Luis Beltrán Prieto Figueroa (14 March 1902 – 22 April 1993), was a Venezuelan politician. A founder of Democratic Action and Minister of Education in its first government (1947–1948), he was a leader of Democratic Action after the restoration of democracy in 1958. He split from Democratic Action in 1967 when it tried to prevent his victory in district-level

primary election Primary elections, or direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the ...

s for the 1968 presidential race translating into Prieto Figueroa winning the nomination. He and a substantial group of supporters split from AD and founded the

People's Electoral Movement The People's Electoral Movement (''Movimiento Electoral del Pueblo'', MEP) is a left-wing political party in Venezuela, founded in 1967 by Luis Beltrán Prieto Figueroa. The MEP was founded after Prieto Figueroa won the 1967 Acción Democráti ...

, which he led until his death.

Career

After completing a doctorate in political and social sciences at the

Central University of Venezuela The Central University of Venezuela (Spanish: ''Universidad Central de Venezuela''; UCV) is a public university of Venezuela located in Caracas. It is widely held to be the highest ranking institution in the country, and it also ranks 18th in ...

(1934),Biography at Venezuelatuya.com
/ref> he became engaged in politics, and was a senator from 1936 to 1941. He was a founding member of party

Acción Democrática Democratic Action ( es, Acción Democrática, AD) is a Venezuelan social democratic and centre-left political party established in 1941. The party played an important role in the early years of Venezuelan democracy, leading the government durin ...

(AD, Democratic Action), and Minister of Education under

Rómulo Gallegos Rómulo Ángel del Monte Carmelo Gallegos Freire (2 August 1884 – 5 April 1969) was a Venezuelan novelist and politician. For a period of nine months during 1948, he governed as the first freely elected president in Venezuela's history. He was ...

(1947-8). After the 1948 coup he went into exile, working for

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international coope ...

in Costa Rica and Honduras (1951-8), after a professorship at the

University of Havana The University of Havana or (UH, ''Universidad de La Habana'') is a university located in the Vedado district of Havana, the capital of the Republic of Cuba. Founded on January 5, 1728, the university is the oldest in Cuba, and one of the firs ...

(1950-1). Returning from exile after the end of 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 1 ...

in 1958, he was again elected senator (1959–1969). During this time he was Secretary General of AD (1958-9), President of 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 ...

from 1962 to 1967, and President of AD (1963–67). In 1967 Prieto Figueroa campaigned to be the party's presidential candidate for the

1968 Venezuelan presidential election General elections were held in Venezuela on 1 December 1968.Dieter Nohlen (2005) ''Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume II'', p555 The presidential election was won by Rafael Caldera of Copei, who received 29.1% of the vote. ''Acci� ...

; a Democratic Action convention was to be held in September 1967 which would choose the candidate. Previous practice had been for convention members to be chosen by a process where local party committees chose representatives for state conventions, and these chose state representatives for the national convention.Powell, John Duncan (1971),
Political mobilization of the Venezuelan peasant
', Harvard University Press. p206-7 However in spring 1967 the party decided to hold

s at local level, with district representatives to district conventions elected by the mass membership instead of party committees. The Rómulo Betancourt faction supported Gonzalo Barrios, considering Prieto too far left.David L. Swanson, Paolo Mancini (1996), ''Politics, media, and modern democracy: an international study of innovations in electoral campaigning and their consequences'', Greenwood Publishing Group. p244 Prieto Figueroa split from AD over the affair along with a substantial number of his supporters, founding the

. As its candidate in the 1968 election he gained nearly 20% of the vote, coming fourth in a close election ( COPEI's Rafael Caldera won with 29%). However Prieto's subsequent electoral run, in the

1978 Venezuelan presidential election General elections were held in Venezuela on 3 December 1978.Dieter Nohlen (2005) ''Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume II'', p555 The presidential elections were won by Luis Herrera Campins of Copei – Social Christian Party of Ven ...

(the party endorsed Jesús Ángel Paz Galarraga in 1973), achieved only just over 1%.

Books

* ''Las ideas no se degüellan'' (1980) * ''Pido la palabra'' (1982) * ''Mi hermana María Secundina y otras escrituras'' (1984)

References

External links

Biography at Venezuelatuya.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Prieto Figueroa, Luis Beltran People from La Asunción Members of the Senate of Venezuela Venezuelan educators Venezuelan schoolteachers Central University of Venezuela alumni Presidents of the Senate of Venezuela 1902 births 1993 deaths Democratic Action (Venezuela) politicians People's Electoral Movement (Venezuela) politicians