A History of the World From the 20th to the 21st Century

(Jacob Rumans) #1
2003 with his vision of Brazil leaping into the
developed world of prosperity, justice and equal-
ity and providing every Brazilian with three
square meals a day.
For the present, Antonio Palocci, his minister
of finance followed a prudent course. But should
Lula’s efforts fail to bring the results his support-
ers aspire to and the mood threatens to turn
against his policies, will the radical reappear?

Venezuela

Venezuela is able to generate a large proportion
of its wealth not from manufacture but by extract-
ing oil from among the most productive oilfields
in the world. Oil contributed 90 per cent of its
export earnings in the 1980s and nearly a third
of its gross national product. Agriculture plays
only a small role in the economy. In the 1960s it
overtook Argentina as the wealthiest country in
Latin America. In 1987 its population of 18.3
million was estimated to have a gross per-capita
income of US$3,230. The two oil-price explo-
sions in 1973–4 and 1979–80 brought enormous
new wealth and enabled it to diversify industrially
into petrochemicals, iron, steel, paper, and the
aluminium industry. Western bankers fell over
themselves to provide credit. Caracas acquired the
skyscrapers of a twentieth-century city. And yet
by the close of the 1980s Venezuela too was beset
by the severe problems common to the rest of the
continent. Oil prices stagnated and fell back, and
Venezuela was unable to meet the scheduled pay-
ments to service its large debt. Its economy was
over-extended. The bonanza of ‘black gold’ did
not benefit everybody.
Caracas in the 1990s was surrounded by some
of the worst slum townships in Latin America, and
there was a high birth rate among the poor.
Despite the best system of roads in Latin America,
the countryside was cut off and the number of
Venezuelans making their living from it dropped
rapidly from 40 per cent in 1950 to 18 per cent in


  1. The peasantry, largely landless, survived in
    conditions not much better than servitude; three-
    quarters of the land was held in large estates,
    despite land reforms introduced in the 1960s.


Although from the 1920s until the Second World
War, Venezuela was the largest oil exporter, and in
the early 1990s still ranked among the top pro-
ducers, comparative wealth and economic devel-
opment did not go hand in hand with enlightened
politics and social policies.
Until 1958, Venezuela was renowned for being
a country under the control of military caudillos.
By shrewd manipulation a prosperous cattle
raiser and coffee grower Juan Vicente Gómez
had managed to make himself one of Latin
America’s longest-surviving dictators, remaining
in office from the time he seized power in 1908
until his death in 1935. This was a remarkable
effort, accompanied by corruption and self-
aggrandisement. By the time of his death Gómez
had acquired land equivalent in extent to Denmark
and the Netherlands put together. However,
Venezuela’s development, based on the oil indus-
try, allowed a new professional and middle class
to emerge, who were excluded from power by
the landed elite and the military. They turned for
support to the peasant masses and formed the
Acción Democrática Party under the leadership of
Rómulo Betancourt. In 1945, with the appearance
of democratic government very much the fashion,
Betancourt and his Acción Democrática seized
power with the help of disgruntled members of the
military. Reforms were attempted – land reform for
the peasantry and an extension of the franchise
in the constitution of 1947. Elections followed.
But the military and landed elites threw out the
newly elected president Rómulo Gallegos in
November 1948 and for ten years Venezuela was
ruled by the military. Under Pérez Jiménez
(1953–8) the opposition was suppressed. ‘Stability’
suited the foreign, especially US, oil interests in
Venezuela, and foreign technocrats developed the
industry under Jiménez’s benevolent eye.
In 1958 Jimenez and his corrupt government
were overthrown in a military coup which for
once had popular support, and Betancourt
returned from exile. Vice-President Nixon arrived
in Caracas on a Latin American goodwill mission
to a rough reception from a stone-throwing
crowd which identified the US as the principal
supporter of the former dictator Jiménez. The
elections held in 1959 were won by the Acción

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THE WORLD OF LATIN AMERICA 703
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