Democratic Period (1958–present)
The military dictator Pérez Jiménez was forced out on 23 January 1958.[2] In an effort to consolidate the young democracy, the major political parties (with the notable exception of the Communist Party of Venezuela) signed the Punto Fijo Pact. Democratic Action and COPEI would dominate the political landscape for four decades.
The 1960s saw substantial guerilla movements, including the Armed Forces of National Liberation and the Revolutionary Left Movement, which had split from Democratic Action in 1960. Most of these movements lay down their arms under Rafael Caldera’s presidency (1969–74); Caldera had won the 1968 election for COPEI, being the first time a party other than Democratic Action took the presidency through a democratic election.
The election of Carlos Andrés Pérez in 1973 coincided with the 1973 oil crisis, which saw Venezuela’s income explode as oil prices soared (Oil was nationalized in 1976). This led to massive increases in public spending, but also increases in external debts, which continued into the 1980s when the collapse of oil prices during the 1980s crippled the Venezuelan economy.
As the government started to devalue the currency in February 1983 in order to face its financial obligations, Venezuelans’ real standard of living fell dramatically. A number of failed economic policies and increasing corruption in government led to rising poverty and crime, worsening social indicators, and increased political instability. Corruption remains a problem; Venezuela was ranked near the bottom of countries in the Corruptions Perceptions Index in 2009.
Economic crisis in the 1980s and 1990s led to a political crisis which saw hundreds dead in the Caracazo riots of 1989, two attempted coups in 1992, and the impeachment of President Carlos Andrés Pérez (re-elected in 1988) for corruption in 1993. Coup leader Hugo Chávez was pardoned in March 1994 by president Rafael Caldera, with a clean slate and his political rights intact.
A collapse in confidence in the existing parties saw Chávez elected President in 1998, and the subsequent launch of a “Bolivarian Revolution”, beginning with a 1999 Constituent Assembly to write a new Constitution of Venezuela.
In April 2002, Chávez was briefly ousted from power in the 2002 Venezuelan coup d’état attempt following popular demonstrations by his opposers but he was returned to power after two days as a result of popular demonstrations by his supporters and actions by the military.
Chávez also remained in power after an all-out national strike that lasted more than two months in December 2002 – February 2003, including a strike/lockout in the state oil company PDVSA and an August 2004 recall referendum. He was elected for another term in December 2006.
An Uncertain Future
Despite having the highest oil revenues in Venezuelan history and oil prices rounding 100 US dollars per barrel and Venezuela having the largest oil reserves in the planet, Chavez has accumulated the highest foreign debt in the nations history.
Additionally, after 13 years in office — the longest presidency since the “democratic period” began in 1958 — Chavez has failed to keep most of his promises to the people who elected him, some of which where: to fix the economy (inflation in Venezuela is the highest in the world), to end poverty in this nation of so many natural resources, to fight the insecurity Venezuelans live with daily, among others.
In 2012 Venezuela takes what could possibly be one of the most important decisions in its history: to reelect Chavez for another 6 years or to bring forth a change.