Ramón José Velásquez Mujica (28 November 1916 – 24 June 2014) was a Venezuelan politician, historian, journalist, and lawyer. He served as the

president of Venezuela The president of Venezuela ( es, Presidente de Venezuela), officially known as the President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, Presidente de la República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is the head of state and head of government in Ven ...

between 1993 and 1994.

Background and personal life

Velásquez was born in

Táchira Táchira State ( es, Estado Táchira, ) is one of the 24 states of Venezuela. The state capital is San Cristóbal. Táchira State covers a total surface area of and as of the 2011 census, had a population of 1,168,908. At the end of the 19t ...

in November 1916. His parents were Ramon Velasquez Ordoñez, a journalist and proofreader for a newspaper and educator Regina Mujica. For his initial studies he was home schooled by his parents in his hometown. He completed his primary education in San Cristóbal Simón Bolívar. In 1935 he traveled to Caracas to finish high school at the Liceo Andres Bello. Velasquez undertook his higher education at the Central University of Venezuela, from which he received a PhD in social and political sciences in 1942 and a law degree in 1943.

Writer

Velásquez became a reporter for ''

Últimas Noticias ''Últimas Noticias'' is a daily newspaper in Venezuela, currently British-owned and characterized by ''The Guardian'' as a "pro-Maduro tabloid". ''Últimas Noticias'' was founded in Caracas on 16 September 1941 after the pro-freedom measures i ...

'' in 1941. Velásquez was the president of '' El Nacional'' on two occasions (1964-1968/1979-1981). He authored numerous books on Venezuela's political history, being generally considered in his lifetime as Venezuela's foremost historian. He was President of the National Academy of History.

Statesman

During the dictatorship of

Marcos Pérez Jiménez Marcos Evangelista Pérez Jiménez (25 April 1914 – 20 September 2001) was a Venezuelan military and general officer of the Army of Venezuela and the dictator of Venezuela from 1950 to 1958, ruling as member of the military junta from 19 ...

, Velásquez was jailed for a year for his role at the compilation of the ''Libro negro de la dictadura'' (Black book of dictatorship). The files of this book helped expose the crimes of the dictatorial period. In 1958, as Venezuela transitioned to democracy, Velásquez was

elected Elected may refer to: * "Elected" (song), by Alice Cooper, 1973 * ''Elected'' (EP), by Ayreon, 2008 *The Elected, an American indie rock band See also *Election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population ...

to the

Venezuelan Senate The Senate of Venezuela was the upper house of Venezuela's legislature under its 1961 constitution. Under the 1999 constitution, the bicameral system was replaced by the unicameral National Assembly of Venezuela. However, since 1999 the former cham ...

for the state of Tachira, and later to the

Venezuelan Chamber of Deputies The Chamber of Deputies () was the lower house of Venezuela's legislative under its 1961 constitution; the Venezuelan Senate was the upper house. Under the 1999 constitution, the bicameral system was replaced by the unicameral National Assembly o ...

for the state of Miranda. CIDOB
Ramón José Velásquez Mújica
/ref> Bogota08NOV91COPAF

He served as Secretary General (Chief of Staff) of the Presidency during the government of

Rómulo Betancourt Rómulo Ernesto Betancourt Bello (22 February 1908 – 28 September 1981; ), known as "The Father of Venezuelan Democracy", was the president of Venezuela, serving from 1945 to 1948 and again from 1959 to 1964, as well as leader of Acción De ...

. After that, he was part of the National Congress. During

Rafael Caldera Rafael Antonio Caldera Rodríguez ( (); 24 January 1916 – 24 December 2009), twice elected the president of Venezuela, served for two five-year terms (1969–1974 and 1994–1999), becoming the longest serving democratically elected leade ...

's Presidential administration, Velásquez served as Minister of Communications from 1969 until 1971. From 1984 to 1987 he was President of the

Comisión para la Reforma del Estado The Comisión para la Reforma del Estado (COPRE – ''Commission for the Reform of the State'') was a Presidential Commission created in 1984 by President Jaime Lusinchi to examine the reform of the Venezuelan state and political system. The 35-memb ...

(COPRE), the Commission on the Reform of the State. Between 1989 and 1993, he chaired the "Comisión Presidencial para Asuntos Fronterizos con Colombia", Presidential Commission for border issues with Colombia (COPAF). At the time of his death, he was a board member of the New York-based

Human Rights Foundation The Human Rights Foundation (HRF) is a non-profit organization that focuses on promoting and protecting human rights globally, with an emphasis on closed societies. HRF organizes the Oslo Freedom Forum. The Human Rights Foundation was founded i ...

President

In 1993, as a result of the crisis produced by the impeachment of President Carlos Andrés Pérez, Congress appointed Velásquez President of the Republic, finishing the constitutional period in 1994. He served from 5 June 1993 to 2 February 1994. As a highly respected national figure there was general consensus around his name for such a task. In August Velásquez held an emergency meeting to respond to the

tropical storm Bret The name Bret has been used for seven tropical cyclones in the Atlantic Ocean. * Tropical Storm Bret (1981), made landfall in southern Maryland, no real damage * Tropical Storm Bret (1987), short-lived storm, remained in the eastern Atlantic Ocean ...

's heavy damage that leaves at least 70 dead. About 1,400 workers and volunteers helped in rescue efforts after the mudslides struck Caracas and surrounding areas, assisted by

Red Cross The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million Volunteering, volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure re ...

volunteers and 800 firefighters. Storm victims were temporarily housed at the Fuerte Tiuna army base. Roads were quickly cleared of debris and mud, although many were not reopened initially due to the threat for additional mudslides. The government was overshadowed by the so-called '' narcoindulto '' to trafficker

Larry Tovar Acuña Larry is a masculine given name in English, derived from Lawrence (given name), Lawrence or Laurence. It can be a shortened form of those names. Larry may refer to the following: People Arts and entertainment *Larry D. Alexander, American arti ...

, in this case the Private Secretariat of the Presidency obtained irregularly signed by the President for the release to a known drug dealer. Other events under his brief government include the bankruptcy of

Banco Latino Banco Latino was a Venezuelan bank based in Caracas, and at the time of its 1994 failure was the country's second largest.''The New York Times'', 16 May 1994Failure of High-Flying Banks Shakes Venezuelan Economy/ref> It had a good relationship wit ...

with subsequent leakage of foreign currency abroad and tragedy of Tejerías. Among his governmental measures was the introduction of

Value Added Tax A value-added tax (VAT), known in some countries as a goods and services tax (GST), is a type of tax that is assessed incrementally. It is levied on the price of a product or service at each stage of production, distribution, or sale to the end ...

as part of the Enabling Act entrusted to the National Congress.

Velásquez's cabinet (1993–1994)

Personal life and death

In 1948, Ramón José Velásquez married Ligia Betancourt Mariño (1920 – 14 July 2008) who served as

First Lady of Venezuela First Lady of Venezuela (Spanish: ''Primera Dama de Venezuela'') is the unofficial title traditionally held by the wife of the president of Venezuela. The current office of the first lady is disputed. List of first ladies Non-spouse first ladi ...

from 1993 to 1994. On 24 June 2014 Velásquez died at the age of 97 from

natural causes In many legal jurisdictions, the manner of death is a determination, typically made by the coroner, medical examiner, police, or similar officials, and recorded as a vital statistic. Within the United States and the United Kingdom, a distinct ...

. He died 5 weeks after former President

Jaime Lusinchi Jaime Ramón Lusinchi (27 May 1924 – 21 May 2014) was a Venezuelan politician who was the president of Venezuela from 1984 to 1989. His term was characterized by an economic crisis, growth of the external debt, populist policies, currency dep ...

did on 21 May 2014. File:Ligia betancourt nov 2004.jpg, Ligia Betancourt Mariño

Honours

Maria Moors Cabot prize The Maria Moors Cabot Prizes are the oldest international awards in the field of journalism. They are presented each fall by the Trustees of Columbia University to journalists in the Western hemisphere who are viewed as having made a significant co ...

(1967) * Member of the National Academy of History of Venezuela (1968) * National Prize for Literature (1973), prose category, for ''La caída del liberalismo amarillo'' * Premio Nacional de Historia of Consejo Nacional de la Cultura (CONAC), 1980 * Premio Nacional de Humanidades of CONAC, 1998 * Member of the

Academia Venezolana de la Lengua The Academia Venezolana de la Lengua (Spanish for ''Venezuelan Academy of Language'') is an association of academics and experts on Venezuelan Spanish, the variant of the Spanish language in Venezuela. It was founded in Caracas on July 26, 1883. I ...

, 2002

D. Ramón J. Velásquez
/ref> * Honorary doctorates from the

University of the Andes (Venezuela) The University of the Andes (Spanish: ''Universidad de Los Andes'', ULA) is the second-oldest university in Venezuela, whose main campus is located in the city of Mérida, Venezuela. ULA is the largest public university in the Venezuelan Andes, ...

University of Carabobo The University of Carabobo (Spanish: ''Universidad de Carabobo'') is an autonomous, public university of Venezuela located in Valencia, Venezuela. It offers graduate and postgraduate studies in different areas. The university offers a lot of gre ...

, Rafael Urdaneta University (URU) and the National Experimental University of Táchira (UNET).

Books

*''Coro. Raíz de Venezuela'' (1962) *''San Cristóbal. Donde la Patria empieza'' (1972) *''La caída del Liberalismo Amarillo. Tiempo y drama de Antonio Paredes'' (1972) *''Aspectos de la evolución política de Venezuela en el siglo XX'' (1976) *''Confidencias Imaginarias de Juan Vicente Gómez'' (1978) *''Individuos de Número'' (1981) *''Los héroes y la Historia'' (1981) *''Los pasos de los héroes'' (1988) *''Con segunda intención. Reportajes en tiempos de dictadura 1951-1955'' (1990) *''Memorias de Venezuela'' (1990) *''Los alemanes en el Táchira'' (1993) *''Joaquín Crespo'' (2005) *''Memorias del Siglo XX'' (2005) *''Caudillos, historiadores y pueblo'' (2013)

References

External links

Biography by CIDOB Foundation

"La Paz Ramónica" (Velasquez´s government)
by Edgar C. Otálvora *. (Velasquez's biography by Edgar C. Otálvora)
El siglo de Ramón Jota - Lo afirmativo venezolano
{{DEFAULTSORT:Velasquez, Ramon Jose Presidents of Venezuela Venezuelan male writers 20th-century Venezuelan historians Venezuelan journalists 20th-century Venezuelan lawyers Members of the Senate of Venezuela Venezuelan people of Spanish descent Venezuelan people of Basque descent Central University of Venezuela alumni Central University of Venezuela faculty People from Táchira 1916 births 2014 deaths Government ministers of Venezuela Democratic Action (Venezuela) politicians Members of the Venezuelan Academy of Language Maria Moors Cabot Prize winners Prisoners and detainees of Venezuela