Rómulo Ernesto Betancourt Bello (22 February 1908 – 28 September 1981; ), known as "The Father of Venezuelan Democracy", was a Venezuelan politician who served as the president of Venezuela, from 1945 to 1948 and again from 1959 to 1964, as well as leader of the Democratic Action, Venezuela's dominant political party in the 20th century.
Betancourt, one of Venezuela's most important political figures, led a tumultuous career in Latin American politics. Periods of exile brought Betancourt in contact with various Latin American countries as well as the United States, securing his legacy as one of the most prominent international leaders to emerge from 20th-century Latin America. Scholars credit Betancourt as the Founding Father of modern democratic Venezuela.
During his time as president, a wide range of progressive reforms were carried out in areas such as health, education, and housing.Rómulo Betancourt and the Transformation of Venezuela By Robert Jackson Alexander, Publisher: Transaction Publishers, 1982, P.507-509
Early life
Betancourt was born in Guatire, a town near Caracas. His parents were Luis Betancourt Bello (of Canary origins) and Virginia Bello Milano. He attended a private school in Guatire, followed by high school at the Liceo Caracas in Caracas. He studied law at the Central University of Venezuela.Fundación para la Cultura Urbana. 2009. Rómulo Betancourt: crónica visual, pg. 16. Cronología RB.
As a young man he was expelled from Venezuela for agitation and moved to Costa Rica where he founded, and led, a number of Communist student groups.Nathaniel Weyl. 1960. Red Star Over Cuba. page 3. OOC:60-53203. In the early 1930s, while in Costa Rica, he became one of the main militants of that country's Communist Party at the young age of 22.Nathaniel Weyl. 1960. Red Star Over Cuba, pp. 3-5. OOC:60-53203.Robert Jackson Alexander. Rómulo Betancourt and the Transformation of Venezuela, Transaction Books, New Brunswick and London 1982, pg. 74 He was active in the Communist Party from 1930 to his resignation in 1935. He founded the Partido Democrático Nacional, which became an official political party in 1941 as Acción Democrática (AD).
Colombian leader Jorge Eliécer Gaitán claimed Betancourt had "offered him arms and money to launch a revolution in Colombia" which was part of Betancourt's alleged plan to build a solid phalanx of left-wing regimes in the Caribbean.Nathaniel Weyl. 1960. Red Star Over Cuba, pg. 4-5. OOC:60-53203.
First presidency (1945–1948)
Betancourt 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 foreign 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 led by Betancourt's secretary of Agriculture, Eduardo Mendoza.
Reform of the oil industry In 1941, before AD's entry into policymaking, Venezuela received 85,279,158 bolívars from oil taxes, 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 foreign oil companies were making in profit. President Betancourt had overthrown the Isaías Medina Angarita , which enacted a law to tax oil companies up to 60%, and reserved for the government the right to raise more taxes as needed. Betancourt changed the law to "Fifty to Fifty".
One of Betancourt's original objectives was the nationalization of the country's oil industry. Mexico had nationalized its oil industry 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, Venezuela's economy was not stable enough to handle potential boycotts by foreign oil companies and would have left nation fiscally vulnerable.
Rationalizing the complications of nationalization at the time, raised taxes on oil production instead accomplishing the same goal: Venezuela's oil riches to benefit Venezuelans. In the late 1940s Venezuela was producing close to annually and as production climbed, the tax followed. Venezuela was the Allies' top oil supplier during the wars occurring in the European continent. Betancourt identified this potential to play an important historical role, using the knowledge to his nation's advantage transforming Venezuela into a global player. Germany then lacked reliable access to oil limiting troop movements. Some historians identify this vulnerability a deciding factor in Hitler's defeat. Venezuelan oil played a key role.
According to Betancourt, a spike in taxes was just as effective as nationalizing the oil industry: "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 no longer entitled to make larger profits than the Venezuelan government. As a result, Betancourt's government generally had full support of the labor unions as the administration openly encouraged workers to organize. In 1946, 500 labor unions were created. Another notable achievement of Betancourt's first administration include the termination of the concession policy, the initial development of refineries within Venezuela, and tremendous improvement in worker conditions and pay. Juan Pablo Pérez Alfonso served as Minister of Development in Betancourt's first term.
Government Junta cabinet (1945–1948) MinistriesRómulo Betancourt Foundation (2006). "Political Anthology of Rómulo Betancourt, Fourth Volume 1945–1948."OFFICENAMETERMPresidentRómulo Betancourt1945–1948Home AffairsValmore Rodríguez1945–1946 Mario Ricardo Vargas1946–1948Foreign RelationsCarlos Morales1945–1947 Gonzalo Barrios1947–1948FinanceCarlos D'Ascoli1945–1947 Manuel Pérez Guerrero1947–1948DefenseCarlos Delgado Chalbaud1945–1948DevelopmentJuan Pablo Pérez Alfonso1945–1948Public WorksLuis Lander1945–1946 Eduardo Mier y Terán1946–1947 Edgar Pardo Stolk1947–1948EducationHumberto García Arocha1945–1946 Antonio Anzola Carrillo1946–1947 Luis Beltrán Prieto Figueroa1947–1948LaborRaúl Leoni1945–1948CommunicationsMario Ricardo Vargas1945–1946 Valmore Rodríguez1946–1947 Antonio Martín Araujo1947–1948AgricultureEduardo Mendoza Goiticoa1945–1947 Ricardo Montilla1947–1948Health and Social AssistanceEdmundo Fernández1945–1948Secretary of the JuntaLuis Beltrán Prieto Figueroa1945–1947 José Giacoppini Zárraga1947–1948
International trips DateLocationMain purposeJuly 1946Official visit. First Venezuelan head of state to visit Mexico.
Third exile
Betancourt presided over the country's first free elections, in 1947, which were won by the AD's Rómulo Gallegos. However, on 27 November 1948, Carlos Delgado Chalbaud, Marcos Pérez Jiménez and Luis Felipe Llovera Páez launched the 1948 Venezuelan coup d'état and overthrew Gallegos after just . Betancourt went into exile in New York City. In exile he planned a political return sustained on democratic principles and open elections legitimizing his national leadership role. His forward vision and strategy was successful and Betancourt was elected president by his own people upon returning to Venezuela. He had been determined to expose to the world the political problems and dictatorships that plagued the country through most of its modern history – a risky proposition.
In 1956 Betancourt published his book Venezuela: Oil and Politics in Mexico City, Editorial Fondo de Cultura Económica, publisher. Betancourt wrote in the Prologue of the first edition of the book: "The preparation of this book has been as hectic as the life of the author. I wrote it first between the years 1937–39 while I was underground hiding from the police. It could not be published then because no Venezuelan publisher would dare risk printing a book written by one who was in such compromising position. The only typewritten copy was among my personal papers and it disappeared with them when a military patrol plundered the house I was living in when the constitutional government was overthrown on 24 November 1948. Thus most of the material from the first draft was lost.
"I believe that 'the dead command,' although not in the sense that reactionaries have traditionally given the phrase. When they die they give the command for an ideal of human excellence, obliging those who survive to finish their work..."
Franklin Tugwell wrote in his introduction to the 1978 English translation of the book: "Betancourt's third, and longest, period of exile was a time of enormous frustration. In the prime of his life --for roughly the decade of his forties-- he was forced into relative inactivity and obscurity. He traveled extensively, living in Cuba, Costa Rica, and Puerto Rico, and remained a leader of an opposition-in-exile to the Perez Jimenez dictatorship. And of course wrote 'Venezuela: Oil and Politics'. A beach home outside of San Juan (Puerto Rico) provided a quiet refuge for this work..."
The book was prohibited from circulating in Venezuela.
Second presidency (1959–1964)
A decade later, after Pérez Jiménez was ousted, Betancourt was elected president in the general election of 1958, becoming the first leader of the Punto Fijo Pact. Having inherited a well constructed country but with the need to give more education to its people, Betancourt nevertheless managed to return the state to fiscal solvency despite the rock-bottom petroleum prices throughout his presidency.
Two important institutions were created by Juan Pablo Pérez Alfonso, Betancourt's minister of Mines and Hydrocarbons, in 1960. First, the Venezuelan Petroleum Corporation (Corporación Venezolana del Petróleo — CVP) was conceived to oversee the national petroleum industry. Second, Venezuela was instrumental in establishing the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), an international oil cartel, in partnership with Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Iran. Considered a radical revolutionary idea at the time by its opponents, it was viewed as essential to Venezuela's independence and fiscal solvency by Betancourt. The creation of OPEC was triggered by a 1960 law instituted by American President Dwight Eisenhower that forced quotas for Venezuelan oil and favored Canada and Mexico's oil industries. Eisenhower cited national security, land access to energy supplies, at times of war.
Betancourt reacted seeking an alliance with oil producers of Middle Orient and North Africa as a pre-emptive strategy to protect the continuous autonomy and profitability of Venezuela's oil. At an annual oil convention in Cairo, Venezuela's envoy, fluent in Arabic, convinced oil producing Middle Eastern countries to sign a secret agreement that promoted unity and control of their own national oil resources. The agreement was made under the noses of the British and American corporations that dominated the oil industry globally and had funded the event. OPEC was founded in September 1960 at Baghdad, Iraq, a strong cartel that survives to this day.