Second Presidency Of Carlos Andrés Pérez
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The second presidency of
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 ...
(1988–93) started with an economic crisis, a major riot in which hundreds were killed by security forces (
Caracazo The ''Caracazo'' is the name given to the wave of protests, riots, and looting. that started on 27 February 1989 in the Venezuelan city of Guarenas, spreading to Caracas and surrounding towns following austerity measures from President Carlos A ...
, 1989), followed by an economic recovery by also two coup attempts in 1992, and his . He was the first Venezuelan President to be impeached.


Background

For the 1988 presidential election Democratic Action (AD) 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 ...
backed Octavio Lepage as AD candidate, but in a
primary election Primary elections or primaries are elections held to determine which candidates will run in an upcoming general election. In a partisan primary, a political party selects a candidate. Depending on the state and/or party, there may be an "open pr ...
the party chose
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 ...
''Los Angeles Times'', 12 October 1987
The World
/ref> (previously president from 1974 to 1979).


Second presidency cabinet (1989-1993)


Domestic policy


Economy

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 ...
based his campaign for the 1988 Venezuelan general election in his legacy of abundance during his first presidential period and initially rejected liberalization policies. However, Venezuela's international reserves were only $300 million USD at the time of Pérez' election into the presidency; Pérez decided to respond to the debt, public spending, economic restrictions and rentier state by liberalizing the economy. He announced a
technocratic Technocracy is a form of government in which decision-makers appoint knowledge experts in specific domains to provide them with advice and guidance in various areas of their policy-making responsibilities. Technocracy follows largely in the tra ...
cabinet and a group of economic policies to fix macroeconomic imbalances known as ' (), called by detractors as ''El Paquetazo Económico'' (). Among the policies there was the reduction of fuel subsidies and the increase of public transportation fares by thirty percent (VEB 16 Venezuelan bolívares, or $0.4 USD).Margarita López Maya, 2003. "The Venezuelan Caracazo of 1989: Popular Protest and Institutional Weakness", ''Journal of Latin American Studies'', Vol.35, No.1 (2003), pp 120-121 (See #Further reading). The increase was supposed to be implemented on 1 March 1989, but bus drivers decided to apply the price rise on 27 February, a day before payday in Venezuela. In response, protests and rioting began on the morning of 27 February 1989 in
Guarenas Guarenas is a city in Miranda (state), Miranda, Venezuela. It was established in 1621 as ''Nuestra Señora de Copacabana de los Guarenas''. It is part of the Guarenas-Guatire conurbation On February 27, 1989, a morning protest in this city over ...
, a town near Caracas;El Caracazo Case, Judgment of 11 November 1999
Inter-American Court of Human Rights, accessed 1 May 2007
a lack of timely intervention by authorities, as the was on a
labour strike Strike action, also called labor strike, labour strike in British English, or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became co ...
, led the protests and rioting quickly spread to the capital and other towns across the country. President Andrés Pérez ordered the activation of Plan Ávila and the intervention of the military. A commission was established in the Venezuelan Congress with all its political parties to investigate the events during the Caracazo and unanimously voted for a report that concluded that 277 people were killed, though the Venezuelan media reported up to 3,000 deaths. By late 1991, as part of the economic reforms, Carlos Andrés Pérez' administration had sold three banks, a shipyard, two sugar mills, an airline, a telephone company and a cell phone band, receiving a total of $2,287 million USD. The most remarkable auction was
CANTV CANTV () is the state-run telephone and internet service provider in Venezuela. It was one of the first telephone service enterprises in the country, founded in 1930. The largest telecommunications provider in Venezuela, it was privatized in 19 ...
's, a telecommunications company, which was sold at the price of $1,885 million USD to the consortium composed of American
AT&T AT&T Inc., an abbreviation for its predecessor's former name, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the w ...
International, General Telephone Electronic and the Venezuelan
Electricidad de Caracas Electricidad de Caracas ( BVCEDC is the integrated electricity company for Caracas, Venezuela and surrounding areas, with more than 1 million connections. It was acquired by AES Corporation in 2000 and sold to the state-owned oil company PDVSA ...
and Banco Mercantil. The privatization ended Venezuela's monopoly over telecommunications and surpassed even the most optimistic predictions, with over $1,000 million USD above the base price and $500 million USD more than the bid offered by the competition group. By the end of the year, inflation had dropped to 31 %, Venezuela's international reserves were now worth $14,000 million USD and there was an economic growth of 9 % (called as an "Asian growth"), the largest in Latin America at the time.


Impeachment

On 20 March 1993, Attorney General , introduced action against Pérez for the misappropriation of 250 million bolivars belonging to a presidential discretionary fund, or ''partida secreta''. The issue had originally been brought to public scrutiny in by journalist
José Vicente Rangel José Vicente Rangel Vale (10 July 1929 – 18 December 2020) was a Venezuelan politician. He ran for president three times in the 1970s and 1980s and later supported Hugo Chávez. He served under Chávez as List of Ministers of Foreign Affairs ...
. The money was used to support the electoral process in
Nicaragua Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America aft ...
,Kada, Naoko (2003), "Impeachment as a punishment for corruption? The cases of Brazil and Venezuela", in Jody C. Baumgartner, Naoko Kada (eds, 2003), ''Checking executive power: presidential impeachment in comparative perspective'', Greenwood Publishing Group and during the process it was revealed that the money was used to support and hire bodyguards for President
Violeta Chamorro Violeta Barrios Torres de Chamorro (; 18 October 1929 – 14 June 2025) was a Nicaraguan politician who served as the 55th president of Nicaragua from 1990 to 1997. She was the country's first female president. Previously, she was a member of ...
. On 20 May 1993, the
Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
considered the accusation valid, and the following day the Senate voted to strip Pérez of his immunity. Pérez refused to resign, but after the maximum 90 days temporary leave available to the President under Article 188 of the 1961 constitution, the National Congress removed Pérez from office permanently on 31 August. Pérez' trial concluded in May 1996, and he was sentenced to 28 months in prison.Kada, Naoko (2003), "Impeachment as a punishment for corruption? The cases of Brazil and Venezuela", in Jody C. Baumgartner, Naoko Kada (eds, 2003), ''Checking executive power: presidential impeachment in comparative perspective'', Greenwood Publishing Group


Opposition

In 1992, his government survived two coup attempts. The first attempt took place 4 February 1992, and was led by Lieutenant-Colonel
Hugo Chávez Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías (; ; 28 July 1954 – 5 March 2013) was a Venezuelan politician, Bolivarian Revolution, revolutionary, and Officer (armed forces), military officer who served as the 52nd president of Venezuela from 1999 until De ...
from the Venezuelan Army, who was later elected president. With the attempt having clearly failed, Chávez was catapulted into the national spotlight when he was allowed to appear live on national television to call for all remaining rebel detachments in Venezuela to cease hostilities. When he did so, Chávez famously quipped on national television that he had only failed "''por ahora''"—"for now". The second, and much bloodier, insurrection took place on 27 November 1992, and this time, civilians and military personnel from both the Venezuelan Air Force and the Bolivarian Navy of Venezuela were involved. 172 died during the second coup attempt.


See also

* Second inauguration of Carlos Andrés Pérez * First Presidency of Carlos Andrés Pérez *
Presidents of Venezuela President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...


References


Bibliography

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Perez, Second presidency of Carlos Andres 1980s in Venezuela Carlos Andrés Pérez Pérez, Carlos Andrés 1990s in Venezuela