| Juan Pablo Pérez Alfonzo | |
|---|---|
| Minister of Development of Venezuela | |
| In office 20 October 1945 – 24 November 1948 |
|
| President | Rómulo Betancourt Rómulo Gallegos |
| Minister of Mines and Hydrocarbons of Venezuela | |
| In office 13 February 1959 – 23 January 1963 |
|
| President | Rómulo Betancourt |
| Succeeded by | Arturo Hernández Grisanti |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 13 December 1903 Caracas, Venezuela |
| Died | 3 September 1979 (aged 75) Washington D.C., USA |
| Spouse(s) | Alicia Castillo |
| Signature | |
Juan Pablo Pérez Alfonso (13 December 1903 – 3 September 1979), was a prominent Venezuelan diplomat, politician and lawyer primarily responsible for the inception and creation of OPEC.
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Born in Caracas, Venezuela, Pérez Alfonzo helped found the political party Democratic Action (AD; Acción Democrática). As Minister of Development during the first democratic government of Venezuela, the short-lived administration of Rómulo Gallegos (1947–1948), was responsible for increasing oil revenues for the country by raising taxes through what later became known worldwide as the 50/50 formula.
With the overthrow of the democratically elected government of President Rómulo Gallegos by the military in November 1948, Perez Alfonzo sought political asylum in the US 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 Texas Railroad Commission (TRC), which served to reinforce his ideas about creating OPEC, further developing his thoughts about conservation and stabilization of petroleum production and the defense of oil prices.
As Minister of Mines and Hydrocarbons during the second democratic government of Venezuela, the administration of Rómulo Betancourt (1959–1964), was responsible for the creation of OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) for the purpose of rationalizing and thereby increasing oil prices in the world market. His extensive notes of the TRC methods for regulation of production to maximise recovery served him well both in Venezuela and later when he took them translated into Arabic to the Cairo meeting that served as launching platform for OPEC and where Wanda Jablonski introduced him to then Minister of Energy of Saudi Arabia, Abdullah Tariki, co-founder of OPEC.
Pérez Alfonzo died in Washington, D.C., USA, at the Georgetown University Hospital, on 3 September 1979, having succumbed to pancreatic cancer. He was 76 years old.
| “ | Ten years from now, twenty years from now, you will see: oil will bring us ruin… Oil is the Devil's excrement.[1] | ” |