Democrática Party, and Betancourt became the
first president to complete his term of office, sur-
viving many assassination attempts. The demo-
cratic process was at last striking firm roots, with
peaceful transfers of presidential powers in subse-
quent elections. As far as land reform was con-
cerned, however, the drive had gone out of the
Acción Democrática, and the more conservative
Christian Democratic Party, with which it alter-
nated in power, blocked reform anyway. But in
both health care and education, Venezuela made
significant progress during the Betancourt years.
The man who made the biggest impact on
domestic politics was Carlos Andrés Pérez, who
became president in 1974 and nationalised the
iron and steel industry and the foreign-owned,
mainly US, oil companies. Venezuela was dis-
tancing itself from US economic and political
hegemony. Joining with Mexico, Colombia and
Panama in the ‘Contadora’ peace initiative to
bring peace to Nicaragua and the other Central
American states rent by guerrilla wars was another
attempt to organise Latin American affairs
without US intervention.
From the mid-1980s Venezuela faced grave
problems economically, with the fall in oil prices
and the burgeoning foreign debt. Carlos Andrés
Pérez returned as president after winning the
election in 1988, but his introduction of an aus-
terity programme in 1989 led to rioting in
Caracas that left 300 dead. He had won the elec-
tion on his promise to ease Venezuela’s debt
repayments. The oil-price rises of 1990 lightened
the burden, but as long as Latin American states
remained heavily dependent on the unpredictable
price fluctuations of one or two commodities,
while carrying large debts from earlier profligate
development plans, their economies would
remain precarious. The hardship caused by eco-
nomic reform and austerity programmes repeat-
edly threatened the democracies with social
unrest. The unequal distribution of wealth aggra-
vated the problem. Despite a spurt of growth
again in Venezuela in 1991, profits failed to
trickle down to the poor. Early in the following
year, Pérez’s popularity had sunk very low and
disaffected elements in the army, hit by declining
wages, attempted a coup. Pérez was attempting
to reform the democratic process shot through
with corruption. Narcotics became a major export
besides oil. In hard times the people became dis-
illusioned with their unprincipled democracy.
A small group of Venezuelans had filched the
benefits of the potential oil riches while 80 per
cent of the people remained poor. When oil
prices slumped again after 1997 and Venezuela’s
economy plunged into disarray, there was a
popular upsurge against the corrupt politicians
and institutions that had ruled Venezuela for forty
years under the guise of democracy. In the elec-
tions of December 1998 they turned to a pop-
ulist leader who promised revolutionary change.
Hugo Chàvez won a landslide victory and at first
was carried forward by a surge of unprecedented
popularity for his ‘promised revolution’. An ex-
military colonel, Chàvez sports a paratrooper’s red
beret on his campaigns. Folk hero to the poor,
his failed attempt at a military coup had landed
him in prison for two years in 1992. Now he was
the legitimate president. Venezuelan politics were
thrown into turmoil as he battled the established
political elites in Congress and the Supreme Court
with the introduction of a new constitution and
Assembly packed with his own supporters. In
April 2002 he was briefly overthrown by an army
coup but, with popular support, regained office.704 LATIN AMERICA AFTER 1945: PROBLEMS UNRESOLVED
Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina and Venezuela, 2000
Population GDP GDP GDP per head, Purchasing
(millions) (US$ 1,000 million) per head (US$) Power Parity (US$)Brazil 170.4 596.0 3,490 7,300
Uruguay 3.3 19.7 5,800 8,800
Argentina 37.0 285.0 7,700 12,000
Venezuela 24.2 121.0 4,980 5,700