantino Quero Morales | 1974–1975 | |
José Ignacio Casal | 1975–1976 | |
Luis Álavarez Domínguez | 1976–1979 | |
Education | Luis Manuel Peñalver | 1974–1977 |
Carlos Rafael Silva | 1977–1979 | |
Gerardo Cedeño Fermín | 1979 | |
Justice | Otto Marín Gómez | 1974–1975 |
Armando Sánchez Bueno | 1975–1976 | |
Juan Martín Echeverría | 1976–1979 | |
Mines and Hydrocarbons | Valentín Hernández Acosta | 1974–1979 |
Environment | Arnoldo José Gabaldón | 1977–1979 |
Agriculture | Froilán Álvarez Yépez | 1974 |
Luis José Oropeza | 1974–1975 | |
Carmelo Contreras Barboza | 1975 | |
Gustavo Pinto Cohén | 1975–1979 | |
Labor | Antonio Leidenz | 1974–1976 |
José Manzo González | 1976–1979 | |
Health and Social Assistance | Blas Bruni Celli | 1974–1975 |
Antonio Parra León | 1975–1979 | |
Communications | Armando Sánchez Bueno | 1974–1975 |
Leopoldo Sucre Figarella | 1975–1976 | |
Jesús Vivas Casanova | 1976–1977 | |
Transport and communications | Jesús Vivas Casanova | 1977–1979 |
José Ignacio Álvarez Maldonado | 1979 | |
Urban Development | Robert Padilla Fernández | 1977–1979 |
Information and Tourism | Diego Arria | 1977–1978 |
Celestino Armas | 1978–1979 | |
Youth | Pedro París Montesinos | 1977 |
Alfredo Baldó Casanova | 1977–1979 | |
Secretary of Presidency | Ramón Escovar Salom | 1974–1979 |
Efraín Schacht Aristeguieta | 1975–1976 | |
José Luis Salcedo Bastardo | 1976–1979 | |
Office of Coordination and Planification | Gumersindo Rodríguez | 1974–1977 |
Lorenzo Azpúrua Marturet | 1977–1979 |
See also
- Carlos Andrés Pérez
- Second Presidency of Carlos Andrés Pérez
- Presidents of Venezuela
References
- ^ http://www.headlines.com/readnews.asp?id=22000
- ^ Stewart, William S., Change and Bureaucracy. Public Administration in Venezuela, 1978
- ^ http://www.venezuelatuya.com/historia/democraci.htm[permanent dead link]
- ^ "VenezuelaTuya".
- ^ Gaceta Oficial de Venezuela, period 1974-1979.