Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses Graduate School 1969 The eV nezuelan Experience: 1958 and the Patriotic Junta. William Arceneaux Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses Recommended Citation Arceneaux, William, "The eV nezuelan Experience: 1958 and the Patriotic Junta." (1969). LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses. 1632. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses/1632 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ‘■ T 70-9032 * ARCENEAUX, William, 1941- l THE VENEZUELAN EXPERIENCE: 1958 AND THE PATRIOTIC JUNTA. f i The Louisiana State University and Agricultural j and Mechanical College, Ph.D., 1969 History, modern I University Microfilms, A XERQ\ Company, Ann Arbor, Michigan * @ WILLIAM ARCENEAUX 1970 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED THE VENEZUELAN EXPERIENCE: 1958 AND THE PATRIOTIC JUNTA A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of History by William Arceneaux B.A., University of Southwestern Louisiana, 1962 M .A., Louisiana State University, 1965 August, 1969 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The writer wishes to extend deepest thanks to Professor Jane Lucas deGrummond for her assistance and cooperation. He also wishes to extend special appreciation to the Graduate Council of Louisiana State University for providing funds permitting the author to complete research in South America. For their patience and understanding,final acknowledgement is extended to the author's fam ily. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER ' Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS......................................................... ii ABSTRACT. ; ..................................................................... iv ’■I. A FRAMEWORK......................................................................... 1 II. LATIN AMERICA’S SOLDIERS AS POLITICIANS................. 26 III. VENEZUELA'S SOLDIERS AS POLITICIANS......................... 52 IV. VENEZUELA'S POLITICIANS AS POLITICIANS.................... 96 V. THE PATRIOTIC JUNTA:.............PART I ................................. 147 VI. THE PATRIOTIC JUNTA: PART I I ................................... 197 VII. A SUMMARY............................................................................... 255 BIBLIOGRAPHY............................................ .......................... 262 VITA........................................................................................... 283 iii ABSTRACT This dissertation's an historical analysis of the political culture of the Republic of Venezuela. Emphasis is placed on the relations between the nation's military and civilian sectors. For most of her existence as a nation-state, Venezuela was governed by individuals in military uniform. For the last eleven years (1958 to the present), civilians have ruled Venezuela. Using an historical approach with minimal assistance from social science methodology, the burden assumed by this study is to explain the reasons which have allowed this transformation to take place. Militarism is a predominant feature of Latin American politics. It signifies the presence of armed forces in government. In the nine­ teenth century, the most striking form of Latin American militarism was the caudillo—the boss, the leader, the man-on-horseback, the dictator. Venezuela was no exception. Some of the most powerful dictators in the history of Latin America were also presidents of Venezuela. To 1958, political power in Venezuela was controlled by the armed forces. Civilians in positions of power were not to be found. Yet, since 1958 and at.this writing, civilians are governing Venezuela. The country has experienced peaceful political campaigns, honest elections and parties in power, all without military intervention. iv The three civilian presidents of Venezuela since 1958, Romulo Betancourt, Raul Leoni and Rafael Caldera, have performed admirably. Intelligence, wisdom and sobriety have characterized their leader­ ship. Venezuela's many economic and social ills are being challenged to the point where vast strides in education, agriculture, housing and public health are being made. But, the most striking feature of con­ temporary Venezuela is its political stability and absence of military officers in positions of power. A primary explanation as to why this transformation in the poli­ tical culture of Venezuela transpired was the role played by the Patriotic Junta during 1957 and 1958. The Patriotic Junta was an ad hoc committee organized in the summer of 1957 for the purpose of overthrowing the military dictator, Marcos Pdrez Jimdnez. It was composed of members from Venezuela's four most important political parties, Democratic Action, the Democratic Republican Union, the Independent Committee for Political and Electoral Organization and the Communist Party of Venezuela. By printing and distributing clandestine literature, the Patriotic Junta succeeded in winning wide public approval and support for its stand against the unpopular dictatorship of P^rez Jimenez. On January 21, 1958, the Patriotic Junta called for a general strike which paralyzed the nation. Students and other sympathizers, under the direction of the Patriotic Junta, v brought Venezuela to the verge of social disintegration. With no alternative, the country's armed forces were forced to demand the dictator's resignation. The era of Marcos Pdrez Jimdnez ended on January 23, 1958. Throughout the remainder of 1958, the Patriotic Junta, due to its popularity and prestige, continued to exercise considerable influence on Venezuelan politics. Its call for a politibal truce among individual political parties (in the name of civilian unity) was endorsed openly by the nation's entire ideological spectrum. The Government Junta that replaced the dictatorship was committed to the cause of democracy and representative institutions. When it was threathened by rightist elements in the armed forces desiring a return to military rule, the Patriotic Junta used its influence to rally mass support behind the shaky provisional government. The Patriotic Junta also exercised a profound impact on the thinking of military officers. The latter realized that civilians were willing and able to fight for political liberty, and, once attained, prepared to defend it. The Patriotic Junta played a very important role in establishing civilian preeminence in Venezuela. v i t CHAPTER I , . i A FRAMEWORK » The Republic of Venezuela is the northernmost country of South • America. It is bounded on the west by Colombia, on the south by Brazil, and on the east by Guyana, while its northern shores are washed by the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean for over 2,000 miles. Its 352,150 square miles of territory—about the combined areas of Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas—make it the seventh largest nation in Latin America. At the time of this writing, the population of Venezuela is • approximately nine million. This population is expanding at a rate of over three per cent a year, making Venezuela one of the fastest grow- 1 ing countries in the world. Regarding religion, Venezuela is predominantly Roman Catholic, the vast majority of its citizens professing this faith. The petroleum Industry represents the country's most important economic activity. Among the nations of the world, Venezuela is the leading petroleum *The ethnic composition of Venezuela's population is as follows: 68% mestizo, 20% white, 10% black and 2% Indian; 8% of the total population is foreign born with Italians and Colombians comprising the largest foreign groups. David Eugene Blank (ed.), Venezuela Election Factbook: December 1. 1968 (Washington / D. C.: Institute for the Comparative Study of Political Systems, 1968), 3. / exporter and second leading producer, outranked only by the United States. Politically, the Republic of Venezuela operates under a federal system, that is to say the powers of the nation are divided between two jurisdictions, state and national. The federal union consists of twenty states, two federal territories, a federal district • and seventy-two islands in the Caribbean Sea, which are called O federal dependencies. There is an old saying among the inhabitants of this picturesque nation to the effect that when God was creating the universe and the time came for Him to endow the area which is today Venezuela, He spared nothing. This land was given magnificent mountains, fertile plains, great rivers, tropical shores, a paradisiacal climate and, above, all, great, diverse quantities cf mineral wealth. When the time came to designate inhabitants for this majestic land, however, the Lord allotted Venezuela the dregs. In this writer's many conver­ sations with Venezuelans, he found this tale to be a favorite of the older, uneducated citizens. It was their way of explaining why their richly endowed country, until recently, had suffered consistently from tyranny and exploitation. n Ibid.; Edwin Lieuwen. Venezuela (London: Oxford University Press, 1961), 1-11; Leo B. Lott, "Venezuela," in Martin C. Needier (ed.), Political Systems of Latin America (Princeton: D. Van Nostrand,