Isaiah Medina Angarita

Isaías Medina Angarita (San Cristóbal, July 6, 1897 - Caracas, September 15, 1953), was a Venezuelan politician and military man. He was the youngest son of the marriage of General José Rosendo Medina and Alejandrina Angarita García. He studied primary and high school at the San Cristóbal school. He held the positions of Minister of War and Navy between 1936 and 1941 under the Presidency of General Eleazar López Contreras and served as President of the Republic from 1941 to 1945. Although he was elected for the period 1941-1946, he did not finish his term. presidential, since he was overthrown by a coup d'état, in an alliance between middle army officers and members of the Democratic Action party.

Military career and academic training

His father, General José Rosendo Medina, died in combat during the Battle of San Cristóbal when he was four years old. In 1912, he moved to Caracas to study at the Military School (current Military Academy of Venezuela). Medina Angarita graduated as a second lieutenant on July 23, 1914 and ranked seventeenth in his class. Collaborator of President Juan Vicente Gómez, he was appointed by this Chief of Staff. Being a lieutenant colonel (1927), he will work as a teacher of Spanish and Service Knowledge at the Officer Candidate School, as well as Physical Education at the Federal Schools of Caracas, at the Andrés Bello high school and at the Men's Normal School. When carrying out these teaching tasks, he will interact with other professors and students, being part of groups where new ideas and political trends would be discussed, even showing himself in favor of university autonomy. Later, he would strengthen his relationship with intellectual circles by joining the Club of Seven and the Atenas Group. On the other hand, during this time he was also appointed head of service of the War Directorate of the Ministry of War and Navy, which is where his friendship with Eleazar López Contreras would begin, under his own government, from 1936 to 1941. In 1930, was appointed member of the Military and Naval Regulations Commission; in 1931, acting assistant to the Headquarters of the General Staff and from July 15 of that same year, head of service of the Cabinet of the Ministry of War and Navy and secretary, a position he held until July 12, 1935. Promoted to the rank Colonel (1935), he was appointed by executive decree Minister of War and Navy, on March 1, 1936 he was appointed Minister of War and Navy. In 1940 he was promoted to Brigadier General, from there he became a candidate for the presidency of the Republic proposed by General Manuel Brito.

Presidency

Medina came to the presidency dragging a black legend about his sympathies for fascism and his inclination for Benito Mussolini, who accompanied him during the years in which he had been Minister of War and Navy. According to reports by journalist Miguel Otero Silva, during that period he was held responsible for all government acts that were considered undemocratic, such as the exile of an opposition leader or the closure of a newspaper. On the other hand, if Eleazar López Contreras took a democratic measure, it was said that he did so "despite Medina." Due to this background, there was fear that the election of Medina as president would mean a setback in the political evolution since the death of Juan Vicente Gómez in December 1935. This arrangement of discrediting President Medina was carried out freely; The government of General Medina allowed and guaranteed full freedom of expression, a situation taken advantage of by the Adeco leaders to slander the president himself and his management. On August 13, 1942 he sanctioned a new Civil Code of Venezuela.

He maintained the neutrality of Venezuela during the Second World War despite being involved since the sinking of the Monagas oil tanker after the attack by the Nazi submarine fleet in Operation Neuland in 1942. President Medina Angarita declared war on the Axis on February 15, 1945 as a requirement to participate in the founding conference of the United Nations Organization to replace the League of Nations, an organization that had failed in its purpose of avoiding another international conflict.

Politics

Contrary to what his detractors expected, Medina allowed a broad democratic opening, allowing the confrontation of different ideologies and the expression of diverse criteria regarding the country's problems and international events, even during the Second World War. It is precisely during the Medina government, thanks to the legalization of political groups, whose groups of origin had had a discontinuous and eventful political life due to the limitations imposed on them in the Gómez and López Contreras periods, that have their origin of modern political parties in Venezuela: Democratic Action, formed by fractions of the National Democratic Party (PDN) of the Lopecista period, was the first party to be legalized, shortly after Medina assumed the Presidency, in June 1941. AD would become over time in one of the most important icons of the fight for democracy in modern Venezuela.

That same year the communists - who were still illegal - grouped together in Caracas in the so-called Municipal Union. Following their example, similar leagues - all with a Marxist-Leninist tendency - were formed in 11 states of the country and then all these unions merged into a large national party called the Venezuelan Popular Union (UPV) that would be used as a legal front for the Communist Party. from Venezuela. Another party, National Action, appeared on the political scene in 1942; Its members, who came from the National Student and Electoral Action Union, later grouped together in COPEI (Independent Electoral Political Organization Committee). In May 1943, supporters of the ruling PPG party met in a new group that in September of that year gave rise to the Venezuelan Democratic Party (PDV).

Partisan activity was able to develop thanks to the climate of respect and freedom of expression that General Medina was able to impart to his government. The belief among political leaders concerned about the progress of a democracy that was just beginning to crystallize, that direct and secret universal suffrage would put an end to all the imperfections of the system initiated by López Contreras and continued and deepened by Medina, minimized the features positive aspects of it in the electoral aspect: the uninominal election of councilors, which allowed voters to choose as their representative a person truly concerned about the problems of the community and with whom they felt fully identified. Another was the renewal of Congress by half every 2 years and in which women were granted the vote. The electoral movement was intense during the government of General Medina Angarita; either to popularly elect councilors or for municipal councils to elect deputies and legislative assemblies to elect senators, the truth is that during his presidential term there were elections every year.

Social security, labor law and infrastructure

The political opening that allowed the legalization and action of the parties also facilitated the permanence of existing unions and the legalization of those that were being organized. In the system of democracy that Medina was determined to strengthen; A more organized working class appears and, with the experience acquired in years of repression, was preparing to make itself felt. For this reason, democratization in the union sphere is not presented in this period in terms of a class struggle, but rather, as a partisan struggle for control of the unions. This confrontation led to 93 unions, along with 3 labor unions, being dissolved by the Ministry of Labor, considering them tentacles of political parties in Venezuela.

Among the aspects of President Medina's labor policy, the following deserve to be highlighted:

• The perennial implementation of the Compulsory Social Security Act, enacted in 1940, establishing the Central Social Insurance Institute and the operation of the first Regional Fund in 1944;
• The expansion of the services of working culture;
• Fixing the salary;
• Abolition of night work in some industries;
• Regulation of the Cooperative Societies Act;:
• Partial reform of the Labour Act and the enactment of labour regulations in the field.

The signing of the first collective contract for the oil industry deserves special mention, on June 14, 1945, but it could not be presented to Congress in 1946, due to the rupture of constitutional normality due to the coup d'état of October 18, 1945. The signing of this collective contract constitutes one of Medina Angarita's greatest achievements in labor matters and came to compensate oil workers for the dissolution of 14 of their unions.

In terms of infrastructure, he turned Caracas into a modern city, eliminating unhealthy overcrowding in the city center and building in its place the urban complex "El Silencio", designed by Carlos Raúl Villanueva and Francisco Narváez, financing this construction through Banco Obrero, also of its creation. With this, the face of Caracas begins to change and the solution to the housing problem for numerous middle class families begins: doctors, nurses, journalists and business employees. The Banco Obrero, in charge of the execution of the El Silencio project in Caracas, also intervened in the construction of the "Rafael Urdaneta" urbanization in Maracaibo, whose 1,000 homes were about to be completed in October 1945. Medina also established the citizen identification, obtaining the identity card with the number 1 himself.

Education

As with other presidents, education was one of the most criticized sectors of President Medina's administration. However, much was done during his period to develop it both qualitatively and quantitatively. Rafael Vegas, the last to assume the Ministry of Education, gave a notable boost in this regard: 250,000 children attended primary schools and 97 high schools provided secondary education throughout the country. Illiteracy reduced his numbers by 50% at the end of his term.

As for the university reform, he expropriated the land of the "Ibarra" hacienda and in that place, also with the collaboration of the architect Carlos Raúl Villanueva, he built the University City of Caracas, main campus of the Central University of Venezuela, with the purpose of providing new infrastructure to the main house of higher education in the country. He founded the Polytechnic Institute of Agriculture.

Economy and fiscal policy

To this structural change in the political, social and labor spheres that began during the Medina Angarita government, is added a change of the same nature in the legislative field, carried out through 3 reforms:

• La Fiscal reform with the creation of the Income Tax Act (1942); the aim of which was to establish progressive taxation in order to protect the less wealthy sectors, reducing the indirect taxes that until then cost equally in people with very small or lumpy earnings, such as those of gasoline and salt.
• La Petrolera Reform with the Hydrocarbons Act of 1943, which extended for 40 years more concessions to foreign companies on the condition that oil refineries were installed in Venezuelan territory. Medina, aware that at that time Venezuela did not have trained personnel to take control of the oil industry, nevertheless considered that by 1983 there would already be a generation sufficiently prepared for it. the law intended that the concessional companies would build their refineries in Venezuelan territory. This law had as essential elements:
  • The unification of the legislation applicable to concessions through the adaptation and conversion of contracts under previous laws;
  • The increase in the participation of the Venezuelan State to 50 per cent of those benefits, also establishing the obligation for the concessionaires to pay, not only the taxes enshrined in that law, but all the general taxes established, the law fixed the royalties at 16.5%, so the oil companies were also subject from that time to the payment of the income tax of 30 per cent.
  • The transformation of transport by pipelines into a public service;
  • The obligation of companies to carry their accounting in Venezuela and to provide the State with technical reports concerning the regions studied;
  • The suspension of customs exemptions as an acquired right.
  • The setting of a deadline, until the end of the Second World War, to refine in Venezuelan territory the oil produced in the country, old concern of President Medina to which the oil companies opposed resistance until the last moment.
• La Agrarian Reform with the Agrarian Reform Act 1945. The results could not be known because it was put into effect on 20 September 1945 and was suspended when the coup d ' état occurred on 18 October 1945; but it was aimed at inducing social changes by promoting the redistribution of the land to incorporate it into the productive process of the country.

In addition to the 3 laws mentioned, General Medina created, in November 1944, an ad honorem board that would be in charge of the study and granting of credits aimed at promoting the country's production and that would be called the "National Production Promotion Board", intended to continue the line of changes in the country's economic structures and diversify the economy, which was strongly mono-producing. The name of the Development Board was later changed to the Venezuelan Development Corporation in 1947, which absorbed the initial capital of the board created by Medina.

Diplomacy and foreign policy

Foreign relations in the Medina period were led by two chancellors (Caracciolo Parra Pérez and Gustavo Herrera) and were mainly influenced by the Second World War. In 1942, after the sinking of the Monagas in the Gulf of Venezuela, Chancellor Parra Pérez sent a note of protest through the diplomatic delegation in Bern (Switzerland), which the German government of Adolf Hitler did not accept. Venezuela had already broken diplomatic relations since December 1941 with the Axis countries (Germany, Japan and Italy). These events resulted in some diplomatic actions such as the freezing of the assets of German citizens living in Venezuela. At the same time, the government restricted the economic activities of these groups within the country's borders. Through investigations, it was possible to arrest at least 800 citizens of German nationality who had activities in support of the Nazi party; they were confined in concentration camps in Lara and Trujillo. On the other hand, the German School of Caracas was closed after it was proven that they had pro-Nazi activities. During this period of time, the President's personal friend and his advisor, the most powerful German in Latin America, Karl Conde de Luxburg, was the one who influenced reality of the country's foreign policy regarding relations with the Axis countries (Germany, Japan and Italy) thanks to his influence and the work of his non-profit family foundation, the Germans in Venezuela were not so strongly persecuted by the authorities as in other countries.

Likewise, after the sinking of the Monagas, concern was raised about the possible risk of attack on other oil tankers, which caused a temporary suspension of service. This situation forced the US leadership to decide to reinforce its presence in the Caribbean to guarantee fuel. Likewise, Venezuela did not materially have a military force capable of facing a threat from the Axis countries, which is why the Government of Medina Angarita allows the entry of US troops into Venezuela. Its presence was established from April 1942 to June 26, 1944.

Medina was the first Venezuelan president who, in the exercise of his duties, went abroad on an official visit. On July 17, 1943, he began a tour of the Bolivarian nations: Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Panama, thus corresponding to the state visits made to Venezuela by presidents Manuel Prado Ugarteche, of Peru; Alfonso López Pumarejo, from Colombia and Carlos Arroyo del Río, from Ecuador, in 1942; and Enrique Peñaranda, from Bolivia and Higinio Morínigo, from Paraguay, in 1943; establishing a new modality in the relations of Latin American countries in the search for unity of common interests and joint action.

In January 1944, Medina also visited the United States and met in Washington with President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, on the occasion of discussing Venezuelan support for the Allied effort in World War II and offering the Venezuelan point of view regarding change. of sovereignty of Aruba and Curaçao. During the Medina administration, Venezuela established relations with China in 1943 and with the Soviet Union in 1945; He attended the meeting of foreign ministers in Rio de Janeiro in 1942, the Chapultepec Conference in 1945 and the signing of the United Nations Charter in San Francisco, in June of that same year. President Medina Angarita declared war on the Axis on February 15, 1945, although he did not intervene militarily, his merits are recognized for having maintained the oil supply in favor of the Allied cause throughout the war.

Political Opposition

The Opposition to the Medina Angarita government was led by Democratic Action, which demanded a constitutional reform to allow the direct, universal and secret election of the President of the Republic.

Overthrow

General Isaías Medina Angarita was overthrown on October 18, 1945 by a civil-military coup perpetrated by soldiers from the new promotions, gathered in the Military Patriotic Union, in association with leaders of Acción Democratic Party, among whom Rómulo Betancourt stood out. It happened that the same movement that Medina had given to the country, with the substantial changes produced by new laws and the enjoyment of all citizen rights without any limitation, overwhelmed him when he lacked the determination to grant direct and secret universal suffrage for the election. presidential, a cause put forward by the civilians who participated in the coup, to justify it.

The young soldiers -led by Major Marcos Pérez Jiménez-, in turn, had their own reasons for revolting against the Medina government: they complained about the low salaries they earned, that they were denied deserved promotions and in Instead, the old people they called "stone poplars" were promoted due to the lack of modern equipment in the Armed Forces; Some of the conspiratorial officers showed resentment for the signing of the 1941 Boundary Treaty between Colombia and Venezuela, carried out during the government of Eleazar López Contreras when Medina was Minister. All these reasons, together with the division in the ranks of the PDV due to the appearance of the candidacy of General López Contreras; to the illness of the candidate sponsored by Medina - and apparently accepted by Democratic Action -, Diógenes Escalante, which prevented the progress of his candidacy; to the lack of consensus around the new PDV candidate, Ángel Biaggini; precipitated the coup of October 18.

Recent years

Medina was the victim of an insurrection against a system of government that he inherited, democratized and modernized. He was arrested and expelled from the country, settling in New York City. In May 1952, he suffered a stroke that left him with left hemiplegia. The new government authorized him to return to Venezuela, and he finally died a year later, at the age of 56.

Legacy

General Medina was a man of great convictions, simple and plural; His statesmanship fostered the necessary dynamics to turn Venezuela into a modern republic. His most important legacy is the sowing of the democratic spirit in the conscience of the Venezuelan people and the encouragement that he gave to the national collective to take a decisive role in the fight for social equality. However, the long-term impact of his government work encompassed virtually all areas of development.