Venezuela History: Dictatorship of Pérez Jímenez

Of the triumvirs, Carlos Delgado Chalbaud was a candidate to preside over the country after the Military Junta called elections, but he was kidnapped and assassinated by a group led by Rafael Simón Urbina and his nephew Domingo Urbina on November 13, 1950. After the incident, Germán Suárez Flamerich was appointed provisional president. Although it has not been confirmed, it is popular belief that the mastermind of the assassination was Marcos Pérez Jiménez, the second triumviro who served as Defense Minister.

The 23 of January of 1958, a civic-military movement overthrew the dictatorship of Marcos Perez Jimenez

Pérez Jiménez remained in that portfolio until December 1952, the date of the voting for a Constituent Assembly. When observing that the opposition party URD was taking the highest percentage of votes, the ruling Independent Electoral Front did not know the results and suspended the elections. Two days later, the powers of the Board were transferred in their entirety to Pérez Jiménez, who in April 1953 was proclaimed Constitutional President for five years. His government, which in that year promoted a constitution, had the format of a personalist dictatorship that did not hesitate to outlaw the opposition, restrict civil liberties and systematically censor the media. Its main police body, the National Security Directorate in its Political-Social Section (f. 1949), he was tasked with arresting opponents, confining them in the Guasina Concentration Camp, and also executing them. He had special support from the United States government for being part of the oil distribution network and for his fight against communism. However, his regime was also characterized by unparalleled progress in infrastructure for the country, which would later become known as the “developmental dictatorship” of Venezuela, a country located in South America according to DENTISTRYMYTH.COM. The explosion of the visionary and technologically cutting-edge infrastructure, the special promotion of European immigration that changed Venezuelan society, and the completion of ambitious and emblematic public works projects, were framed as the practice of a current of nationalist thought called the New National Ideal. Despite this,

In December 1957 a plebiscite was organized to define his permanence for another period in power. The official bulletins gave him victory, although it was understood by the population and the Armed Forces that it was an orchestrated fraud. This produced a split in the Armed Forces that had supported him until then, and which led to a failed rebellion on New Year’s Day 1958. The political crisis that originated then destabilized the bases of the regime, concluding with his deposition by a movement civic-military in the early morning of January 23, forcing him to flee to the Dominican Republic to later move to Spain with his family. The following day a Governing Board was organized chaired by Rear Admiral Wolfgang Larrazábal.

A civic-military Government Junta, chaired by Rear Admiral Wolfgang Larrazábal Ugueto, is in charge of the transitional government until the new presidential elections. A populist measure of this Governing Board, called the Emergency Plan, by which all peasants and workers who requested it were given a kind of salary while finding work, gave rise to a massive rural exodus that headed to the cities., especially, to Caracas, which gave rise, in turn, to a macrocephaly of the capital with respect to the rest of the country, and to the rapid and uncontrolled increase of the areas of marginal population in the neighborhoods of the main cities.

Fifth Republic

Main article: Bolivarian Revolution.

Before assuming power, Hugo Chávez announced that he would hold a referendum to decide whether or not to change the national constitution, which dated from 1961, arguing that it was the source of corruption and problems in the country. Indeed, when he assumed power, he swore on what he considered to be a “dying constitution” and decreed the call for a referendum.

The referendum was approved by a large majority. Other elections to appoint members to the constituent assembly followed, in which the government managed to obtain 128 of 132 representatives. The new constitution was drafted quickly and in December 1999 it was ratified in a new referendum, also by a large majority.

During the Chávez government, a series of popular benefit actions were promoted in Venezuela, which contributed to his government reaching high popularity ratings. This led him to face destabilizing attempts promoted by the United States government, ranging from a coup in April 2002 to an oil strike in December 2002. In the international order, he made Venezuela a protagonist of the regional and international arena together with countries such as Brazil, Russia and Cuba, especially the latter with which he founded the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas in 2005.

Dictatorship of Pérez Jímenez