Ramon Jose Velasquez

Ramón José Velásquez Mujica (San Juan de Colón, November 28, 1916-Caracas, June 24, 2014) was a Venezuelan historian, journalist and politician. He is the interim president of the republic elected by the National Congress for the end of the 1993-1994 period after the prosecution of Carlos Andrés Pérez.

Biography

Although he was a lawyer by profession, he was a collaborator of Diógenes Escalante in the times of Isaías Medina Angarita, he joined the staff of reporters for the newspaper Últimas Noticias because he preferred the hectic and busy newsroom. In 1958, after long years in prison during the Marcos Pérez Jiménez dictatorship, Velásquez took to the streets to serve as the first director of the newspaper El Mundo. His journalistic practice led him to direct important newspapers and magazines such as the newspaper El Nacional, on two occasions. This did not mean his retirement from other newspapers as editor of columns, articles and reports that reflect the political and social history of the country.1

He entered political activity at a very young age. He was a political prisoner during the Pérez Jiménez dictatorship. Starting in 1958, he was elected parliamentarian on various occasions on the lists of the Democratic Action party. He was the Secretary General of the Presidency during the second government of Rómulo Betancourt and Minister of Communications during the first government of Rafael Caldera.

A believer in decentralization, he promoted the creation of the Los Andes Corpoandes Development Corporation. He chaired the Commission for the Reform of the State (COPRE) created by President Jaime Lusinchi in the period 1984-1986, being replaced by Arnoldo José Gabaldón Berti in 1987 when he resigned from office. He actively participated in the electoral campaign through which Carlos Andrés Pérez sought a second presidency in the presidential elections of December 4, 1988. In the second government of Carlos Andrés Pérez he was a senator and President for Venezuela of the Presidential Commission for Colombian-Venezuelan Border Affairs. (COPAF) between 1989 and 1993.

The authorization of the National Congress to open a trial against Carlos Andrés Pérez unleashed a serious crisis, which was resolved by the decision of the great historical parties to elect Velásquez to conclude the constitutional period as President. The decision was made by common consensus between the factions in parliament that did not want Octavio Lepage, president of the congress at that time, as their successor.

As a historian he has left a lasting mark of his work printed in several works and numerous journalistic works. Among his most recognized works are The Fall of Yellow Liberalism and Imaginary Confidences of Juan Vicente Gómez . He was President of the National Academy of History and of the Foundation for the Rescue of the Venezuelan Documentary Heritage, as well as Coordinator of the Venezuelan Political Thought Collection of the Century XX, edited by the Congress of the Republic.

Interim government (1993-1994)

On June 5, 1993, Congress elected the then senator for the State of Táchira, Ramón J. Velásquez, as constitutional president to replace Carlos Andrés Pérez, recently suspended. His main contender, the then president of Congress and appointed interim president for 15 days, Octavio Lepage, generated dissension in Congress, which favored the appointment of Velásquez. The Democratic Action and COPEI parties decided to support Velásquez but not contribute their members to integrate the ministerial cabinet. Velásquez's provisional government was overshadowed by the so-called narco-pardon, a case in which the Private Secretary of the Presidency irregularly obtained the President's signature to release the well-known drug trafficker Larry Tovar Acuña.

Other events that occurred under his brief government include the bankruptcy of Banco Latino with the subsequent flight of foreign currency abroad and the Las Tejerías tragedy. Among his government measures was the implementation of the Value Added Tax, as part of the Enabling Law entrusted to him by the National Congress.

Books about the work of Velásquez

• Mijares, Augusto.; Malaver, Manuel.; Prieto Figueroa, Luis Beltrán.; et.al. (1987). Judgments on two works by Ramón J. Velásquez. Caracas: Centauro Editions. ISBN 978-980-263-083-7.
• Rincón Noriega, Fredy (1987). Ramon J. Velásquez, a Venezuelan who makes history. Caracas: Centauro/Avilarte Editions, ISBN 980-263-084-5
• Aveledo, Ramón Guillermo.; Müller Rojas, Alberto.; Caballero, Manuel.; et.al. (1988). Testimonies about the work of Ramón J. Velásquez. Caracas: Editions of the Congress of the Republic. ISBN 980-231-051-4.
• Consalvi, Simon Alberto. (1988). Ramón J. Velásquez: the story and his stories. Caracas: Editorial La Draga and El Dragón.
• Grases, Pedro; Brewer Carias, Allan; Polanco Alcantara, Tomás (2003). Febres, Laura, ed. Ramón J. Velásquez: Studies on a trajectory at the service of Venezuela. Caracas: Universidad Metropolitana - Universidad de los Andes. ISBN 980-366-273-2.
• Otálvora, Edgar C. (1994). The Ramonic Peace. Caracas: Editorial Pomaire. Second expanded and revised edition, in digital version (2011) ASIN B00507QJYE.
• Hernández Contreras, Luís. (2012). Doctor Velásquez: a story never told. San Cristobal: Proculta. ISBN 978-980-12-5756-1
• Banko, Catalina.; González Escorihuela, Ramón. (2016). Ramón J. Velásquez. Caracas: Biblioteca Biográfica Venezolana El Nacional. ISBN 978-980-388-754-4

In works of fiction

• In 1990, Venezuelan writer Laura Antillano published her novel Solitary Solidarity. Ramón J. Velásquez appears as one of the real-life characters with which Zulay, the fictional character who stares at the novel, meets. The work was the finalist of the Miguel Otero Silva Prize for the novel of 1990.
• In 1993, after his promotion to the Presidency of the Republic, Ramon J. Velásquez was included as one of the characters of the soap opera Through these streets, produced and diffused by the RCTV channel.
• In 2008, Venezuelan writer Francisco Suniaga published the novel Truman's passengerabout the political events of 1945 around the frustrated presidential candidacy of Diogenes Escalante. Ramón J. Velásquez is one of the central characters of the novel under the name of Roman Velandia.
• On July 1, 2011 the play was premiered in Caracas. Diogenes and flying shirts written by Javier Vidal, under the direction of Moses Guevara. The actor José Miguel Dao personified Ramón J. Velásquez in this reconstruction of the facts around Diógenes Escalante.