Dictator of Venezuela from 1952 to 1958
In this
Spanish name
, the first or paternal
surname
is
Perez
and the second or maternal family name is
Jimenez
.
Marcos Evangelista Perez Jimenez
(25 April 1914 ? 20 September 2001) was a
Venezuelan
military and general officer of the
Army of Venezuela
and the dictator of
Venezuela
from 1950 to 1958, ruling as member of the
military junta
from 1950 to 1952 and as
president
from 1952 to 1958. He took part in the
1948 Venezuelan coup d'etat
, becoming part of the ruling junta. He ran in the
1952 election
. However, the junta cancelled the election when early results indicated that the opposition was ahead, and declared Jimenez provisional president. He became president in 1953 and instituted a constitution that granted him
dictatorial
powers.
Under Perez's rule, the rise of
oil prices
facilitated many
public works
projects, including roads, bridges, government buildings and public housing, as well as the rapid development of industries such as
hydroelectricity
,
mining
, and
steel
. The
economy of Venezuela
developed rapidly while Perez was in power. On the other hand, Perez presided over one of the most
repressive
governments in Venezuela. His government's
political police
, the
Direccion de Seguridad Nacional
(
National Security
), suppressed criticism and imprisoned those who opposed his rule.
Following massive public demonstrations in support of democratic reforms, Perez was deposed in a
coup
perpetrated by disgruntled sectors within the Armed Forces of Venezuela on 23 January 1958. Perez was then exiled to the
Dominican Republic
, later Miami, United States and afterwards went on to settle in Spain under the
Franco regime
's protection.
Early life, education and early career
[
edit
]
Marcos Evangelista Perez Jimenez was born in
Michelena
,
Tachira State
. His father, Juan Perez Bustamante, was a farmer; his mother, Adela Jimenez, a schoolteacher from
Cucuta, Colombia
. Perez Jimenez attended school in his home town and in Colombia, and in 1934, he graduated from the
Military academy of Venezuela
, at the top of his class. He subsequently studied at
Chorrillos Military School
in
Peru
.
In 1945, Perez Jimenez participated in a coup that helped install the founder of the
Democratic Action
,
Romulo Betancourt
, as President of the Revolutionary Government
Junta
. The government would later become known as
El Trienio Adeco
. After a constitutional change providing universal suffrage,
elections were held in 1947
that resulted in the election of a party member,
Romulo Gallegos
.
1948 coup d'etat
[
edit
]
Fears of cuts in pay for soldiers and a lack of modernized army equipment led Perez Jimenez and
Carlos Delgado Chalbaud
to stage another coup in 1948. Betancourt and Gallegos were exiled, political parties were suppressed, and the Communist Party was once again banished by the military junta headed by Delgado Chalbaud, Luis Felipe Llovera Paez and Perez Jimenez.
After a clumsily arranged kidnapping that ended in the murder of Delgado Chalbaud, the Military Junta changed its name to a Government Junta, and reorganized itself with Perez Jimenez pulling the strings of puppet president,
German Suarez Flamerich
.
Presidency
[
edit
]
The
junta
called
an election for 1952
in order to elect a Constituent Assembly that would elect a president and draft a new constitution. When early results showed that the opposition was well on its way to victory, the junta halted the count. On 2 December 1952, it released "final" results that showed the pro-junta "Independent Electoral Front" (FEI) winning a majority of assembly seats. On the same day, the junta dissolved itself and turned over power to the military, who then made Perez provisional president. The Constitutional Assembly, comprising only FEI delegates after an opposition boycott, formally elected him president on 19 April 1953. Soon afterward, it enacted a constitution that gave the president virtually unlimited powers to take measures he deemed necessary to protect national security, peace and order.
[1]
For all intents and purposes, it transformed Perez Jimenez' presidency into a legal dictatorship.
Perez Jimenez (widely known as "P.J.") changed the name of the country, which had been "
United States of Venezuela
" since 1864, to the "
Republic of Venezuela
". This name remained until 1999, when it was changed to the
Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela
by a constitutional referendum. (Spanish:
Republica Bolivariana de Venezuela
)
During his government, Perez Jimenez undertook many
infrastructure
projects, including construction of roads, bridges, government buildings, large public housing complexes and the symbolic
Humboldt Hotel & Tramway
overlooking Caracas. The
economy of Venezuela
developed rapidly during his term.
The price for this development was high, however. Perez was not tolerant of criticism, and his government ruthlessly pursued and suppressed the opposition. Opponents of his regime were painted as communists
[2]
and often treated brutally and tortured.
[3]
[4]
On 12 November 1954, Perez was awarded the
Legion of Merit
by the government of the United States.
[5]
[6]
Foreign capital and immigration were also highly promoted during his presidency, especially from
European communities
such as those of
Spanish
,
Italian
and
Portuguese
origin. Perez also pushed for vast and ambitious
infrastructure
programs, based on the policy of
reinforced concrete
, with construction of buildings, large and modern
highways
, which linked and renewed ties between
states
and other major works which greatly modernized the country.
Perez Jimenez was up for reelection in 1957. By this time, the opposition had been so cowed that Perez Jimenez could not possibly have been defeated. However, he dispensed with even those formalities. Instead, he held a plebiscite in which voters could only choose between voting "yes" or "no" to another term for the president. Predictably, Perez Jimenez won by a large margin, though by all accounts the count was blatantly rigged.
Cabinet (1952?1958)
[
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]
Ministries
[7]
|
Office
|
Name
|
Term
|
|
President
|
Marcos Perez Jimenez
|
1952?1958
|
Home Affairs
|
Laureano Vallenilla Planchart
|
1952?1958
|
|
Luis Felipe Llovera Paez
|
1958
|
|
Antonio Perez Vivas
|
1958
|
|
Foreign Relations
|
Aureliano Otanez
|
1952?1956
|
|
Jose Loreto Arismendi
|
1956?1958
|
|
Carlos Felice Cardot
|
1958
|
Finance
|
Aurelio Arreaza Arreaza
|
1952?1953
|
|
Pedro Guzman Rivera
|
1953?1958
|
|
Jose Giacopini Zarraga
|
1958
|
Defense
|
Marcos Perez Jimenez
|
1952?1953
|
|
Oscar Mazzei Carta
|
1953?1958
|
|
Romulo Fernandez
|
1958
|
|
Marcos Perez Jimenez
|
1958
|
Development
|
Silvio Gutierrez
|
1952?1958
|
|
Carlos Larrazabal Ugueto
|
1958
|
Public Works
|
Luis Eduardo Chataing
|
1952?1953
|
|
Julio Bacalao Lara
|
1953?1956
|
|
Oscar Rodriguez Gragirena
|
1956?1958
|
|
Oscar Mazzei
|
1958
|
Education
|
Simon Becerra
|
1952?1953
|
|
Jose Loreto Arismendi
|
1953?1956
|
|
Dario Parra
|
1956?1958
|
|
Nestor Prato Chacon
|
1958
|
|
Humberto Fernandez-Moran
|
1958
|
Labor
|
Carlos Tinoco Rodil
|
1952?1958
|
Communications
|
Oscar Mazzei Carta
|
1952?1953
|
|
Felix Roman Moreno
|
1953?1956
|
|
Luis Felipe Llovera Paez
|
1956?1958
|
|
Jose Saul Guerrero Rosales
|
1958
|
|
Luis Felipe Llovera Paez
|
1958
|
Agriculture
|
Alberto Arvelo Torrealba
|
1952?1953
|
|
Armando Tamayo Suarez
|
1953?1958
|
|
Luis Sanchez Mogollon
|
1958
|
Health and Social Assistance
|
Pedro A. Gutierrez Alfaro
|
1952?1958
|
Justice
|
Luis Felipe Urbaneja
|
1952?1958
|
|
Hector Parra Marquez
|
1958
|
Mines and Hydrocarbons
|
Edmundo Luongo Cabello
|
1952?1958
|
Secretary of Presidency
|
Raul Soules Baldo
|
1952?1958
|
Removal from power
[
edit
]
One of the first public demonstrations against the Perez Jimenez regime occurred on 1952, after the assassination of opposition leader
Leonardo Ruiz Pineda
. During a commemorative ceremony in Nuevo Circo, Caracas, hundreds of people waved
handkerchiefs
during a
minute of silence
asked in his honor.
[8]
On 27 March 1957,
Aaron Copland
had come to Caracas to conduct the first Venezuelan performance of his
Lincoln Portrait
. A
New York Times
reviewer said it had a "magical effect" on the audience. As Copland recalled, "To everyone's surprise, the reigning dictator, who had rarely dared to be seen in public, arrived at the last possible moment." On that evening actress
Juana Sujo
performed the spoken-word parts of the piece. When she spoke the final words, "...
that government of the people, by the people, for the people
(
del pueblo, por el pueblo y para el pueblo
) shall not perish from the earth", the audience rose and began cheering and shouting so loudly that Copland could not hear the remainder of the music."
[9]
[10]
In January 1958 there was a general uprising, leading to the
1958 Venezuelan coup d'etat
that deposed Perez; with rioting in the streets, he left the country, paving the way for the establishment of
democracy in Venezuela
.
Post-presidency
[
edit
]
Perez fled to the United States, where he lived until 1963, when he was extradited to Venezuela on charges of embezzling $200 million during his presidential tenure. The 1959?63 extradition of Perez, related to
Financiadora Administradora Inmobiliaria
, S.A., one of the largest development companies in South America, and other business connections, is considered by scholars to be a classic study in the precedent for enforcement of administrative honesty in Latin American countries.
[11]
Upon arrival in Venezuela he was imprisoned until his trial, which did not take place for another five years. Convicted of embezzlement and sentenced to four years in prison, he was released as he had already spent more time in jail while he awaited trial. He was then exiled to Spain. In 1968, he was elected to the
Senate of Venezuela
for the
Nationalist Civic Crusade
, but his election was contested, and he was kept from taking office. A quick law was passed whereby former prisoners were excluded from participating in the governmental process.
He died in
Alcobendas
, Madrid, Spain, at the age of 87 on 20 September 2001.
Legacy
[
edit
]
The period of Perez Jimenez in power is remembered historically as a government of
nationalist roots
. His government was based on an ideological pragmatism characterized by the
Doctrine of National Wellbeing
, that the regime expressed in the
New National Ideal
would be the philosophical beacon to guide the actions of the government.
His political legacy known
perezjimenismo
was upheld by the
Cruzada Civica Nacionalista
(CCN; Nationalist Civic Crusade) party, which held seats in Congress from 1968 to 1978. In recent years there has been a revival of
perezjimenismo
and the New National Ideal, with numerous groups revising and upholding the legacy of Marcos Perez Jimenez.
[12]
[13]
In Venezuelan politics, he symbolizes forms a right-wing
caudillo
mentality together with
Juan Vicente Gomez
.
In popular culture
[
edit
]
The documentary film
Tiempos de dictadura
(
English:
Times of dictatorship
), directed by
Carlos Oteyza
[
es
]
, focuses on his dictatorship, from the
1948 coup d'etat
against President
Romulo Gallegos
and the human rights violations committed by the
Seguridad Nacional
(including censorship, arrests, torture and extrajudicial killings) to the public works and lavish carnivals promoted by the
oil boom
.
[14]
Personal life
[
edit
]
On 4 February 1945, Perez married
Flor Maria Chalbaud
, daughter of Antonio Chalbaud Cardona and Angelina Castro Tejera. The couple had four daughters together.
[15]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Hollis Micheal Tarver Denova, Julia C. Frederick (2005),
The history of Venezuela
, Greenwood Publishing Group. p357
- ^
Adolf A. Berle Jr., "Latin America: The Hidden Revolution",
Reporter
, 28 May 1959.
- ^
Time
, 23 August 1963, as cited in John Gunther,
Inside South America
, pp. 492?493
- ^
Magallanes, Manuel Vicente (1873).
Los partidos politicos en la evolucion historica venezolana
. Mediterraneo.
- ^
Office of the Historian
, ed. (19 January 1955).
"Progress Report by the Operations Coordinating Board to the National Security Council"
.
FRUS
.
- ^
"Marcos Perez Jimenez ? Legion of Merit"
.
valor.militarytimes.com
.
- ^
Mendoza & Mendoza Editores (1956). Presidency of Venezuela. "Asi progresa un pueblo."
- ^
"Historias de la violencia venezolana: El asesinato de Ruiz Pineda"
[Stories of Venezuelan Violence: The Murder of Ruiz Pineda].
Globovision
(in Spanish). Archived from
the original
on 2 September 2022
. Retrieved
2 September
2022
.
- ^
Holzer, Harold
(2004).
"Introduction"
. In
Cuomo, Mario
; Holzer, Harold (eds.).
Lincoln on Democracy
. New York: Fordham University Press. p. xliv.
ISBN
0823223450
.
- ^
Beyer, Rick (29 March 2011).
"The Symphony That Helped Sink a Dictator"
.
Astonish, Bewilder and Stupefy
. Retrieved
24 April
2017
.
- ^
"The Extradition of Marcos Perez Jimenez, 1959?63: Practical Precedent for Administrative Honesty?", Judith Ewell,
Journal of Latin American Studies
, 9, 2, 291?313,
[1]
- ^
Nacionalismo Perezjimenista
Archived
21 February 2014 at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
Grupo Perezjimenista: "Hay complicidad entre MUD y Psuv"
- ^
"
"Tiempos de Dictadura" llega manana a las salas de cine"
.
La Verdad
. Retrieved
3 August
2021
.
- ^
"Benevolent Dictator Finally Loses Post"
.
The Wilmington News
. Vol. 24, no. 9. Wilmington, North Carolina. AP. 23 January 1958. p. 26
. Retrieved
4 May
2015
.
External links
[
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]
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