Rómulo Betancourt
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| Rómulo Betancourt | |
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| In office October 18, 1945 – February 17, 1948 February 13, 1959- March 13, 1964 |
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| Preceded by | Isaías Medina Angarita (1945) Edgar Sanabria (1959) |
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| Succeeded by | Rómulo Gallegos (1948) Raúl Leoni (1964) |
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| Born | February 22, 1908 Guatire, Miranda state, Venezuela |
| Died | September 28, 1981 New York City, USA |
| Political party | Acción Democrática |
| Spouse | Carmen Valverde, Renée Hartmann Viso |
Rómulo Ernesto Betancourt Bello (February 22, 1908 – September 28, 1981), "The Father of Venezuelan Democracy", was President of Venezuela from 1945 to 1948 and again from 1959 to 1964. He survived an assassination attempt ordered by Rafael Trujillo, dictator of the Dominican Republic.
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[edit] Introduction
Rómulo Betancourt was one of Venezuela's most important political figures and led a tumultuous and highly controversial career in Latin American politics. Periods of exile brought Betancourt into contact with various Latin American countries as well as the United States, securing his legacy as one of the few real international leaders to emerge from twentieth-century Latin America.
As a young man he founded and led a number of radical student groups. In the early 1930s, while in Costa Rica, he assisted with organizing that country's communist party. In 1937, he founded the Partido Democrático Nacional, which later became a legal party in 1941 as Acción Democrática (AD).
[edit] First term as president
He became president in 1945 by means of a military coup d'état and, during his time in office, completed an impressive agenda. His accomplishments included the declaration of universal suffrage, the institution of social reforms, and securing half of the profits generated by oil companies for Venezuela. His government worked closely with the International Refugee Organization to aid European refugees and displaced persons who could not or would not return home after World War II; his government assumed responsibility for the legal protection and resettlement of tens of thousands of refugees inside Venezuela. The refugee initiative was the subject of great controversies within his government with the winning side being led by Betancourt's secretary of Agriculture, Eduardo Mendoza Goiticoa.
[edit] Reform of the oil Industry
In 1941, before AD’s entry into policymaking, Venezuela received in oil tax, 85,279,158 Bolívars out of a total oil value of 691,093,935 Bolivars. Before Betancourt's changes in the taxing system, the state of Venezuela was making only a fraction of what the foreign oil companies were making in profit. One of Betancourt's main objectives was to see the nationalization of the country's oil industry. Mexico had done so in 1938, and because its economy was more diversified than Venezuela’s, there was little to no backlash. Though oil nationalization became one of AD’s main objectives, the economy was not stable enough to handle potential boycotts by the big oil companies. Despite the complications of nationalization at the time, the government instead raised the taxes on oil production. In the late 40’s Venezuela was producing close to 500,000,000 barrels annually and as production climbed, the tax followed. According to Betancourt, the spike in taxes was just as effective as nationalizing as the profits from tax, “Tax income was increased from then to such a degree that nationalization was unnecessary to obtain maximum economic benefits for the people of the country”. Oil companies were forced to cede to the demands of labor unions and were no longer entitled to make larger profits than the Venezuelan government. Betancourt’s government generally had full support of the labor unions as the administration openly encouraged workers of all industries to organize and in 1946, 500 unions were created. Other notable achievements of the first Betancourt administration include the termination of the concession policy, the initial development of refineries within Venezuela, and a tremendous improvement in worker conditions and pay. Juan Perez Alfonso served as Minister of Development in Betancourt's first term. During the second term, Alfonso served as Betancourt's Minister of Mines and Petroleum and in 1960, through his initiation, OPEC was formed.
[edit] Exile in the US
In 1948, Marcos Pérez Jiménez overthrew the elected president Rómulo Gallegos, and Betancourt was forced into exile in New York City, where he was determined to expose to the world the political problems and dictatorships that troubled Venezuela.
[edit] Second term as president
He returned a decade later, after Pérez Jiménez was ousted, and was elected president. Having inherited an empty treasury and enormous foreign debts from the spendthrift Pérez, Betancourt nevertheless managed to return the state to fiscal solvency despite the rock-bottom petroleum prices throughout his presidency.
In 1960 two important institutions were created by Juan Pablo Pérez Alfonso, Betancourt's minister of energy: the Venezuelan Petroleum Corporation (Corporación Venezolana de Petróleos — CVP), conceived to oversee the national petroleum industry, and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), the international oil cartel that Venezuela established in partnership with Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Iran.
[edit] Agrarian reform
AD's land reform distributed unproductive private properties and public lands to halt the decline in agricultural production. Landowners who had their properties confiscated received generous compensation.
[edit] FALN guerrilla group
Betancourt also faced determined opposition from extremists and rebellious army units, yet he continued to push for economic and educational reform. A fraction split from the AD and formed the Leftist Revolutionary Movement (MIR). When leftists were involved in unsuccessful revolts at navy bases in 1962, Betancourt suspended civil liberties. Elements of the left then formed the Armed Forces for National Liberation (FALN), a guerrilla army.
After numerous attacks, he finally arrested the MIR and Communist members of Congress. It became clear that Fidel Castro had been arming the rebels, so Venezuela protested to the Organization of American States (OAS).
[edit] Trujillo's assassination attempt
Betancourt was also attacked from the right. They received help from Rafael Trujillo, dictator of the Dominican Republic, who got involved in some Venezuelan military circles. Betancourt had denounced the Trujillo dictatorship; the fascist-like Trujillo developed an obsessive personal hatred of Betancourt and supported plots of Venezuelan exiles to overthrow him. This led the Venezuelan government to take its case against Trujillo to the OAS. That in turn infuriated Trujillo, who ordered his foreign agents to assassinate Betancourt. The attempt, on June 24, 1960, in which a military aide was killed and the president badly burned, inflamed world opinion against Trujillo, who was assassinated in 1961.
[edit] 1963 elections
Perhaps the greatest of all Betancourt's accomplishments, however, were the successful 1963 elections. Despite threats to disrupt the process, nearly 90 percent of the electorate participated on December 1 in what was the most honest election in Venezuela to that date. March 11, 1964 was a day of pride for the people of Venezuela as for the first time the presidential sash passed from one constitutionally elected chief executive to another.
He was the first democratically-elected president to serve his full term, and was succeeded by Raúl Leoni. Venezuela's political life after 1959 was uninterrupted civilian constitutional rule.
[edit] Betancourt Doctrine
The Venezuelan president's antipathy for nondemocratic rule was reflected in the so-called Betancourt Doctrine, which denied Venezuelan diplomatic recognition to any regime, right or left, that came to power by military force. Later president Rafael Caldera rejected the doctrine, which he thought had served to isolate Venezuela in the world.
[edit] Later life
In 1973, Betancourt was awarded a lifetime seat in Venezuela's senate, due to his condition of former president.
His last days were dedicated to writing and to his wife Dr. Renee Hartmann. He died on September 28, 1981 in Doctors Hospital in New York City. On his death US President Ronald Reagan made the following statement:
- "I speak for all Americans in expressing our heartfelt sadness at the death of Romulo Betancourt. While he was first and foremost a Venezuelan patriot, Romulo Betancourt was an especially close friend of the United States. During the 1950s he considered the United States a refuge while he was in exile, and we were proud to receive him. We are honored that this courageous man whose life was dedicated to the principles of liberty and justice — a man who fought dictatorships of the right and the left — spent his final days on our shores. We join the Venezuelan people and those who love freedom around the world in mourning his death."
[edit] Books
- Rómulo Betancourt and the Transformation of Venezuela; 1981; by Robert Jackson Alexander; ISBN 0878554505
- Venezuela: Oil & Politics; 1978; by Rómulo Betancourt; ISBN 0395279453
[edit] External links
- Betancourt Foundation - Official Page
- 1Up Info about the Triumph of Democracy
- President Kennedy's speech at la Morita
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