History of Venezuela (1908–1958) facts for kids
Between 1908 and 1958, Venezuela went through many changes. The country had different leaders, and there was even a coup d'état in 1948. During this time, Venezuela also found huge amounts of oil. This discovery completely changed the country's economy.
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Juan Vicente Gómez Takes Charge (1908 - 1935)
In 1908, President Cipriano Castro was very sick. He left Venezuela to get medical help in Germany. He left Juan Vicente Gómez in charge. But as soon as Castro left, Gómez took full control of the government. He stopped Castro from coming back to Venezuela. This was the start of Gómez's rule, which lasted until 1935. His time in power is closely linked to the beginning of the oil industry. Oil became the biggest influence on Venezuela's history.
One of Gómez's first actions was to pay off Venezuela's international debts. He achieved this goal quickly. Under Gómez, Venezuela built a strong national army. Most of its soldiers and officers were from the Andes region. The country also had a wide telegraph system. These changes made it harder for local strongmen, called caudillos, to start rebellions. The only armed threat against Gómez came from a former business partner. This partner had a monopoly on all trade by sea and river.
Many stories talk about Gómez's cruelty. But most of these are likely exaggerated by his enemies. For example, Román Delgado Chalbaud, who tried to overthrow him, spent fourteen years in jail. He claimed he was in chains the whole time, but Gómez later released him. His son, Carlos Delgado Chalbaud, later became president of Venezuela. In 1928, university students held a protest (Generation of 1928). They were arrested but soon let go. Gómez was indeed tough on anyone who opposed him. He also allowed people to praise him greatly, but this was also due to his many supporters across Venezuela. Unlike some other leaders, Gómez never built statues of himself. He was very strict about legal rules. This meant he often created new constitutions whenever it helped his political plans. This was also common in the 1800s. During his rule, Gómez appointed two presidents who had little real power. He kept strong control over the army from Maracay. This was his favorite city, west of Caracas. He improved Maracay and made it Venezuela's main army base.
How Oil Was Discovered
It was easy to tell that Venezuela had a lot of oil. Oil would naturally seep out of the ground in many places. There was even a natural asphalt lake. Venezuelans had tried to get oil themselves with small hand pumps in the early 1900s. When news of Venezuela's oil potential spread around the world, big foreign companies came. They wanted rights to explore and drill for oil. Gómez then set up a system where he gave out "concessions." In Venezuela, the law from Spain said that the surface of the land could belong to people. But everything under the ground belonged to the state.
So, Gómez started giving huge oil concessions to his family and friends. Anyone close to Gómez usually became rich. Gómez himself bought vast areas of grasslands for raising cattle. This was his original job and a lifelong passion. The Venezuelan people who got these concessions then leased or sold their rights to foreign companies. Gómez did not trust industrial workers or unions. So, he did not let oil companies build refineries in Venezuela. Instead, these were built on the Dutch islands of Aruba and Curaçao. The refinery in Aruba was once the second largest in the world.
Venezuela's oil boom started around 1918. That was the year oil first became an export. But it really took off when an oil well called Barroso exploded. It shot oil 200 feet into the air. It produced about 100,000 barrels of oil a day. It took five days to get the flow under control. By 1927, oil was Venezuela's most valuable export. By 1929, Venezuela exported more oil than any other country.
Some people have said that Gómez did not tax the oil companies. They also claimed Venezuela did not benefit from oil. But this is only partly true. The Venezuelan government earned a lot of money from these concessions and from different taxes. The first tax laws for oil companies were created by the government and American lawyers. These laws were quite easy on the companies. But Gómez was a smart businessman. He knew it was important to encourage companies to invest in Venezuela's oil fields. Some fields were easy to reach, but others were deep in jungles.
The money from oil allowed Gómez to improve Venezuela's basic roads and buildings. The oil industry helped modernize the areas where it operated. However, most Venezuelan people did not benefit much from the country's oil wealth. Only those who worked for the oil companies had steady jobs, even if their living conditions were tough.
Gómez took power in a very poor country where most people could not read. There was still a big social gap between white people and pardos (people of mixed race). When Gómez died in 1935, Venezuela was still poor and mostly illiterate. The social differences had become even stronger. The population had grown from about 1.5 million to 2 million people. Malaria was the biggest cause of death. Gómez himself likely had Amerindian ancestors. But he was openly racist. He was influenced by a historian named Laureano Vallenilla Lanz. This historian wrote a book saying that Venezuela's War of Independence was really a civil war. He also wrongly argued that pardos were a danger to public order. He claimed Venezuela could only survive if ruled by strong white leaders. For example, Gómez banned all immigration from black Caribbean islands. Even though 80% of Venezuela's population was pardo at the time, passports identified people by skin color. This continued until the 1980s.
Venezuela did change a lot under Gómez. Important cities had radio stations. A small middle class began to appear. But the country still had only two or three universities. About 90% of families were formed through unmarried partnerships. Any social progress that happened was due to a natural move towards modernization, with oil playing the main role.
López Contreras and Medina Angarita (1935 - 1945)
After Gómez died, his war minister, Eleazar López Contreras, took over. He was a tall, thin, disciplined soldier with a good education. He had always served Gómez loyally wherever he was sent. When he became president, López Contreras allowed the mixed-race people to express their anger for a few days. Then he brought things under control. He had Gómez's properties taken by the state. But Gómez's relatives were not bothered, except for some who left the country. Gómez never married but had several children outside of marriage.
At first, López Contreras allowed political parties to operate openly. But they became too noisy, so he banned them. However, he did not use harsh methods to stop them. The politicians who led these parties, known as the "1928 Generation," did not yet have many followers among the people. One reason for his strictness was a big labor strike during his first year as president. This strike stopped the oil industry in Zulia state in western Venezuela. Maracaibo, the capital of Zulia, had the most productive oil fields.
López Contreras had created a labor ministry. His representative there, Carlos Ramírez MacGregor, was told to report on the situation. The report confirmed that the workers had real complaints. He was also told to declare the strike illegal, which he did. Government forces made the workers go back to their jobs. But after that incident, the oil companies started to seriously improve conditions for Venezuelan workers. One of López Contreras's important goals was to get rid of malaria in the plains. This was finally achieved during the next presidency using DDT.
Two communists led the oil strike: Rodolfo Quintero and oil worker Jesús Faría. The history of Marxism in Venezuela is complex. But in short, communism never became very strong in Venezuela. It had little impact on mainstream politics. López Contreras tried to create a political movement called Civic Bolivarian Crusades. But it did not work out. Whatever he did seemed linked to his past as a supporter of Gómez. Even the name "crusades" sounded too religious. By law, López Contreras finished Gómez's last term. In 1936, the congress, which usually did what it was told, elected him for the term ending in 1941.
After another vote in the same congress for the 1941–1946 term, López Contreras gave power to his war minister and friend, General Isaías Medina Angarita. Medina Angarita was very different from his predecessor. He was stout and good-natured. He was not too demanding of himself. Medina Angarita made all political parties legal, including the divided communists. Some were hard-line, like the Machado brothers. Others were more moderate, led by Luis Miquilena, a union leader. Miquilena supported Medina's step-by-step approach. Under Medina, there was an indirect democracy. This followed the 19th-century custom of elections at the local council level. But Medina wanted a wider national democratic election, though it would still be limited. For this, he had government officials in all Venezuelan states form a pro-government party called the Venezuelan Democratic Party (PDV). But the real genius at organizing politics was Rómulo Betancourt. He built a party from the ground up that was mainly for pardos. It had strong ideas for reform, but it was not Marxist.
El Trienio Adeco (1945 - 1948)
El Trienio Adeco means "The Three-Year Period of Democratic Action." This was a three-year time in Venezuelan history, from 1945 to 1948. During this time, the popular party Democratic Action (called Accion Democratica, and its supporters adecos) was in charge. The party came to power through a coup d'état in 1945 against President Isaías Medina Angarita. They then held the first truly democratic elections in Venezuela's history. In the 1947 Venezuelan general election, Democratic Action was officially elected. But they were removed from power shortly after in the 1948 Venezuelan coup d'état.
There was no specific event that caused the bloodless 1948 coup. This coup was led by Delgado Chalbaud. There was no public opposition to it. This might mean that the odds were too great, or that the pardo people had not seen any real improvements in their lives, despite constant government messages. All important adecos were forced to leave. Other parties were allowed to exist but were silenced.
Military Rule (1948 - 1958)
Venezuela was under military rule for ten years, from 1948 to 1958. After the 1948 Venezuelan coup d'état ended the three-year try at democracy ("El Trienio Adeco"), three military leaders controlled the government. This lasted until 1952. In 1952, they held presidential elections. These elections were fair enough that the results were not what the government wanted. So, they changed the results. One of the three leaders, Marcos Pérez Jiménez, then became president. His government ended with the 1958 Venezuelan coup d'état. This coup brought democracy back to Venezuela.
