Carlos Andrés Pérez
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| Carlos Andrés Pérez | |
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| In office March 12, 1974 – March 12, 1979 February 2, 1989- May 20, 1993 |
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| Preceded by | Rafael Caldera (1974) Jaime Lusinchi (1989) |
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| Succeeded by | Luis Herrera Campins (1979) Ramón José Velásquez(1993) |
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| Born | October 27, 1922 Rubio, Táchira, Venezuela |
| Political party | Acción Democrática |
| Spouse | Blanca Rodriguez, Cecilia Matos |
Carlos Andrés Pérez Rodríguez (born October 27, 1922), best known as CAP was President of Venezuela from 1974 to 1979 and again from 1989 to 1993.
[edit] Political life
A member of Acción Democrática, Carlos Andres Perez first made his mark as a tough, guerrilla-busting interior minister and canny machine politician in Raul Leoni's administration (1963-1968). In his first term as president he was praised by the country's leftist groups for taking steps to nationalize the petroleum and iron ore industries in order to control profits. In the 1970s, he denounced advocates of globalization as "genocide workers in the pay of economic totalitarianism". He lashed out at institutions such as the International Monetary Fund, claiming that it was the equivalent of a "Neutron Bomb that killed people, but left buildings standing." As a result he nationalized Shell, Exxon, U.S. Steel and Bethlehem Steel operations in the country.
In February 1989, at the beginning of his second term as President, he accepted an International Monetary Fund proposal known as the Washington consensus. In return for accepting this proposal, the International Monetary Fund offered Venezuela a loan for 4.5 billion US dollars. Poor economic conditions led to attempts to revolutionise the political and economic structure of Venezuela, but were to late to prevent massive popular protests in Caracas, the capital. These protests resulted in many deaths and resulted in the declaration of a state of emergency. The protest is now referred to as the Caracazo.
In February 1992, his government survived two bloody coup attempts, the first led by Lt-Col Hugo Chávez, later elected President of Venezuela, and the second by higher-ranked Naval and Air Force officers, both of with attracted public sympathy and possibly destablised Pérez' legitimacy. Pérez was impeached in 1993, following a scandal on the alleged mishandling of US$17 million from the presidents' special secret fund, used to help Violeta Chamorro's government in Nicaragua. His supporters claimed that the impeachment was politically motivated in response to the growing public displeasure at economic failings, and had no legal basis, given the secret nature of the fund, as they argued that being secret meant that by law meant there was no reason for him to explain what he spent the funds on, and could use them any way he wished.
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CAP's legacy is a complicated, contradictory one. The conservative policies he pursued in his second presidency in the 1990s were diametrically opposed to the populism of his first term in office. His first presidency is widely seen as having brought a sharp increase in official corruption - perhaps his most lasting legacy.
What his role was in the Venezuelan coup attempt of 2002 remains a mystery. In 2004, a group of Colombian paramilitary officers were arrested near Caracas and supposedly were hired to overthrow the presidency of Hugo Chávez. CAP was accused by the government of taking part in hiring these paramilitary officers, an accusation that he denies claiming it was a "montaje", or set up.
[edit] Personal life
At the age of 26 he married his cousin Blanca Rodriguez with whom he has 6 children. During his first presidency it was a wide spread rumor that he had an ongoing affair with Cecilia Matos. The demands of political life dictated that Pérez could not even try divorcing Blanca to marry Cecilia. Besides, Blanca a devout catholic, would not agree to it. Pérez and Matos have two daughters together, one of them called Cecilia Pérez Matos. Once Perez completely retired from politics after failing to win a seat in the 1999 elections for the National Assembly, he sued Blanca for divorce, which is still pending in Venezuelan courts, and he currently lives with Matos in Miami, Florida since 2000.
 Presidents of Venezuela  |
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| Mendoza | Bolívar | Bolívar | Páez | Vargas | Narvarte | Carreño | Soublette | Páez | Soublette | J.T. Monagas | J.G. Monagas | J.T. Monagas | Gual | J. Castro | Gual | Tovar | Gual | Páez | Falcón | Bruzual | Villegas | J.R. Monagas | Villegas | Guzmán | Linares | Varela | Guzmán | Crespo | Guzmán | H. López | Rojas | Andueza | Villegas | Crespo | Andrade | C. Castro | Gómez | Márques | Gómez | J. Pérez | Gómez | E. López | Medina | Betancourt | Gallegos | Delgado Chalbaud | Suárez Flamerich | Pérez Jiménez | Larrazábal | Sanabria | Betancourt | Leoni | Caldera | C. Pérez | Herrera | Lusinchi | C. Pérez | Velásquez | Caldera | Chávez | Carmona | Cabello | Chávez |
