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 (), officially known as the president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (), is the executive head of state and head of government of Venezuela. The president leads the National Executive of the Venezuelan go ...

between 1993 and 1994.

Background and personal life

Velásquez was born in

Táchira Táchira State (, ) is one of the 23 States of Venezuela, states of Venezuela. The state capital is San Cristóbal, Táchira, San Cristóbal. Táchira State covers a total surface area of and as of the 2011 census, had a population of 1,168,9 ...

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 tabloid newspaper in Venezuela founded in 1941 after pro-freedom measures implemented by President Isaías Medina Angarita and was the largest circulated newspaper in Venezuela prior to 2014. ''Le Monde'' and Reuters d ...

'' 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, 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 to the Venezuelan Senate 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 ...

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 a Venezuelan politician who served as the president of Venezuela, from and again from Second presidency of Rómulo ...

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

Rafael Caldera Rafael Antonio Caldera Rodríguez ( ; 24 January 1916 – 24 December 2009) was a Venezuelan politician and academician who was the 46th and 51st president of Venezuela from 1969 to 1974 and again from 1994 to 1999, thus becoming the longest se ...

'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 (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 authoritarian regimes. HRF organizes the Oslo Freedom Forum. The Human Rights Foundation was founde ...

President

In 1993, as a result of the crisis produced by the impeachment of President

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 ...

, 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 eight tropical cyclones in the Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth ...

'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 organized International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 16million volunteering, volunteers, members, and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ...

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, 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 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 or goods and services tax (GST), general consumption tax (GCT)) is a consumption tax that is levied on the value added at each stage of a product's production and distribution. VAT is similar to, and is often compared wi ...

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 from 1993 to 1994. On 24 June 2014 Velásquez died at the age of 97 from natural causes. He died 5 weeks after former President

Jaime Lusinchi Jaime Ramón Lusinchi (27 May 1924 – 21 May 2014) 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 depreciation, inflation and corrupt ...

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 c ...

(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, 2002 Academia Venezolana de la Lengua
D. Ramón J. Velásquez
/ref> * Honorary doctorates from the

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

, University of Carabobo, 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 Academic staff of the Central University of Venezuela 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 Political prisoners during the dictatorship of Marcos Pérez Jiménez Secretariat of the Presidency ministers of Venezuela Rafael Caldera ministers Rómulo Betancourt ministers Venezuelan prisoners and detainees Journalists imprisoned in Venezuela