Raúl Leoni: Life and Political Career in Venezuela
Raúl Leoni: A Prominent Venezuelan Political Figure
Raúl Leoni (1905-1972) was a prominent member of the so-called “Generation of ’28”, one of the founders of Democratic Action (AD), and President of Venezuela from 1964 to 1969. His parents were Clemente Leoni, a Corsican immigrant, and Carmen Otero Fernández. He conducted his studies at Upata primary and secondary school in Ciudad Bolívar and Caracas. He studied at the Central University of Venezuela (UCV), where he began his involvement in student leadership as president of the Student Center of Law and editor of the *Centre*. In February 1928, he was president of the Students Federation of Venezuela when Students Week was held, an event that became an open protest against the regime of Juan Vicente Gómez. Taken prisoner, he was sent to Castle Libertador in Puerto Cabello. After his release, he participated in the military uprising of April 7 of that year. However, after the failed insurrection, he fled abroad to Colombia.
Exile and Political Activism
In 1929, committed to the expedition that Román Delgado Chalbaud was preparing for the Venezuelan coast to overthrow the government of Gómez, Leoni decided to move to Santo Domingo along with others. However, due to the inconvenience suffered by the ship *Gisela*, in which he was traveling, and which was about to sink, he could not join the armed adventure. Back in Colombia, he founded with Rómulo Betancourt the Revolutionary Association of the Left (ARDI) and signed the Plan of Barranquilla. From a file that was stolen from a boarding house by Gómez’s police, the so-called *Red Book* was prepared and published. With this book, the government of Eleazar López Contreras in 1936 purported to show the alleged communist links of expatriate students. After Gómez died, Leoni returned to Venezuela in January 1936, participating in the activities of left-wing political sectors. He was one of the founders of the Movement of Venezuelan Organization (ORVE), in which he was part of the Domestic Policy and Health, Labor, and Welfare Committees. Despite being elected deputy to the National Congress for the state of Bolívar, his representation was canceled due to his links to the left, through a ruling by the Federal Court of Cassation. After the dissolution of political parties and trade unions, he was included in the expulsion decree of March 13, 1937, and together with 46 other political leaders, he boarded the steamer *Flandre* bound for Mexico. From there, he went to Panama and then to Colombia, where he continued his studies until graduating on December 8, 1938, as a doctor in law and social sciences at the University of Bogotá.
Return to Venezuela and Rise to Power
In June 1939, he returned to Venezuela to join the clandestine activities of the National Democratic Party (NDP). In 1941, he ran for alderman of the Sucre parish in the Federal District. A founding member of Democratic Action (AD), he always held leading positions in its national command. With the 1945 coup, he came to form part of the Revolutionary Government, while he was employed in the office of Minister of Labor, an agency that began its autonomous life, separate from the Ministry of Communications. Ratified in office when Rómulo Gallegos became President of the Republic, he was taken prisoner after the government was overthrown on November 24, 1948. Expelled from the country for the third time, he left for Havana on July 19, 1949. From there, he went to New York and then Washington, where on August 20, 1949, he married his cousin Carmen América Fernández. Two years later, he took up residence in Costa Rica. In 1954, he traveled to Bolivia as a delegate of the International Labor Office. In 1956, he moved to Peru, but President Manuel Odría deported him, and he returned to Costa Rica, where he remained until the government of Marcos Pérez Jiménez was overthrown on January 23, 1958.
Presidency and Legacy
He returned to Caracas on January 25, 1958, and that same year at the National Convention of Democratic Action, he was appointed first deputy chairman of the party. On December 7, 1958, he was elected senator for the state of Bolívar. He also became president of Democratic Action, a position he relinquished to Rómulo Betancourt after the latter was elected head of the Venezuelan State. In 1959, he was appointed chairman of the Senate and Congress, a role he served until March 1962. In July 1963, he was proclaimed by his party as a presidential candidate, and on March 2, 1964, Congress swore him in as Chief Magistrate of the Nation. He began his government with a coalition of parties called the “Wide Base,” which included Democratic Action, the Democratic Republican Union, and the National Democratic Front. His term of office (1964-1969) was considered a stage of national harmony and understanding. However, during his term, political repression was denounced as excessive, especially that carried out in the so-called “theaters of operations” in the fight against guerrilla warfare. Like other politicians and prominent figures in Venezuelan history, he was a Mason, reaching grade 33.