Eleazar Lopez Contreras

José Eleazar López Contreras (Queniquea, Táchira, Venezuela, May 5, 1883-Caracas, Venezuela, January 2, 1973) was a Venezuelan military and politician, the thirtieth president of Venezuela since the December 17, 1935 to May 5, 1941.

He moderated the authoritarianism he inherited from his predecessor, Juan Vicente Gómez, and began the process of transition to a political system with greater freedoms. During his government, the 1936 Constitution was promulgated. He faced the first strike by the oil industry in Venezuela and was the founder of the National Guard (to fill the void that existed within the institutional framework of the State) and the Central Bank of Venezuela (to modernize the country and more effectively manage the large resources provided by oil). Foreign technical experts in public health were also recruited and the Rural Hygiene Division was created. In 1939 he offered asylum to the wandering Jews of the so-called "Ships of Hope" (the Caribia and the Königstein), whose descendants make up a large part of the current Jewish community in Venezuela. He was General in Chief of Venezuela, He died in Caracas at the age of eighty-nine.

Biography

Early Years (1883-1909)

In this gallery commemorating the Liberal Restauradora Revolution and its victory in the battle of Tocuyito, the young López Contreras (extreme inferior left) appears as one of the “sixties” officers who brought Cipriano Castro to power in 1899.

Born on May 5, 1883, for that year the country celebrated celebrations for the centenary of the birth of the Liberator Simón Bolívar. His parents were General Manuel María López and María Catalina Contreras, he was the only child of this marriage. His tutor was the priest Fernando María Contreras. Three months after he was born, his father died in Cúcuta, Colombia, of yellow fever, so his uncle, the priest Fernando Contreras, took charge of the family.

At the age of fifteen, he received a Bachelor's degree in Philosophy and Letters from the Colegio Sagrado Corazón de Jesús, in the city of La Grita, Táchira state. Initially, the young Eleazar was going to study Medicine at the University of Mérida, now the University of Los Andes, but he joined the Restorative Liberal Revolution led by Cipriano Castro and Juan Vicente Gómez (also called "the sixties revolution"). He was 16 years old when he took up this cause. He entered the mountains of Río Bobo and Father Contreras offered him his help so that he could go to Cúcuta with the help of some priest friends. There he fought in numerous battles, being assistant captain of the Libertador Battalion in 1899. In the battle of Tocuyito (September 12, 1899), which ensured the triumph of the revolution, López was wounded in the left arm by a rifle bullet, which forced him to undergo medical care. General Gómez took care of him and transferred him to Caracas, in the care of a friendly family.

Beginnings in the military career (1900-1923)

After being promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1900, he was appointed aide-de-camp to Castro, now president of the republic, but he only lasted a month and a half in office. Later, at the outbreak of the Liberating Revolution in 1902, he was appointed Second Assistant Staff of the Carabobo Battalion, participating in the battle of La Victoria in July 1902, which tipped the balance of actions in favor of the government. After the insurrection was defeated the following year, he was appointed Second Commander of the Castillo Libertador in Puerto Cabello, a city where a movement was brewing to remove Gómez, then Vice President of the Republic, from the government and leave Castro as "Sole Leader". López refused to participate in the movement, which was soon revealed, and resigned from office, but both Castro and Gómez distrusted him, each believing him to be on the opposite side. Thus, between 1903 and 1914, he only received civilian positions, Commander of the Reservations of Puerto Cristóbal Colón, La Vela de Coro, Río Caribe and Carúpano, Comptroller of the Customs of Puerto Sucre, Civil Chief of Río Chico and Administrator of the Salinas de Araya.

Activity under the presidency of Juan Vicente Gómez (1908-1935)

Juan Vicente Gómez and Eleazar López Contreras in Maracay, 1934.

López Contreras with military uniform during a speech in Maracay.

In 1908, the political landscape had changed: Gómez had held the presidency since 1908, due to a coup, and Castro was in exile. An accident convinced Gómez that López was not a Castro supporter when he intercepted a letter from Carmelo Castro, the former president's brother, inviting him to join a rebellion. Given this, Gómez rehabilitated López, promoted him to Colonel and appointed him Acting Commander of the Rivas Battalion; a year later he is appointed Commander of the Piar Regiment No. 6.

In 1919 he was appointed Director of War of the Ministry of War and Navy, a position in which he showed remarkable administrative and organizational skills. In 1923 he was promoted to Brigadier General and appointed Chief of the Caracas Garrison. In 1924, he headed the military and diplomatic delegation that represented Venezuela in the celebrations of the Centenary of the Battle of Ayacucho. When visiting the field of the Great Battle, he exhumed the corpse of an anonymous soldier, and brought those remains to Venezuela, to bury them in the field of Carabobo. Gómez must have chosen him, since he was the man who knew the most about Sucre and Bolívar at his time. This fact motivated him to write his first book, El Callao histórico , which deals with the siege and capitulation of Callao in 1826. It was published in 1926 and was very well received by critics.

In 1928, when he was Chief of the Garrison in Caracas, he had to face an insurrection promoted by some young officers, university students and political activists; he firmly dominated her, but found himself in a difficult situation when he discovered that one of the conspirators was his own eldest son, Eleazar López Wolhmar. It was learned that General Gómez offered López the freedom of his son, but López Wolhmar himself, surprisingly, refused. Then, Gómez made several political and military movements, among which is the transfer of López Contreras to Táchira State as Garrison Chief and Commander of the Army Brigade No. 4 in Capacho, there he carried out a counterattack on the San Carlos Barracks. in 1928, an uprising that tried to carry out a coup against Gómez.

López returned to Caracas in 1930, where he was appointed by Gómez as interim chief of the General Staff, on the occasion of the commemorative parade of the Centenary of the death of the Liberator in 1930. In that same year, he published two books: Summary of the military life of Sucre and Bolívar, leader of troops. In 1931 he was appointed by Gómez as Minister of War and Navy, making him the most influential career military man in the country.

Rise to power

When Gómez died on December 17, 1935, López was appointed in charge of the presidency of the republic until April 19, 1936. He managed to quell an attempted rebellion promoted by Gómez's relatives, decreed the release of the prisoners politicians inviting those who remained in exile to return to the country and restored freedom of the press. On April 25 of the following year he was elected Constitutional President of the Republic for seven years, since 1936. His discrepancies with the Gomez regime were noted in The Military History of Venezuela. In this work, López declared, regarding the political events of 1928 and 1929, that he had never been in favor of the repressive measures taken to quell the rebellion of university students (the so-called Generation of 28) and he explained the reasons for the convenience of the implementation of rules to maintain public order without resorting to military action.

Presidency (1935-1941)

Portada de la revista Elite del 25 de abril de 1936, en la que aparece el presidente López Contreras al iniciar su periodo constitucional.

He took López Contreras as president of Venezuela to the Congress of the Union in 1936. Federal Legislative Palace.

López Contreras and his cabinet at the Palacio de Miraflores.

At the beginning of his presidency, he faced two major crises: the first was on Friday, February 14, 1936, when a popular demonstration arrived in Miraflores to demand the restitution of constitutional guarantees, the dissolution of the Congress with a Gomez majority, and the convocation to a National Constituent Assembly. The bloody events that occurred as a result of the repression of said demonstration led to the immediate dismissal and temporary arrest of the Governor of the Federal District, Félix Galavis. President López partially agreed to the requests. The second was the labor strike in June of that same year, where the purpose of the opposition was to overthrow him, which was not fulfilled. He reformed the Constitution in July 1936, he tried to be democratic by reducing the presidential term from 7 to 5 years, a clause to which he surprisingly applied himself; However, authoritarian measures such as exile were legalized by presidential decree and the proscription of communist and anarchist ideologies, which caused several accused politicians to be expelled from the country, including Rómulo Betancourt.

His government is remembered for the creation of protection and assistance organizations such as the Ministry of Health and Social Assistance by decree of February 25, 1936. The importance of public hygiene was stated as the reason. Many of the innovations that the Ministry introduced are due to Arnoldo Gabaldón, who brought recommendations from the Washington Conference of Public Health Directors in 1936. Foreign technical experts in public health were hired to create the Rural Hygiene Division, the establishment of the National Institute of Child Care and the Division of Malariology. The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock was also created due to the importance that the López Contreras policy tried to attribute to agricultural development. On August 6, 1936, the Venezuelan Children's Council and the Minors' Statute were created, under the ideas set forth by the psychiatrist Rafael Vegas Sánchez. In 1938 the Technical Institute of Immigration and Colonization was created, through which the government planned the distribution of large estates to Venezuelan and foreign farmers, to repopulate the fields, raise the quality of life, and improve the population ethnically. These institutions were supported by the president throughout the country and were given a permanent organization whose budget was increased to promote the fight against the main diseases and epidemics.

The promulgation of the Constitution of 1936 that in the first article dictated:

The Venezuelan Nation is the meeting of all Venezuelans in a political agreement with the name of the United States of Venezuela. She is forever and irrevocably free and independent of any domination or protection of foreign power.

and in the Second

The territory of the United States of Venezuela is the one that before the political transformation of 1810 corresponded to the General Office of Venezuela, with the modifications resulting from the treaties celebrated by the Republic. This territory may not in all or in part ever be transferred, transferred, leased or in no way alienated to the foreign Power, even for limited time.

and Article 95

The President of the Republic shall serve five years, and shall not be reelected for the immediate constitutional period. Nor can it be elected who has served the Presidency for the last year of the previous constitutional period, nor the relatives of one and another until the fourth degree of consanguinity or second degree of affinity.

Ministerial Cabinet (1935-1941)

Governance Management

American ambassador Frank P. Corrigan and López Contreras at the Palace of Miraflores.

López Contreras and his Colombian counterpart, Eduardo Santos, in 1941.

In his government, many works were carried out in various aspects, almost all of them far-reaching: the country's first Labor Law was enacted (1936), whose main drafter, the young Rafael Caldera, would become President of Venezuela; he created the Technical Service of Mines and Geology (1936) and progressively advanced education, creating the Pedagogical Institute of Caracas (1937) for teacher training; the Bolivarian Society of Venezuela (1937); the Caracas Fire Department on July 5 and the National Guard on August 4 (1937), Decree No. 1320 of August 4 (1937) to serve as cooperation to the armed forces and police; On January 19, 1937, he decreed the foundation of Ciudad Ojeda as a nucleus to house the inhabitants of the stilt town of Lagunillas de Agua, destroyed by a terrifying fire in 1939. Then the Museum of Fine Arts and the Museum of Sciences (1938) the Central Bank of Venezuela (1940) was created to centralize the issuance of coins and bills, the National Pedagogical Institute, the National Labor Office, the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, the Ministry of Communications, the Venezuelan Council for Children, the Industrial Bank, the National Exchange Office and the Export Control Office, the Border Delimitation Treaty with Colombia (1941) was signed, which sealed the differences around the territory of Río de Oro, La Guajira and the river basin. Orinoco river. The Senate of the Republic promoted him to Division General on July 14, 1939. In April 1941, Congress elected Division General Isaías Medina Angarita, until then Minister of War and Navy, as the new President. Before handing over the presidency, on May 2, the Senate promoted him to the highest military rank in Venezuela of the XX century, General in Chief. Three days later, on May 5, he hands over the presidency to Medina.

The Museum of Fine Arts of Caracas is the oldest museum of plastic arts and one of the most important in Venezuela. Among its permanent exhibitions, those of Egyptian art, Chinese ceramics, Latin American, European and North American art, photographs, drawings, prints, contemporary art and the cubism collection stand out. It also has seven exclusive rooms for temporary exhibitions. Apart from the permanent and temporary exhibitions, it also provides video library services, a documentation center, a photography, print and design office, a specialized library, a store and educational workshops.

The Caracas Science Museum is a natural science museum in the city of Caracas, Venezuela. This museum is located in what is known as the cultural circuit of the city. Nearly 200,000 pieces are exhibited in the spaces of the Science Museum, such as mollusc shells, insects, a whale skull, cuaimas (the largest snakes in South America), fish that inhabited the Guaire River, the fossil skeleton of a toothed feline sable, mammoth molars, plant fossils, pre-Hispanic figures including the most outstanding the "Venus de Tacarigua", among others. Apart from the free exhibits, the museum also offers specialized educational services, consulting, space rental and location services.

Creation of the Central Bank of Venezuela

López Contreras during an official event.

On September 8, 1939, during the government of President Eleazar López Contreras, just seven days before, World War II had been formally declared. In this international context and an internal environment where the country's political course was still being defined after the death of General Juan Vicente Gómez, the BCV was one of the institutions that was determined to contribute to the modernization of the country. A law was decreed that authorizes the creation of a central bank in order to regulate the circulation of money and credit to avoid large-scale fluctuations in the currency. It would also have as its main function to regulate and monitor the trade of gold and currencies. It began its activities in October 1940 and on January 1, 1941 it began to operate under the responsibility of Jesús Herrera Mendoza, president of the bank. For this, it was necessary to deliver the gold and the banknotes issued by Banco de Venezuela, Banco Mercantil y Agrícola, Banco de Maracaibo, Banco Comercial de Maracaibo, Banco Venezolano de Crédito and Banco Caracas, the latter two refused to deliver. of the gold that were in their vaults and were sued by the BCV, concluding the dispute in 1956 with the incineration of the banknotes and the total transfer of the gold that backed the bolivar.

Creation of the National Guard

I am looking for General Eleazar López Contreras at a National Guard post in El Junquito.

The Armed Forces for Cooperation, known as the National Guard, is one of the four components that make up the National Armed Forces of Venezuela. Founded on August 4, 1937 by the President of the Republic, General in Chief (Ex) Eleazar López Contreras.

The premise of this military body is defined in Article 329 of the National Constitution:

The Army, Navy and Aviation have as an essential responsibility the planning, execution and control of the military operations required to ensure the defence of the Nation. The National Guard will cooperate in the development of such operations and will have as its basic responsibility the conduct of the operations required for the maintenance of the internal order of the country. The National Armed Forces may exercise the administrative and criminal investigation police activities assigned to it by law.

Therefore, this component fulfills the function of providing security and defending the sovereignty of the Venezuelan national territory, both internally and along its borders, working jointly with the Army, Navy and Aviation. At the same time, it participates in internal security operations in collaboration with state and municipal police forces under the direction of the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of the Interior and Justice, respectively. Accordingly, in the event of riots or looting, it acts to deter and control protests and other public disorder. When López Contreras assumes the Presidency, who has been exercising the Ministry of War and Navy. With his motto "Calm and Sanity" he achieves political control of the situation; However, certain events occurred such as: street demonstrations, proliferation of rustling, rustling, increase in crime, intensification of smuggling across the country's borders. Faced with this social upheaval, the President of the Republic addresses the Presidents of States and indicates the urgent need to organize there (in the States), with active, hard-working and conscious elements, a Rural Police on horseback, on foot or in vehicle, in order to defend and preserve the Venezuelan home, individual guarantees and property, to put into practice the creation of this National Police Institution, whose mission would be to safeguard public order, training is necessary suitable human resources to meet these objectives. After long and controversial conversations on how to structure said Corps, Don Rufino Blanco Fombona (Venezuelan poet, writer and diplomat) suggested to General López Contreras the idea of creating a Corps similar to the Spanish Civil Guard. In June 1936, the Governments of Venezuela and Spain agreed that a mission from the latter country would travel to Venezuela to establish, train and put into service a Corps similar to that of the Spanish Civil Guard. These ideas materialized on September 17, 1936, when the creation of the School of the National Security Service was decreed.

The staff has already been trained, as well as the foundations for the new Institution that the country's dynamics demand, so we can point out that the Decree of September 17, 1936 that determined the creation of the School of the National Security Service, is the that marks the formation of human resources, but the one that gives the National Guard legal character is the Decree of August 4, 1937. From this moment on, the National Guard became operational throughout the National territory, making effective the tasks that were entrusted to it, to maintain public order and the protection of our borders. Currently, the National Guard has its headquarters in Quinta las Acacias, located in El Paraíso, Avenida el Ejército (in front of Plaza Madariaga) Caracas. The National Guard is a Cooperation Force called to carry out a task for the Homeland throughout the nation as a fiscal control authority.

Post-Presidency Career

Vital senators Rómulo Gallegos and López Contreras at the Federal Legislative Palace of Caracas, during the inauguration of Rómulo Betancourt, February 13, 1959.

After handing over the command, López dedicated himself to a relatively quiet retirement, but without leaving aside the political situation of the new government, he was part of the Venezuelan Democratic Party of Isaías Medina Angarita. In 1944 he published his book Pages for the Military History of Venezuela . However, serious disagreements arose between López and Medina during the latter's presidential term, which led to an institutional crisis that culminated in a violent coup that overthrew Medina on October 18, 1945, headed by young soldiers and activists. of the political parties, including Rómulo Betancourt, who presided over the Governing Board that emerged from said coup. López, Medina and several of their collaborators were arrested, then expelled from the country and tried in absentia for embezzlement and illicit enrichment. López settled in Miami, USA, where he lived until 1948. His house it became a meeting point for the opponents of the Junta that governed Venezuela, including the anti-communist dictators Rafael Leónidas Trujillo and Anastasio Somoza. In turn, the Board considered it "dangerous and subversive." In those moments of his life, López commented:

I am grateful for this banishment, with the prison, with those political trials that have submitted me, (pues) complete my figure of Venezuelan politician. I have been everything in Venezuela: Minister, President, Head of Guarnición, invader, guerrilla, less political prisoner and banished. And in Venezuela there can be no political leader without his burial history.

Return to Venezuela and last days

Capilla ardent of General López Contreras in the Elliptical Hall of the Federal Legislative Palace. It is headed by the then president of the republic, Rafael Caldera, and the president of the National Congress, José Antonio Pérez Díaz. January 3, 1973.

In 1948, the coup d'état of November 24 that overthrew President Gallegos allowed him to return to the country, although he did not agree with the policy carried out by General Marcos Pérez Jiménez. He withdrew into private life, publishing three more books: The Triumph of Truth (1949), Themes of Bolivarian History (1954) and Social Political Process (1955).

From 1958, when Pérez Jiménez fell, he returned to the public arena expressing his support for national concord; he himself proceeded to fraternize with his former political enemy, Rómulo Betancourt, who was now the president. Paradoxically, he had to face situations somewhat similar to those of López in 1936. Curiously, his former enemies paid him all kinds of tributes: first, in 1961, by constitutional provision, he was appointed senator for life. 1963, the replica of the sword of the Liberator, symbol of the generals, was conferred on him. He was the first to receive it, from President Betancourt himself.

Eight of the signatories of the Magna Carta were part of the 43 that López, by decree, had expelled from the country in 1937. López Contreras later became sympathetic to the cause of Jóvito Villalba, founder of the Unión Republicana Democrática. As his age progressed, his health deteriorated, but he retained his lucidity. He continued to write articles for newspapers, even publishing two more books ( The Thought of Bolívar Libertador , in 1963, and Government and Administration, 1936-1941 , in 1966).

At the end of 1972 he suffered pulmonary complications and, finally, died in Caracas on January 2, 1973. He was recognized while alive for his administration of government, considered historical and was respected as an example of civility. López died at the age of 89. Three days of mourning are decreed, he is honored as head of state and is buried to the sound of 21 cannon salutes. So much was his attachment to the National Guard that his last wish was fulfilled: four rank and file National Guardsmen carried his remains on their shoulders.

Predecessor: Juan Vicente Gómez

President of the United States of Venezuela 17 December 1935 – 5 May 1941

Successor: Isaiah Medina Angarita