Juan Pablo Pérez Alfonzo (13 December 1903 – 3 September 1979) was a prominent

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

diplomat A diplomat (from ; romanization, romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state (polity), state, International organization, intergovernmental, or Non-governmental organization, nongovernmental institution to conduct diplomacy with one ...

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

and

lawyer A lawyer is a person who is qualified to offer advice about the law, draft legal documents, or represent individuals in legal matters. The exact nature of a lawyer's work varies depending on the legal jurisdiction and the legal system, as w ...

primarily responsible for the inception and creation of the

OPEC The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC ) is an organization enabling the co-operation of leading oil-producing and oil-dependent countries in order to collectively influence the global oil market and maximize Profit (eco ...

, along with Saudi Arabian minister

Abdullah Tariki Abdullah Tariki (19 March 1919–7 September 1997) (), also known by the alternate spelling of his last name as al-Turayqi and nicknamed the Red Sheikh, was a Saudi politician and government official. He served as the first oil minister of Saudi ...

Early life and education

Born in

Caracas, Venezuela 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 ...

, Pérez Alfonzo was initially a medical student before pursuing a PhD in political and social sciences at the

Central University of Venezuela Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...

Political career

Gallegos administration and subsequent exile

Pérez Alfonzo helped found the political party Democratic Action (AD;

Acción Democrática Democratic Action (, 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 during Venezuela's first democ ...

). As Minister of Development during the first democratic government of Venezuela, the short-lived administration of

Rómulo Gallegos Rómulo Ángel del Monte Carmelo Gallegos Freire (2 August 1884 – 5 April 1969) was a Venezuelan novelist and politician. In 1948, he became the first freely elected President of Venezuela, president in Venezuela's history. He was removed from ...

(1947–1948), he was responsible for increasing oil revenues for the country by raising taxes through what later became known worldwide as the 50/50 formula. Initially, the Seven Sisters (the dominant Anglo-American oil companies), responded to the 50/50 law by threatening to ramp up production elsewhere while slowing down production in Venezuela. Perez Alfonso subsequently encouraged other governments to adopt the 50/50 formula, which they ultimately did. The 50/50 formula was the global norm until 1970. With the overthrow of the democratically elected government of President

by the military in November 1948, Perez Alfonzo obtained political asylum in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

after spending 9 months in jail. He moved to Mexico for financial reasons, where he resided until the return of democracy in 1958 when the democratically elected President Rómulo Betancourt called him back to government service to finish the job he had begun under the presidency of Gallegos, this time as Minister of Energy. During the years he spent in Washington he studied the activities of the oil industry worldwide and, in particular, the

Texas Railroad Commission The Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC; also sometimes called the Texas Railroad Commission, TRC) is the state agency that regulates the oil and gas industry, gas utilities, pipeline safety, safety in the liquefied petroleum gas industry, and s ...

(TRC), which served to reinforce his ideas about creating

, further developing his thoughts about the conservation and stabilization of petroleum production and the defense of oil prices.

Betancourt administration and OPEC creation

As Minister of Mines and Hydrocarbons during the second democratic government of Venezuela of President

Rómulo Betancourt Rómulo Ernesto Betancourt Bello (22 February 1908 – 28 September 1981; ), known as "The Father of Venezuelan Democracy", was a Venezuelan politician who served as the president of Venezuela, from and again from Second presidency of Rómulo ...

(1959–1964), he was responsible for the creation of the

(

Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC ) is an organization enabling the co-operation of leading oil-producing and oil-dependent countries in order to collectively influence the global oil market and maximize Profit (eco ...

) for the purpose of rationalizing and thereby increasing oil prices in the world market. Triggered by a 1960 law instituted by US President

Dwight Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was the 34th president of the United States, serving from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, he was Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionar ...

that forced quotas for Venezuelan oil and favored Canada and Mexico's oil industries, Perez Alfonzo (also known as the Father of OPEC) reacted by seeking an alliance with oil-producing Arab nations to protect the continuous autonomy and profitability of Venezuela's oil (among other reasons), establishing a strong link between the South American nation and the Middle East region that survives to this day. His extensive notes of the TRC methods for regulation of production to maximize recovery served him well both in Venezuela and later when he took them translated into Arabic to the Cairo meeting that served as a launching platform for the OPEC, where

Wanda Jablonski Wanda Jablonski (23 August 1920, in Czechoslovakia – 28 January 1992, in New York City) was an American journalist who covered the global petroleum industry. She was called "the most influential oil journalist of her time" in Daniel Yergin's '' ...

introduced him to then minister of petroleum of Saudi Arabia,

, co-founder of the OPEC.

Personal life

He was an ascetic vegetarian.

Legacy and death

After the 1973 oil crisis, economic prosperity for Venezuela was relatively short-lived. In 1976 Pérez Alfonzo gave an intuitive warning about what economists now call the " natural resource curse": ''"Ten years from now, twenty years from now, you will see, oil will bring us ruin... It is the devil's excrement."'' This was the case during the "

1980s oil glut The 1980s oil glut was a significant surplus of crude oil caused by falling demand following the 1970s energy crisis. The world price of oil had peaked in 1980 at over US$35 per barrel (equivalent to $ per barrel in dollars, when adjusted f ...

". OPEC member countries were not adhering strictly to their assigned quotas, and once again oil prices plummeted. Pérez Alfonzo died in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, at the

Georgetown University Hospital MedStar Georgetown University Hospital is one of the Washington, D.C. area's oldest academic teaching hospitals. It is a not-for-profit, acute care teaching and research facility located in the Georgetown neighborhood of the Northwest Quadrant ...

on 3 September 1979, at age 75, having succumbed to

pancreatic cancer Pancreatic cancer arises when cell (biology), cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a Neoplasm, mass. These cancerous cells have the malignant, ability to invade other parts of ...

. El Vigía's Juan Pablo Pérez Alfonzo Airport was named in his honor in 1991. Since 1998, the Orden Juan Pablo Pérez Alfonzo (Order of Juan Pablo Pérez Alfonzo) is the Venezuelan award of state given to those who contribute to works related to mining, petroleum, and energy.

Books

* ''Petróleo: jugo de la tierra''. Caracas: Editorial Arte, 1961. * ''La Dinámica del petróleo en el progreso de Venezuela''. Caracas: Central University of Venezuela, 1965. * ''Petróleo de vida o muerte'' (debate with

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 ( ...

). Caracas: Editorial Arte, 1966. * ''El pentágono petrolero: la política nacionalista de defensa y conservación del petroleo''. Caracas: Revista Política, 1967. * ''¿Hasta cuándo los abusos de La Electricidad?: informe sobre el caso Guarenas''. Guarenas: Municipal Council, 1969. * ''Petróleo y dependencia''. Caracas: Síntesis Dos Mil, 1971. * ''Hundiéndonos en el excremento del diablo''. Caracas: Editorial Lisbona, 1976. * ''El desastre'' (with Domingo Alberto Rangel and Pedro Duno). Valencia: Vadell Hermanos, 1976. * ''Alternativas'' (with Iván Loscher). Caracas: Garbizu & Todtmann Editores, 1976. * ''Venezuela y el petróleo''. Caracas: Centro Gumilla, 1976.

Notes

References

* Fundación Polar (1997), Diccionario de Historia de Venezuela,

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 ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Perez Alfonzo, Juan Pablo 1903 births 1979 deaths People from Caracas Venezuelan diplomats Oil ministers of Venezuela OPEC people Democratic Action (Venezuela) politicians 20th-century Venezuelan lawyers Academic staff of the Central University of Venezuela Central University of Venezuela alumni Venezuelan political scientists 20th-century political scientists Planning ministers of Venezuela Rómulo Gallegos ministers Rómulo Betancourt ministers