Carlos Andrés Pérez

Carlos Andrés Pérez

Carlos Andrés Pérez (born October 27, 1922 in Rubio , Táchira ; † December 25, 2010 in Miami , Florida ) was a Venezuelan politician and president of his country from 1974 to 1979 and 1989 to 1993.

Career

Carlos Andrés Pérez was a politician with the Acción Democrática (AD), a social democratic party. He was Venezuela's Interior Minister under Rómulo Betancourt (1960–1964).

Pérez was President of the Latin American Association of Human Rights in 1980 and cooperated with Julius Nyerere on the South-South Commission. He was an active member of the Socialist International , which he served as deputy chairman for three terms under the presidency of Willy Brandt .

In his first term as President of Venezuela (1974–1979) he used the increased income of the Venezuelan oil industry, which had been nationalized since January 1976, for distribution policy .

In his second term (1989–1993) he changed course vis-à-vis the IMF and established a correspondingly neo - liberal austerity policy . Immediately before he had credibly polemicized against the IMF during the election campaign and called it a “neutron bomb” which “kills people but leaves buildings standing”, he justified the implementation of the IMF loan requirements with the lower income from the oil sector mainly due to falling world market prices and the resulting increased foreign debt. State enterprises were privatized, subsidies and price controls for public services were partially lifted. In particular, the liberalization of oil prices led to abrupt increases in fuel prices, and prices for public transport rose dramatically as a result. This sparked massive riots in February and March 1989, the so-called Caracazo . The government declared a state of emergency and put down the uprisings with the national guard and army . The insurgency called 276 lives, according to the Pérez government; however, mass graves discovered later refuted these figures. Unofficial estimates assume 3,000 fatalities, in isolated cases the number is even estimated at up to 10,000.

The Pérez government defied two coup attempts in 1992 by officers belonging to the MBR200 (the first was led by Hugo Chávez ). Due to corruption allegations that had been confirmed by the highest court and that he had embezzled 250 million bolivars , Pérez was dismissed from office against his will in 1993 in accordance with the constitution. In 1996 he was sentenced to 28 months in prison. In 1998 he was able to avoid an additional trial for embezzlement because he represented his home state Táchira in the regional chamber and was thus politically immune again as a senator, regardless of the relevant criminal record . After a unicameral system had been introduced due to the new constitution in 1999 and the Senate had been dissolved as a separate chamber ( upper house ), Pérez ran unsuccessfully for the election of the new National Assembly . In 2001 a Venezuelan court ordered his arrest, from which he evaded by exile in Florida .

In September 2009, the Venezuelan attorney general applied to Interpol for an international arrest warrant for murder and torture in connection with the Caracazo events , but this was not binding on the United States .

On December 25, 2010, he died of a heart attack in Florida . A quarrel broke out between his widow, whom he had never divorced, and his companion. While the former, Blanca Rodríguez, requested a burial in Venezuela, his life partner Cecilia Matos Pérez wanted to be buried in the USA. On October 4, 2011, Pérez's body was transferred to Venezuela.

literature

• Carlos Andrés Pérez Rodríguez , in: Internationales Biographisches Archiv 17/2011 from April 26, 2011, in the Munzinger Archive ( beginning of the article freely available)

Web links

Commons : Carlos Andrés Pérez  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Carlos Andrés Pérez in the catalog of the German National Library

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://www.eluniversal.com/2010/12/25/pol_ava_fallecio-en-miami-el_25A4897053.shtml
2. ^ Dan Fastenberg: Carlos Andrés Pérez, Obituary . January 10, 2011
3. ^ I / A Court HR (= Inter-American Court of Human Rights): Case of the Caracazo v. Venezuela. Merits. Judgment of November 11, 1999. Series C No. 58 ; Reparations and Costs. Judgment of August 29, 2002. Series C No. 95 ; 2 PDFs (English).
4. ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-12593085
5. ↑ Hands Off Venezuela: Anniversary of the Caracazo ( Memento of the original from March 8, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , February 22, 2007 
6. ↑ Carlos Andrés Pérez Rodríguez 'biography , CIDOB (Spanish)
7. ↑ Malte Daniljuk: Venezuela applies for an international arrest warrant for ex-president. In: amerika21.de. September 30, 2009, accessed September 30, 2009 . 
8. ^ Jan Kühn: body of ex-President Pérez back in Venezuela. In: amerika21.de. October 6, 2011, accessed October 6, 2011 .