The Presidency of Jaime Lusinchi or the Lusinchi Presidency or the Lusinchi Administration refers to Jaime Lusinchi’s tenure as the President of Venezuela which lasted from 2 February 1984 to 2 February 1989 as a member of the Partido Acción Democrática.
Background The adecos chose Jaime Lusinchi and Caldera once more stood up for his party COPEI. The divided socialists offered Teodoro Petkoff and José Vicente Rangel. Petkoff had broken with the Communist Party and, with the veteran leader Pompeyo Márquez, had founded in 1971 the Movement for Socialism (MAS in Spanish), which was more or less inspired by the Prague Spring, when Czech communists tried to liberalize their country in 1968.Petkoff, Teodoro, Checoeslovaquia: el socialismo como problema, 1969 MAS was still Marxist but edging to left of center. Rangel was the son of a general during the Gómez autocracy, but he entered politics in 1958 as a moderate leftist. Rangel denounced the abuses of the adeco governments of Betancourt and Leoni—he accused them of allowing the secret police and the army to torture detainees—and he was the MAS presidential candidate in 1973 and 1978, both times doing badly. Teodoro was particularly disliked by adeco pardos. Teodoro was always trying to displace Rangel as his party's choice and finally, in 1983, the two men had a chance to test each other's popularity.
Much of the campaign was taken up by an "underground" debate about Lusinchi's mistress, Blanca Ibañez, and adecos insisted that his legal wife had simply "to bite the bullet". When the results were in, bipolarity worked and the adecos proved that they still had the pardos on their side by garnering 56% of the vote, the highest margin ever in a Venezuelan election. Caldera was down, but, as we shall see, definitely not out. But there were two novelties in the results: although Petkoff got more votes than Rangel, together they got 7% of the vote, which the left had never before achieved, although it is questionable whether Teodoro at that point was in any way the radical he had been before. Another result was that abstentions were 12% and this was significant because, as we saw, voting was compulsory in Venezuela and by and large Venezuelans had been very dutiful in this respect, and now they showed that not voting was catching on.
Presidency Overview Corruption had always been an issue in Venezuela, but under Lusinchi it became the main issue, and most Venezuelans considered that corruption, and not sheer incompetence, was the root of all of society's ills. Lusinchi had divorced his wife and married Blanca Ibañez, who was considered very influential behind the scene and was blamed for abuse of power and nepotism. The Venezuelan economy stagnated, and the country at the end of Lusinchi's regime was reportedly bankrupt. It would be reasonable to surmise that this should have been the end of bipolarity in the next elections, but it would be wrong. In the 1988 elections, the two ruling parties got a total of 93% of the vote. Petkoff fared very badly, but abstentions went up to 18%. The winner was none other than Carlos Andrés Pérez, for his second term. (In the Venezuelan constitution you could be re-elected as many times as you wanted as long as it wasn’t in successive elections.) The question was: How could a country whose descent into insolvency began with Pérez, who had botched so badly his first term, when corruption flourished as never before, have re-elected him with a majority that was barely less than the one Lusinchi got? This enigma has various explanations. That pardos were still adecos is an obvious one. The opposition to bipolarity did not have a leader is another. But especially, Venezuelans of all hues simply remembered that during Pérez's first term there had been a lot of money in circulation, things over-all had not been so dismal, and somehow they figured that Pérez could perform the miracle of making Venezuela "prosperous" again.
Inauguration In his 1984 presidential inauguration speech, Jaime Lusinchi announced a period of realism and economic austerity with the aim of ending "the era of the mirages of an oil country that filled much of the 20th century". He spoke about the country's economic situation, administrative corruption, unemployment, and the need to achieve a social pact that would help stabilize the economy and reactivate production.
Lusinchi's cabinet (1984–1989) MinistriesGaceta Oficial de Venezuela, period 1984-1989.OFFICENAMETERMPresidentJaime Lusinchi1984–1989Homeland AffairsOctavio Lepage1984–1986José Ángel Ciliberto1986–1988Simón Alberto Consalvi1988–1989Foreign AffairsIsidro Morales Paúl1984–1985Simón Alberto Consalvi1985–1988Germán Nava Carrillo1988–1989FinanceManuel Azpúrua Arreaza1984–1987Héctor Hurtado1987–1989DefenseHumberto Alcalde Álvarez1984Andrés Brito Martínez1984–1986José Cardozo Grimaldi1986–1987Heliodoro Guerrero1987–1988Italo del Valle Alliegro1988–1989Development (Public Works)Héctor Hurtado1984–1986José Ángel Ciliberto1986Gustavo Mirabal Bustillos1986–1987Héctor Meneses1987–1989Transportation and CommunicationsJuan Pedro del Moral1984–1988Vicente Pérez Cayena1988–1989EducationRuth Lerner de Almea1984–1985Luis Manuel Carbonell1985–1987Pedro Cabello Poleo1987–1988Laura Castillo de Gourfinkel1988–1989JusticeJosé Manzo González1984–1988Pedro Torres Agudo1988–1989Energy (Mines and Oil)Arturo Hernández Grisanti1984–1988Julio César Gil1988–1989EnvironmentOrlando Castejón1984Juan Francisco Otaola Paván1984–1986Guillermo Colmenares Finol1986–1989José Arnaldo Puigbó Motales1988–1989AgricultureFelipe Gómez Álvarez1984–1988Wenceslao Mantilla1988–1989LaborSimón Antonio Paván1984–1988José Arnaldo Puigbó Morales1988–1989Health and Social AssistanceLuis Maniel Manzanilla1984–1985Otto Hernández Pieretti1985–1987Francisco Montbrum1987–1989Urban DevelopmentRafael Martín Guédez1984–1986César Quintana Romero1986–1989YouthMilena Sardi de Selle1984–1987Virginia Olivo de Celli1987–1989Secretary of PresidencySimón Alberto Consalvi1984–1985Carmelo Lauría Lesseur1985–1988Carlos Croes1988–1989Office for Coordination and PlanificationLuis Raúl Matos Azócar1984–1986Leopoldo Carnevali1986–1988Modesto Freites1988–1989CVGLeopoldo Sucre Figarella1984–1989
Domestic policy Economic policy
Following Viernes Negro on 18 February 1983, 1984 closed with an economic recession of 6% of GDP. Between that year and 1986, there were three consecutive years of depreciation of the national currency that culminated in a 93% devaluation of the bolívar at the official exchange rate in 1986. The Barcelona Centre for International Affairs described Lusinchi's economic policy as a "return to economic populism characteristic of previous Acción Democrática administrations".
Legislative policy
Electoral policy COPRE The Presidential Commission for State Reform (COPRE) was a presidential commission created on 26 December 1984 by President Jaime Lusinchi to examine the reform of the Venezuelan state and its political system, the democratization of regional governmental processes, and the creation of the office of municipal mayor. Lusinchi decided to appoint all state governors from among the general secretaries of Acción Democrática at the state level, bypassing regional leadership.
Infrastructure policy
During his government, the first phase of the San Agatón Hydroelectric Plant was completed, which had been initiated by his predecessor, requiring the evacuation of the small town of Potosí, which ultimately ended up under water.
Media and communications policy During Lusinchi's presidency there were reports of coercion against journalists. Broadcasting concessions were granted to operate new television channels, including Televen, Omnivisión and regional channels, as well as FM radio stations. Indeed, the first commercial station on that band was 107.3 MHz (today La Mega). Jaime Lusinchi decided to appoint all state governors from among the general secretaries of Acción Democrática at the state level, bypassing regional leadership.
In 1985 the two hundred copies existing in Venezuela of the book Narcotráfico S. A. by the American political activist Lyndon LaRouche were seized by the Dirección de los Servicios de Inteligencia y Prevención (DISIP).
Human rights policy During Lusinchi's government there were reports of disappearances associated with the actions of some police forces. According to Revista SIC, during this time: "Allegedly officials of the former Judicial Technical Police killed more than 50 people and later threw their bodies into wells". In Zulia state, the appearance of mass graves called "Pozos de la muerte" was reported, containing bodies of people who had been detained by police or reported as missing.
Since the 1980s, various religious figures began to establish non-governmental organizations to denounce cases of police abuse, arbitrary detention, torture and extrajudicial executions. Among these were Justicia y Paz, founded by Matías Camuñas. Meanwhile, in 1985, the priest Esteban Wood of the Maryknoll missionaries, together with other activists, created the Human Rights Commission of the Maryknoll Missionaries, which later became the Red de Apoyo por la Justicia y la Paz.
In 1984, Congress attempted to approve the Law on Provisional Release for Justifying Causes. This sought to exempt officers who committed killings from responsibility, justifying them as self-defense and fulfillment of duty. In response, various academics and the NGO Comité Luto Activo organized protests arguing that it violated the right to life, preventing the project from passing.
They also denounced cases of police abuse and promoted the collection of signatures to urge Congress to repeal the Law of Vagrants and Delinquents. NGO reports drew the attention of international organizations to the human rights situation, prompting visits from members of Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the Inter-American Institute of Human Rights.
Amnesty International published reports investigating cases of extrajudicial executions committed by police. The organization Index on Censorship mentioned several cases of censored media outlets and that some critical journalists were imprisoned.
Since the 1980s, the first cases of HIV/AIDS began to be reported in the country. This led to discriminatory treatment in the media against the LGBTQ+ community, and at the beginning of the disease there were cases of arbitrary detention of people suspected of carrying it. In response to discrimination and high medication costs, the organization Acción Ciudadana Contra el Sida (ACCSI) was created in 1987 to provide support and pressure the government to acquire medications.
Tazón massacre
In September 1984, the Tazón massacre occurred, in which a group of about 200 students heading to Caracas for a protest were attacked by members of the Bolivarian National Guard, leaving 35 injured. The events provoked rejection and protests demanding a ban on the use of firearms to control demonstrations.
Massacre of El Amparo
On 29 October 1988, the massacre of El Amparo occurred, in which 14 fishermen were killed by police officers after being mistaken for guerrillas. The event led to a lengthy judicial process, eventually brought before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights of the Organization of American States on 14 January 1994; the Court issued a ruling on the merits on 18 January 1995 and a second ruling establishing compensation and ordering investigation and punishment on 14 September 1996.
Environmental policy Toxic waste scandal
It was an environmental scandal that occurred in 1987, in which two ships carrying barrels of toxic waste from Italy arrived in the country. These events triggered protests, strong criticism in public opinion and Venezuelan politics at the time, leading to the creation of laws and prohibitions on the matter.
Corruption scandals RECADI