List of Presidents of Venezuela

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The President of Venezuela (Spanish: Presidente de Venezuela) is the English political nomenclature that designates both the head of state and head of government of Venezuela. The current presidential term is for six years with one possibility of immediate reelection, and with the constitutionally guaranteed recourse of holding a popular recall referendum anytime within the last three years of a presidential term.

The designation "President" encompasses only those persons who were sworn into office as President of Venezuela following Venezuela's declaration of independence from Spanish colonial rule, which took effect on March 5, 1811. The first president, taking office on March 5, 1811, was one of the three signers of the Declaration of Independence: Cristóbal Mendoza. [1]

Due to the profound turmoil of the South American Wars of Independence and the period of Gran Colombia over what is now Venezuela, this page has gaps between 1814 and 1819. The Congress of Angostura appointed Simón Bolivar "Jefe Supremo de la República de Venezuela" (Supreme Commander of the Republic of Venezuela) from 1819 until 1830. The list below includes interim caretaker as well as regular serving presidents, and democratically-installed presidents as well as those installed by other means (e.g.; Marcos Pérez Jiménez, Pedro Carmona Estanga).

Contents 1 Comments on presidential ordering 2 List of Presidents of Venezuela 3 Living former Presidents 4 Notes 5 See also 6 External links 7 References

[edit] Comments on presidential ordering

The first numbering column reflects the number of the presidency. Since its creation as a republic in 1812, Venezuela has had a total to date of 70 presidencies: a single person serving a single term beginning with Cristóbal Mendoza. The second column reflects uninterrupted time in office served by a single person. For example, Juan Crisóstomo Falcón served two consecutive terms and is counted in the first column as both 20th presidency and 21st presidency anthis is buld in the second column as 19th presidential office. The third column lists the actual numbering of distinct individual presidents. Venezuela has been ruled by a total of forty-three men to date. Many of the men listed below became President on a provisional basis as they waited for the arrival of the elected or regular president, such as commonly occurs in the aftermath of a civil war, rebellion, or coup d'état. As a consequence, other Venezuelan presidential rosters may not choose to include the seventy terms below, citing the extreme brevity of certain terms, unusual circumstances that may have surrounded a president's ascendancy into office, and other factors. The colors shaded about each president indicate the political party affiliation of each President (see key, below).

[edit] List of Presidents of Venezuela

Key:	Fifth Republic Movement (Movimiento V República)	Independent	Military government	Democratic Action (Acción Democrática)	COPEI (COPEI — Partido Social Cristiano de Venezuela)

# (unique)	# (all)	# (selected all)		President	Dates in office	Form of entry	Occupation
1	1	1		Cristóbal Mendoza	1811-1813	Elected by First Congress	Lawyer / Politician
2	2	2		Simón Bolívar	1813-1814	Indirect elections	Military general
3	3	2		Simón Bolívar	1819-1830	Indirect elections	Military general
4	4	3		José Antonio Páez	1830-1835	Indirect elections	Military general
5	5	4		José María Vargas	1835-1836	Indirect elections	Physician
6	6	5		Andrés Narvarte	1836-1837	Interim caretaker	Lawyer / politician
7	7	6		José María Carreño	1837-1837	Interim caretaker	Military general
8	8	7		Carlos Soublette	1837-1839	Interim caretaker	Military general
9	9	3		José Antonio Páez	1839-1843	Indirect elections	Military general
10	10	7		Carlos Soublette	1843-1847	Indirect elections	Military general
11	11	8		José Tadeo Monagas	1847-1851	Indirect elections	Military general
12	12	9		José Gregorio Monagas	1851-1855	Indirect elections	Military general
13	13	9		José Tadeo Monagas	1855-1858	Indirect elections	Military general
14	14	10		Pedro Gual Escandon	1858-1858	—	—
15	15	11		Julián Castro	1858-1859	Coup d'état	Military general
16	16	10		Pedro Gual Escandon	1859-1859	—	—
17	17	11		Manuel Felipe Tovar	1859-1861	Coup d'état (first term); direct elections (second term)	Politician
18	18	10		Pedro Gual Escandon	1861-1861	—	—
19	19	3		José Antonio Páez	1861-1863	—	—
20	20	12		Juan Crisóstomo Falcón	1863 - 1865	Victory in the Federal War (first term)	—
21	20	12		Juan Crisóstomo Falcón	1865 - April 1868	Indirect elections (second term)	Military general
22	21	13		Manuel Ezequiel Bruzual	1868-1868	—	—
23	22	14		Guillermo Tell Villegas	1868-1869	—	—
24	23	15		José Ruperto Monagas	1869-1870	Revolution	Military general
25	24	14		Guillermo Tell Villegas	1870-1870	—	—
26	25	16		Antonio Guzmán Blanco	1870-1877	Revolution (first term)	Lawyer / Military general
27	25	16		Antonio Guzmán Blanco	1870-1877	Indirect elections (second term)	Lawyer / Military general
28	26	17		Francisco Linares Alcántara	1877-1878	Indirect elections	Military general
29	27	18		José Gregorio Varela	1878-1878	—	—
30	28	16		Antonio Guzmán Blanco	1879-1880	Election by the Federal States	Lawyer / Military general
31	28	16		Antonio Guzmán Blanco	1880-1882	Election by the Federal States	Lawyer / Military general
32	28	16		Antonio Guzmán Blanco	1882-1884	Election by the Federal States	Lawyer / Military general
33	29	18		Joaquín Sinforiano de Jesús Crespo	1884-1886	Elections by the Federal States	Military general
34	30	16		Antonio Guzmán Blanco	1886-1887	Elections by the Federal States	Lawyer / Military general
35	31	19		Hermógenes López	1887 - 1888	Intermin caretaker	Military general
36	32	20		Juan Pablo Rojas Paúl	1888 - 1890	Elections by the Federal States	Lawyer
37	33	27		Raimundo Andueza Palacio	1890-1892	Elections by the Federal States	Lawyer
38	34	—		Guillermo Tell Villegas	1892-1892	—	—
39	35	28		Joaquín Sinforiano de Jesús Crespo	1892-1894	Revolution	Military general
40	35	29		Joaquín Sinforiano de Jesús Crespo	1894-1898	Revolution	Military general
41	36	30		Ignacio Andrade	1898-1899	Direct elections	Politician
42	37	31		Cipriano Castro Ruiz	1899-1908	Revolution	Military general
43	38	32		Juan Vicente Gómez	1908-1914	Coup d'état	Military general
44	39	—		Victorino Márquez Bustillos	1915-1922	Appointed provisional president[1]	Lawyer / politician
45	40	32		Juan Vicente Gómez	1922-1929	—	—
46	41	—		Juan Bautista Pérez	May 30, 1929 - June 13, 1931	Indirect election by the National Assembly	Lawyer / magistrate
47	42	32		Juan Vicente Gómez	1931-1935	Indirect election by the National Assembly	Military general
48	43	33		Eleazar López Contreras	1935-1936	Interim caretaker (first term)	—
49	43	34		Eleazar López Contreras	1936-1941	Indirect elections (second term)	Military general
50	44	35		Isaías Medina Angarita	1941-1945	Indirect elections	Military general
51	45	36		Rómulo Ernesto Betancourt Bello	1945-1948	Coup d'état	Politician
52	46	37		Rómulo Gallegos Freire	1948-1948	Direct elections	Writer / Novelist
53	47	38		Carlos Delgado Chalbaud	1948-1950	Coup d'état	Military officer
54	48	39		Germán Suárez Flamerich	1950-1952	Interim caretaker	Lawyer
55	49	40		Marcos Pérez Jiménez	1952-1958	Indirect elections	Military officer
56	50	41		Wolfgang Larrazábal	1958-1959	Coup d'état	Rear admiral
57	51	42		Edgar Sanabria	1959-1959	Interim caretaker	Lawyer
58	52	43		Rómulo Ernesto Betancourt Bello	1959-1964	Direct elections	Politician
59	53	44		Raúl Leoni Otero	1964-1969	Direct elections	Lawyer
60	54	45		Rafael Caldera Rodríguez	1969-1974	Direct elections	Lawyer
61	55	46		Carlos Andrés Pérez Rodríguez	1974-1979	Direct elections	Politician
62	56	47		Luis Herrera Campins	1979-1984	Direct elections	Lawyer
63	57	48		Jaime Lusinchi	1984-1989	Direct elections	Physician
64	58	49		Carlos Andrés Pérez Rodríguez[2]	1989-1993	Direct elections	Politician
65	59	50		Ramón José Velásquez	1993-1994	Interim president	Writer
66	60	51		Rafael Caldera Rodríguez	February 2, 1994 - 2 February 1999	Direct elections	Lawyer
67	61	52		Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías[3]	2 February 1999 - 11 April 2002	Direct Elections	Military officer (Lt. colonel)
68	62	—		Pedro Carmona Estanga [4][5][6][7]	11 April 2002- 13 April 2002 (2 days)	Coup d'état	Businessman
69	63	—		Diosdado Cabello Rondón	13 April 2002 - 13 April 2002 (several hours)	Interim caretaker	Engineer
70	64	53		Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías	13 April 2002 - 10 January 2007	Restoration of constitutional order	Military officer (Lt. colonel)
71	64	52		Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías	10 January 2007 - present	Direct elections	Military officer (Lt. colonel)

[edit] Living former Presidents

1. Rafael Caldera
2. Carlos Andrés Pérez
3. Luis Herrera Campins
4. Jaime Lusinchi
5. Ramón José Velásquez
6. Pedro Carmona
7. Diosdado Cabello

[edit] Notes

1. ^ Bustillos was appointed to the presidency in a provisional fashion after Juan Vicente Gómez, after himself being elected (by the National Assembly) as president. Gómez opted not to assume the presidency, instead choosing to continue in the role of directing the Venezuelan army.
2. ^ On May 21, 1993 Pérez resigned after being accused of corruption by the Attorney General. President of Congress Octavio Lepage was in charge of the government until Ramón J. Velásquez was elected by Congress on June 4, 1993.
3. ^ On April 11, 2002, senior military officers refused Chávez's orders to carry out Plan Ávila. They arrested Chávez, saying he had resigned, and Pedro Carmona Estanga assumed the presidency. Following an uprising, aided by sectors of the military loyal to Chávez, the new government collapsed and Chávez was restored to power early on April 15, 2002. Between the deposing of Carmona and the return of Chávez, Vice President Diosdado Cabello assumed the presidency.
4. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1927599.stm
5. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1927322.stm
6. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1926185.stm
7. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1927678.stm

[edit] See also

• Politics of Venezuela
• History of Venezuela
• Venezuelan presidential election, 2000
• lists of incumbents
• Politics
• (Politics Portal)
• (Venezuela Portal)

[edit] External links

• Official portal for the President.
• Official government site (Government Online).

[edit] References

• (Spanish) Nuestros Presidentes — Official government portal for presidential biographies.
• (Spanish) Jefes de Estado de Venezuela
• (Spanish) Cuadro de Presidentes Venezolanos
• (Spanish) Presidentes y jefes de Gobierno
• (Spanish) Comentarios sobre la Lista de Presidentes