Venezuelan president of the oil-boom "Saudi Venezuela" whose IMF austerity package of 1989 set off the Caracazo
Born in Táchira state, Pérez was a founder of Democratic Action and spent a decade in exile after the 1948 coup. As interior minister in 1959–1964 he took a hard line against the guerrillas. Elected president in 1973, he used the oil-crisis windfall to triple public spending, nationalised the iron and petroleum industries and promised a "Gran Venezuela"; his first term became known as "Saudi Venezuela", and his successor complained of inheriting "a mortgaged country". Elected again in 1988 after campaigning against the IMF, he adopted an IMF-backed austerity package in 1989 that set off the Caracazo, whose suppression by security forces left hundreds or thousands dead. In 1993 he became the first Venezuelan president impeached, for embezzlement from a discretionary fund. He later lived in self-exile in Miami.
Also known as: Carlos Andrés Pérez Rodríguez · Carlos Andres Perez
Activities and affiliations
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1941–
Democratic Action (AD, Venezuela)
Political and party leadership -
1959–1964
Venezuela state institutionsMinister of Interior and Justice
Security, intelligence and policing -
1974–1979
Venezuela state institutionsPresidentMain
Government and administration -
1989–1993
Venezuela state institutionsPresident
Government and administration
Career Timeline
- 1946Cabinet Secretary of the revolutionary junta
- 1948–1958Exile
- 1959–1964Minister of Interior and Justice
- 1974–1979President (first term)
- 1989.02.02–1993.08.31President (second term)
- 1989.02.27The Caracazo
Related historical events
- 1971.08.15–1980The crisis of the 1970s: the Nixon shock, the oil shocks and stagflationPresident of VenezuelaAnnounced his "Gran Venezuela" programme in the oil boom and greatly expanded public spending on oil revenue.
- 1982.08.12–1990The Third World debt crisis and structural adjustmentPresident of VenezuelaDenounced the IMF while campaigning but after taking office in February 1989 adopted the austerity package attached to an IMF loan, and put down the Caracazo, set off by higher bus fares, with martial law and the army.