Carlos Ramírez MacGregor (3 March 1903 in

Maracaibo Maracaibo ( , ; ) is a city and municipality in northwestern Venezuela, on the western shore of the strait that connects Lake Maracaibo to the Gulf of Venezuela. It is the largest city in Venezuela and is List of cities in Venezuela by population ...

, Zulia state – 15 March 1975 in

Caracas Caracas ( , ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas (CCS), is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the northern p ...

) was a Venezuelan lawyer, politician, newspaperman, and diplomat. He obtained a doctorate in law at the University of Madrid, Spain. When he returned to his country, Venezuela was still being ruled by the dictator

Juan Vicente Gómez Juan Vicente Gómez Chacón (24 July 1857 – 17 December 1935) was a Venezuelan military general, politician and '' de facto'' ruler of Venezuela from 1908 until his death in 1935. He only officially served as president on three occasions d ...

. When Gomez died, he was named labor inspector for Zulia state, center of the oil industry, by the government of

Eleazar López Contreras José Eleazar López Contreras (5 May 1883 – 2 January 1973) was the president of Venezuela between 1935 and 1941. He was an army general and one of Juan Vicente Gómez's collaborators, serving as his War Minister from 1931. In 1939, Contr ...

. As such, he prepared a report on working conditions that was influential in the substantial betterment of workers' living conditions by the government and the oil companies. He was congressman seven times spanning a period of over three decades. During his first nomination to Congress, he distinguished himself by defending the economic interests of his state at the time when imports from the USA were restricted because of World War II. Together with politicians such as Alfredo Tarre Murzi and

Arturo Uslar Pietri Arturo Uslar Pietri (16 May 1906 in Caracas – 26 February 2001) was a Venezuelan intellectual, historian, writer, television producer, and politician. Life Born on 16 May 1906 in Caracas, Venezuela, his parents were generalSantos Himiob ( ...

, he was one of the founders of the Venezuelan Democratic Party (''Partido Democratico Venezolano'', PDV), created to support the administration of president Isaias Medina Angarita. When this government was overthrown in the Revolution of October 1945, Ramírez MacGregor was briefly jailed by the junta, formed by Accion Democratica party (AD) and military officers, that ruled the country until 1948. In 1949, Ramírez MacGregor became director of the Maracaibo daily ''Panorama'', a position he held until 1965. He was honored in 1953 with the

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 c ...

for Latin American journalists sponsored by the

University of Columbia Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhattan, it ...

, New York. He also directed the Caracas weekly ''Momento'' from 1958 to 1973. In both positions he was a prolific writer of articles on social and political issues. He opposed the dictatorship of Gen.

Marcos Pérez Jiménez Marcos Evangelista Pérez Jiménez (25 April 1914 – 20 September 2001) was a Venezuelan military officer and the dictator of Venezuela from 1950 to 1958, ruling as member of the military junta from 1950 to 1952 and as president from 1952 t ...

and he exiled himself starting in 1955. When democracy was restored to Venezuela in 1958, Ramírez MacGregor returned to politics, but finally resigned to active participation when he refused to back the candidacy of the AD leader

Carlos Andrés Pérez Carlos Andrés Pérez Rodríguez (27 October 1922 – 25 December 2010) also known as CAP and often referred to as ''Venezuelan Spanish#Some examples of Spanish words common in Venezuela.2C including some native Venezuelanisms .28slang.29, El ...

. Ramírez MacGregor was ambassador to Belgium, México, Italy, and the UN organisms in Geneva. Ramírez MacGregor wrote ''Aspectos de nuestro problema obrero'' (1937), on labor issues, and ''Reglamentación del trabajo en el campo'' (1940), in which he was pioneer advocate of extending labor legislation to farm workers.

References

Sources

*''Panorama'', Maracaibo (collection 1949–1956) *''Momento'', Caracas (collection 1958–1963) {{DEFAULTSORT:Macgregor, Carlos Ramirez 1903 births 1975 deaths People from Maracaibo Venezuelan diplomats Governors of Zulia Members of the Venezuelan Chamber of Deputies Democratic Action (Venezuela) politicians Venezuelan Democratic Party politicians Ambassadors of Venezuela to Belgium Ambassadors of Venezuela to Mexico Ambassadors of Venezuela to Italy Permanent representatives of Venezuela to the United Nations Maria Moors Cabot Prize winners 20th-century Venezuelan journalists Venezuelan expatriates in Spain