THE RISE AND FALL OF VENEZUELAN PRESIDENT CARLOS ANDRS PREZ: An Historical Examination Volume 2: The Later Years 1973-2004

Description

This current volume details the later political career of Carlos Andres Perez, focusing on his two presidential administrations and his fall from political power. This work builds upon the early political foundations of Perez which have been detailed in Volume One. During his first administration (1974- 79), President Perez introduced Venezuela into the economic and political realities of a new and ever-changing world order, as a result of the revenue generated by the nation’s petroleum exports. For his part, Perez sought to modernize Venezuela’s democracy and to bring Venezuela to a level of development which would enable it to compete successfully within the New Economic World Order. Not long after beginning his second term as president (1989-1993), Carlos Andres Perez was faced with economic and social crises. Consequently, in the early days of his administration, events transpired which considerably weakened the political foundation of his government. By late 1992, two coup d’etat attempts had been made against the President, and by Spring 1993 the Supreme Court ruled that there were sufficient grounds for an indictment on charges of corruption. This ruling resulted in the decision by the National Congress to remove President Perez from office so that he could be brought to trial. Following his trial, the Supreme Court sentenced Carlos Andres Perez to 2 years and 4 months of house arrest for the crime of aggravated generic embezzlement.