Ramón José Velásquez

Ramón José Velásquez
Ramón J. Velásquez during his 93rd birthday, 28 November 2009
President of Venezuela (acting)
In office 5 June 1993 – 2 February 1994
Preceded by	Octavio Lepage
Succeeded by	Rafael Caldera
Minister of Communications of Venezuela
In office 1969–1971
Secretary of the Presidency of Venezuela
In office 1959–1963
Succeeded by	Manuel Mantilla
Personal details
Born	(1916-11-28) 28 November 1916 San Juan de Colón, Táchira, Venezuela
Spouse(s)	Ligia Betancourt Mariño
Alma mater	Central University of Venezuela
Religion	Roman Catholic
Signature

Ramón José Velásquez Mujica (born 28 November 1916) is a Venezuelan political figure. He served as Acting president of Venezuela between 1993 and 1994. He is known as a historian, journalist, lawyer, politician and entertainer of companies for his knowledge of the "national life".

Shortly after 23 January 1958, when the democratic process began in Venezuela, he founded the vespertine El Mundo. Velásquez has also been the president of El Nacional during two occasions (1964-1968/1979-1981). His interest in the media projected into the university atmosphere and this was reflected in the creation of a particular class on the history of the mass media in Venezuela at the Andrés Bello Catholic University. Velásquez was also founder a class on historical processes in Venezuela at the Metropolitan University of Caracas. As well as another class at the Institute of Historical Investigations and one on the Venezuelan Media at the Central University of Venezuela. He is a member of the International Council of the New York-based Human Rights Foundation.

Background and personal life

Velásquez was born in Táchira state, on 28 November 1916. His parents were Ramon Velasquez Ordoñez, journalist and proofreader for a newspaper and educator Regina Mujica. He studied the hand of his parents in his hometown. He completed his primary education in high school in San Cristóbal Simón Bolívar. In 1935 he traveled to Caracas to finish high school at the Liceo Andres Bello, while it disagrees with the Gómez regime. Higher education made at the Central University of Venezuela, receiving a Ph.D. in Social and Political Sciences in 1942 and as Advocate in 1943.

Ramón José Velásquez currently resides in Caracas.

Writer

He became a reporter for Ultimas Noticias in 1941. Velásquez has been the president of El Nacional on two occasions (1964-1968/1979-1981).

As a historian, he had previously subscribed to the usual negative opinions of the Venezuelan dictator Juan Vicente Gómez, but re-examined them in Confidencias imaginarias de Juan Vicente Gómez (1979). (When became President, he presided over a ceremony renaming Juan Vicente Gómez International Airport in Gómez' honour.)

Politician

During the dictatorship of Marcos Pérez Jiménez, Velásquez was jailed for a year. For his role at the compilation of the Libro negro de la dictadura (Black book of dictatorship). The files of this book, helped expose the crimes of the dictatorial period.

When the country initiated its democratic life, he was elected in the Venezuelan general election, 1958 to the Venezuelan Senate for the state of Tachira, and to the Venezuelan Chamber of Deputies for the state of Miranda.

He served as the Secretary of the Presidency during the government of Rómulo Betancourt. After that, was part of the National Congress, being considered as a factor of balance in the Venezuelan democracy. During Rafael Caldera's term at presidency, served as Minister of Communications from 1969 until 1971. Velásquez was also a permanent advisor not only of presidents, also of parliamentarians, political leaders and parties. From 1984 to 1987 he was President of the Comisión para la Reforma del Estado (COPRE), the Commission on the Reform of the State.

President

In 1993, as a result of the crisis produced by the impeachment of president Carlos Andrés Pérez, Congress designated him as interim president, finishing the constitutional period in 1994. He served from 5 June 1993 to 2 February 1994.

Velásquez's cabinet (1993-1994)

Ministries
OFFICE	NAME	TERM
President	Ramón José Velásquez	1993–1994
Home Affairs	Carlos Delgado Chapellín	1993–1994
Outer Relations	Fernando Ochoa Antich	1993–1994
Finance	Carlos Rafael Silva	1993–1994
Defense	Iván Jiménez Sánchez	1993
	Radamés Muñoz León	1993
	Rafael Montero Revette	1993–1994
Development	Gustavo Pérez Mijares	1993–1994
Transport and communications	José Domingo Santander	1993–1994
Education	Elizabeth Yabour de Caldera	1993–1994
Justice	Fermín Mármol León	1993–1994
Mines and Hydrocarbons	Alirio Parra	1993–1994
Environment	Adalberto Gabaldón Azuaje	1993–1994
Agriculture	Hiram Gavira	1993–1994
Labor	Luis Horacio Vivas	1993–1994
Health and Social Assistance	Pablo Pulido Musche	1993–1994
Urban Development	Henry Jatar Senior	1993–1994
Family and Youth	Teresa Albánez	1993–1994
Secretary of Presidency	Ramón Espinoza	1993–1994
Office of Coordination and Planification	Hernán Anzola Jiménez	1993–1994
CVG	Francisco Layrisse	1993–1994

Honours

• Maria Moors Cabot prize (1967)
• Member of the National Academy of History of Venezuela (1968)
• National Prize for Literature (1973, prose category, for La caída del liberalismo amarillo
• Premio Nacional de Historia of Consejo Nacional de la Cultura (CONAC), 1980
• Premio Nacional de Humanidades of CONAC, 1998
• Member of the Academia Venezolana de la Lengua, 2002
• Honorary doctorates from the University of the Andes (Venezuela), University of Carabobo, Rafael Urdaneta University (URU) and the National Experimental University of Táchira (UNET).

Books

• La caída del Liberalismo Amarillo: tiempo y drama de Antonio Paredes (1972)
• Confidencias imaginarias de Juan Vicente Gómez (1979)

References

• Biography (in Spanish) by CIDOB Foundation
• "La Paz Ramónica" (Velasquez´s government) by Edgar C. Otálvora(Spanish)
• "RJV La Red de Liberales y Socialdemócratas". (Velasquez´s biography by Edgar C. Otálvora)(Spanish)

Political offices
Preceded by Octavio Lepage	President of Venezuela (acting) 1993–1994	Succeeded by Rafael Caldera