Raul Leoni

Raúl Leoni Otero (El Manteco, Bolívar state, Venezuela, April 26, 1905 - New York, United States, July 5, 1972) was a Venezuelan lawyer and politician. He was president of Venezuela between 1964 and 1969.

In 1928 he was one of the most important university leaders of the Generation of '28, the first mass movement to oppose the dictatorship of Juan Vicente Gómez. This fact led him to be exiled from the country. Some time later he returned to Venezuela under the government of Eleazar López Contreras, but he also expelled him from the country for being a leader of the Venezuelan political left.

In 1941 he returned to Venezuela again. That year he founded, along with other leftist leaders, the Acción Democrática party. In 1945, after the October Revolution, he was appointed a member of the Revolutionary Government Junta, a civic-military junta that would govern the country for the next three years. In that same period he served as Venezuela's Minister of Labor until the end of the government of Rómulo Gallegos at the end of 1948. That year a Military Junta took power, for which Leoni was imprisoned for 8 months, until he was later expelled from the country..

He returned to Venezuela once the dictatorship of Marcos Pérez Jiménez was overthrown. Between 1959 and 1963 he presided over the Senate and the National Congress. That last year he is also postulated as a candidate for the Presidency of the Republic. On December 1, 1963, he was elected president with more than 32% of the vote. On March 11, 1964, he took office from Rómulo Betancourt.

Biography

Youth

Raúl Leoni Otero was born on April 26, 1905 in the town of El Manteco, Bolívar state. He lived his first years in El Manteco. He is the son of a father originally from Corsica, Clemente Leoni, and a Venezuelan mother, Carmen Otero Fernández. He had two brothers: Clemente who was the eldest and Tancredo who was the youngest.

He completed his primary studies between Upata and Ciudad Bolívar. In 1919 he and his family moved to Caracas, in that city he completed his high school at the Liceo Caracas (current Liceo Andrés Bello). At the age of 16, he was imprisoned with more than eighty other students for participating in a public demonstration in solidarity with some tram drivers. The Gomez police took them to La Rotunda Prison.

He entered to study at the Faculty of Law of the Central University of Venezuela but was unable to finish his studies.

Political career

Raúl Leoni in 1935.

In 1929, committed to the expedition that Román Delgado Chalbaud was preparing to the Venezuelan coasts to overthrow the government of Juan Vicente Gómez, he decided to move to Santo Domingo along with other exile companions, but because his boat La Gisela was shipwrecked, unable to join the armed adventure. He stayed in the Dominican Republic for a year, and then returned with his family to Barranquilla.

In 1931, together with Rómulo Betancourt, he founded the Left Revolutionary Group (ARDI), a left-wing party, although it was not anti-communist either. It is in those years when Leoni and Betancourt find many similarities in their political thought and it is also when a closer friendship between the two young people begins, which would be affirmed with the signing of the Plan de Barranquilla, a government program to be followed once the dictatorship is overthrown. of Gomez.

In 1936 Leoni returned to Venezuela and was elected deputy to the Congress of the Republic for the Bolívar state, he also joined the creation of the Venezuelan Organization Movement (ORVE), a left-wing party. On March 13, 1937, the acting president, Eleazar López Contreras, decreed the expulsion of Leoni and that of 46 other political leaders, after having published a Red Book that tried to demonstrate the links between expatriate students with communism and the extreme left. Due to this event, his representation in the Federal Act before Congress was annulled.

He was exiled to Mexico and then to Panama. In 1938 he returned to Colombia, there he resumed his law studies at the Externado de Colombia University, which recognized his Venezuelan studies without demanding any type of certificate or revalidation, he obtained the title of Lawyer in Bogotá on December 8 of that year.

In June 1939 he returned to Venezuela to join the clandestine organization of the National Democratic Party (PDN). In 1941 he participated as a founding member of Acción Democrática, a party that inherited the ideology of the PDN.

Members of the Revolutionary Board of Government in 1945. From left to right: Mario Ricardo Vargas, Raúl Leoni, Valmore Rodríguez, Rómulo Betancourt, Carlos Delgado Chalbaud, Edmundo Fernández and Gonzalo Barrios.

As a result of the civic-military coup d'état of 1945, the government of President Isaías Medina Angarita was overthrown by soldiers from the military high command and sympathizers of AD, for which reason a Revolutionary Government Junta was convened, chaired by Rómulo Betancourt, and which would include as members: representatives of the Armed Forces and leaders of Acción Democrática. Leoni was appointed as a member of the board and was also appointed Minister of Labor, a position in which he was ratified during the government of Rómulo Gallegos.

On November 24, 1948, a coup managed to depose President Gallegos from office. After having ignored the new government, Leoni tried in vain to promote a new provisional government with other well-known politicians from the Gallegos cabinet, which would be constituted in Maracay. But the military forces of Carlos Delgado Chalbaud imprisoned him for 8 months in the Caracas Model Prison.

After serving his arrest, on April 19, 1949, he was expelled from the country for the third time. He left for Havana, then went to New York and finally stayed in Washington DC for almost two years. There he married on August 20 of that same year with Carmen América Fernández, known as Doña Menca de Leoni.

Then he moved to Costa Rica. In 1954 he traveled to Bolivia as a delegate of the International Labor Office. In 1956 he moved to Peru, but President Manuel Odría ordered his expulsion from the country, for which he was deported to Costa Rica.

On January 23, 1958, President General Marcos Pérez Jiménez was overthrown in Caracas, so Leoni returned to Venezuela on the 25th of the same month. He is appointed first vice president of Acción Democrática and is elected senator of the Republic for the state of Bolívar on December 7 of that year. That same day Leoni is designated president of AD.

In 1959, he was appointed president of the Senate and the National Congress. He presided over the Legislative Branch until 1963, when he ran for the Presidency of the Republic that same year.

Presidential campaign

After having won the internal elections of Acción Democrática in July 1963 to be that organization's candidate for the Presidency of Venezuela, Raúl Leoni undertook his electoral campaign amid many campaign divisions within his party. President Rómulo Betancourt did not intervene in the electoral campaign, and it was rumored that he did not like Leoni's presidential candidacy. However, it is most likely that his absence in the pre-election contest was due to the fact that Betancourt wanted to get rid of accusations of succession imposition.

One of the most important promises during his campaign was to set up a flexible government with a broad doctrinal base, without partisanship or political sectarianism. But that in turn, would not hesitate before the terrorist attacks of the communist guerrillas financed by the dictatorship of Fidel Castro.

Presidency (1964-1969)

On March 11, 1964, he was sworn in before the National Congress to serve as Constitutional President of the Republic for the period 1964-1969. He was elected after a difficult electoral campaign. His Democratic Action party had been weakened by suffering 2 divisions: the one that gave rise to the Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionaria (MIR) and the one that became the Opposition Democratic Action, later called the Nationalist Revolutionary Party. It was the time of the armed insurrection against the government, sponsored by sectors of the extremist left who preached abstention in the 1963 elections and threatened voters with reprisals; but the elections, held on December 1, 1963, passed normally. Leoni was elected by 957,574 votes, 32% of the valid votes. In his inaugural speech, he ratified the offer that had been the reason for his campaign: a government of national understanding, democratic breadth and political balance. With this motto, he constituted, on November 5, 1964, 8 months after his inauguration, the so-called "Broad Base" government, formed by the coalition of the Acción Democrática, Unión Republicana Democrática (URD) and National Front parties. Democratic (FND); This pact did not have a satisfactory result, since in March 1966 the FND, Arturo Uslar Pietri's party, withdrew from the government and in April 1968, the URD party, led by Jóvito Villalba.

Political aspects

Leoni exercised a government open to all partisan democratic forces, his mandate quickly obtained the support of the URD, the FND led by Uslar Pietri and other independents. While COPEI definitively broke with the Puntofijo Pact and became part of the opposition to Leoni. His presidential term is considered a stage of harmony and national understanding, however, he was also considered violent due to the fight against guerrilla movements that sought to destabilize the country.

On the other hand, the disabled parties of the extreme left that were involved in the Armed Forces of National Liberation (FALN) against the constituted governments, such as the Communist Party of Venezuela (PCV) and the Movement of the Revolutionary Left (MIR) They kept up their paramilitary fight. On May 10, 1967, 4 Cuban and 8 Venezuelan guerrillas landed on the beaches of Machurucuto, Miranda State, with the aim of contacting the FALN to overthrow the democratic government of Raúl Leoni. The guerrillas were discovered almost immediately, and suffered heavy casualties to the National Guard. The incident was presented to the OAS as an example of Fidel Castro's attempts to export the Cuban revolution to the rest of Latin America. This guerrilla destabilization campaign against the Leoni government also generated outbreaks of violence, which caused casualties and injuries. President Leoni at the end of his term in an interview said about it:

I do not deny even that, in the implementation of collective defence measures, some authority, and on a very well-known occasion, has incurred excessive zeal during the accomplishment of tasks entrusted to it. Capturing an armed individual with a history of dangerous murder is not the same as stopping any citizen. But that excess, I am sure of it, can never have come to the attack on the physical integrity of detainees in the form of torture, much less the shooting. I am reluctant to believe that such acts may have occurred during my government and, in the event that they have occurred, nothing can prevent the reparative action of the courts of justice.

President Raúl Leoni also had to face the withdrawal of a large part of the great leaders of his party, such as Luis Beltrán Pietro Figueroa and other important AD intellectuals, due to the struggle that existed within the social democratic ranks to dispute the presidential candidacy of 1968. Thus, many of the existing political parties, including Acción Democrática, suffered splits that formed new parties. On the other hand, the clandestine PCV decided to form a new party, while the MIR called for abstention for the 1968 elections.

Regarding international relations, the government decided to maintain the policy proposed by the Betancourt Doctrine, of non-recognition of illegitimate or dictatorial governments, and to strengthen cooperation between Latin American countries governed by democratic regimes.

Economic aspects

Regarding the economic aspects of the government of Raúl Leoni, the same policy of the Betancourt presidency was followed. It can be said that the greatest success of Leoni's presidency was the one he had in rebuilding the country's economy. The Leoni government used the Pentagon of Action project suggested by Juan Pablo Pérez Alfonzo to promote favorable changes within the oil industry. Among them, a greater influence of the Venezuelan State on oil affairs, the non-granting of more concessions to transnational companies that exploit crude oil and the strengthening of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), as well as the Venezuelan Petroleum Corporation (CVP).

Thanks to transnational companies, the country's oil production reached 3.6 million barrels of daily export, with oil having a world price that did not exceed $1.35 per barrel. The growth of the oil sector in the period was 2.2% year-on-year, while the non-oil sector grew by an average of 6.5%. Leoni's government promoted the investment of foreign and national capital in the country.

The steel and agro-industrial industries also strengthened, with both industries enjoying year-on-year growth of 7.5% and 6.2%, respectively. The foundations were laid to begin to diversify national production, increasing the production of rice by 107%, corn by 39.5%, sesame seeds by 134%, and sugar cane by 36.6%. Other products such as cotton, banana, tomato and potato increased their production between 40% and 50%. By the end of Leoni's term, 85% of food consumption was produced in Venezuela, only 15% of the total supply was imported.

The manufacturing industry had an average year-over-year growth of 7.5%. The employment rate of Venezuelans increased, so unemployment fell dramatically during this period. The unemployment rate dropped from 14.2% in 1962 to 6.4% in 1968.

In turn, the national economy had an annual growth of 6.5%. The bolivar remained stable throughout the period, with annual inflation standing at barely 1.4%, while accumulated inflation for the five-year period 1964-1969 was 7%. Given the strength of the bolivar during the Leoni period, in 1966 the International Monetary Fund recognized the bolivar as an international reserve and payment currency, and even authorized countries like Chile and Spain to use it as hard currency. Leoni also reduced public spending and increased the nation's international reserves.

The Confederation of Venezuelan Workers (CTV), the largest trade union center in the country, was strengthened, the Banco de los Trabajadores was created, and a minimum wage rate was set for the first time. In 1966 Venezuela joined the Latin American Free Trade Association (ALALC) and the precursor act of the Andean Community of Nations (CAN) was signed.

In 1967, a new Income Tax Law was approved, which increased the benefits of the Venezuelan State up to 70% from the income of oil companies, likewise the historical repair of payments for evasion between the years 1951 and 1965, which meant an additional income of 164 million bolivars.

A tax reform was also put into discussion to increase taxes on the middle and upper classes. However, said attempt was blocked by the economic sectors represented in Fedecámaras.

Government works

Raúl Leoni oversees the construction of buildings in Caricuao in 1966.

Leoni carried out important infrastructure projects, specifically in the development of Guayana's basic industries, including the hydroelectric and iron and steel industry, work that is still ongoing. The main works that were built in this field were: the first stage of the Guri Dam and the expansion of the thermal power plants of La Cabrera, Las Morochas, La Fría and Punto Fijo. Transmission systems, interconnection systems and diesel units were also inaugurated throughout the country.

The first aluminum plant in Guayana, Alcasa, was put into production. The Morón petrochemical plant was expanded and construction began on the El Tablazo petrochemical plant.

2,569 km of roads were built, 1,424 km were reconstructed, 3,298 km were paved, 3,032 km were repaved, and 1,959 km were improved. The national road network went from 28,198 km in length in 1963 to 37,511 km in 1968.

Among the road infrastructure works, the following stand out: the José Antonio Páez International Bridge. The Valencia-Puerto Cabello state highway and the Coche-Tejerías interstate. Urban highways: Avenida Libertador, Maracaibo-San Francisco, El Valle-Coche, Barcelona-Puerto La Cruz-Guanta, the La Araña Distributor and its branch to Coche. The highways: Ciudad Bolívar-Ciudad Piar and Barinas-La Pedrera and the road branches: San Fernando de Apure-Achaguas, Upata-El Manteco, El Clavo-El Guapo and Guanta-Cumana-Altos de Santa Fe, among several other highways, highways and urban roads.

President Raúl Leoni at the Federal Legislative Palace, shortly before handing over power to his successor, Rafael Caldera (11 March 1969).

929 buildings with 6,512 classrooms were built to house 293,000 elementary and middle school students, and an average of 241,000 children were served daily in school canteens. School enrollment went from 1,603,700 students in 1963 to 2,082,900 in 1968. Despite the efforts made by the Betancourt and Leoni governments in 1968, there was still a deficit of 10,632 classrooms corresponding to schools that functioned at home of room, in addition it was desired to eliminate the double shift and this would increase the deficit in 7,261 classrooms.

During the period, 153,478 homes were built.

During the period, 1,183 water supply systems were built for towns with fewer than 5,000 inhabitants. 665 thousand people were benefited but with the capacity to serve 1.4 million, 2.19 million inhabitants were served by the rural aqueduct system. 67 sewage systems were built for the benefit of 62,579 inhabitants in towns of less than 5,000 inhabitants. Urban aqueduct works were built or finished in almost all the cities of the country.

4,277 beds were put into operation in general and special hospitals. The following care centers were put into operation: Maturín, Acarigua-Araure, Cabimas, Puerto Cabello, San Felipe, El Tigre, Cantaura-Anaco, Cumaná, Carúpano, and the following were expanded: Maracaibo University Hospital, Barcelona, Maracay, Valencia, San Cristóbal, Valera, Ciudad Bolívar, Villa de Cura, Río Caribe, Cumanacoa, Tovar, Colón, Upata, Caicara del Orinoco, Quibor, Tucupita, El Vigía and Caja Vieja. With this, the infant mortality rate was reduced. The Children's Foundation, the Institute of Culture and Fine Arts (INCIBA) and the Rómulo Gallegos Prize were created.

Ministerial Cabinet

The incoming president, Rafael Caldera, together with Leoni, outgoing president, and Ramón J. Velásquez, during a gala dinner offered to the Leoni family in La Casona on March 25, 1969.

Last years

Bustos by Raúl Leoni and his wife Carmen América Fernández (Menca de Leoni) at the Botanical Garden of Bolivar City.

On December 1, 1968, the new presidential elections were held, in which Acción Democrática candidate, Gonzalo Barrios, lost by barely 28,000 votes. Faced with the intrigues that suggested the possibility that AD carried out electoral fraud, Leoni maintained that he would hand over power even if the difference "was not a single vote."

The winner of the elections was Rafael Caldera, leader of the main opposition party, COPEI. This marked an unprecedented event in contemporary Venezuelan history, since for the first time in a civic and democratic manner there was a succession of opposing parties to power. On March 11, 1969, Raúl Leoni handed over the presidential band to Caldera.

After his term, Raúl Leoni moved away from Venezuelan politics. On July 5, 1972, he died at the age of 67 in New York City, at New York University Cornell Medical Center, where he was recovering for medical treatment after suffering a hemorrhage. His remains were repatriated to Venezuela, and veiled at the Casa de Acción Democrática in El Paraíso, Caracas. The Venezuelan Government decreed national public mourning for three days, and all honors, both civil and military, were rendered to him in his capacity as former President of the Republic.

Personal life

Leoni was a Freemason in the 33rd degree.