Former Venezuela leader Perez dies at 88 - report

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Reuters

Former Venezuela leader Perez dies at 88 - report
14 mins ago

Former Venezuelan President Carlos Andres Perez died on Saturday aged 88 at a hospital in Miami, a Venezuelan websiten reported.

Perez served as the South American country's leader between 1974 and 1979 and again between 1989 and 1993. Independent Venezuelan broadcaster Globovision said on its website he died at Miami's Mercy Hospital of a heart attack.

His first term in power was marked by an inflow of petro-dollars that saw his country nicknamed "Saudi Venezuela" by some, while his second stint was marred by corruption scandals and saw him leave office accused of fraud.



Read more: http://uk.news.yahoo.com/22/20101225/tpl-uk-venezuela-perez-39349ed.html

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For information on his greatest achievement, do any search for "El Caracazo," his assault upon Venezuelan citizens protesting his brutal sudden price hike in their daily heating oil, transportation costs, and groceries. From Wiki:

~snip~
The protests and rioting began in Guarenas (a town in Miranda State, some 30 km east of Caracas) on the morning of 27 February 1989,<4> due to a steep increase in transportation costs to Caracas. They quickly spread to the capital and other towns across the country. By the afternoon, there were disturbances in almost all districts of Caracas, with shops shut and public transport not running. In the days that followed there was widespread international media coverage of the looting and destruction.

Overwhelmed by the looting, the government declared a state of emergency, put the city under martial law and restored order albeit with the use of force. Some people used firearms for self-defence, to attack other civilians and/or to attack the military, but the number of dead soldiers and police came nowhere near the number of civilian deaths. The repression was particularly harsh in the cerros — the poor neighbourhoods of the capital. The initial official pronouncements said 276 people had died.<4> Many estimates put the number above 2000.<5>

On 28 February President Carlos Andrés Pérez suspended a number of articles of the Constitution, including Article 60 (right to individual liberty and security); Article 62 (inviolability of the home); Article 66 (freedom of expression); Article 71 (right to gather publicly and privately) and Article 115 (right to peaceful protest).<5> These rights were only completely restored on 22 March, and in the interim, there was no official decree or resolution defining how government authority would be exercised in the absence of these constitutional rights.<5>

More:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caracazo



http://img511.imageshack.us.nyud.net:8090/img511/6033/jessechacontg6.jpg

[ret5hd]

1. a kick to keep this from falling off the page...

and a r 'cause you deserve it.

[rpannier]

2. K&R

Hopefully he suffered before he died

[bitchkitty]

3. Merry Christmas, Judi Lynn!

I want to say rest in peace as a reflex, it being the holiday and all but I don't think it would do him any good.

[Judi Lynn]

4. AP's version of his obit: Venezuelan ex-president Carlos Andres Perez dies

Venezuelan ex-president Carlos Andres Perez dies
(AP) – 3 hours ago

~snip~
In the final years of his life, Perez came to personify the old guard Venezuelan political establishment bitterly opposed by current President Hugo Chavez. Perez survived two coup attempts in 1992, the first led by Chavez, who was then a young army lieutenant colonel.

In recent years, Perez lived in Miami while the Venezuelan government demanded he be turned over to stand trial for his role in quelling bloody 1989 riots. Perez — who governed Venezuela from 1974-79 and again from 1989-93 — denied wrongdoing.

His other daughter, Cecilia Victoria Perez, told AP late Saturday that a funeral service and burial are being planned in South Florida and details would be disclosed once arrangements were complete. She said the family would not return the remains to Venezuela at this time.

"Everything is going to be here in Miami," she said of the planned funeral and burial. "His desire was to go back to Venezuela, but this is not going to happen at least until there's a change of government."

In his first term, Perez won praise by nationalizing Venezuela's oil industry, paying off foreign oil companies and then capitalizing on a period of prosperity that allowed his government to build subway lines, bankroll new social programs and set up state-run companies in areas from steel to electricity.

More:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j6RwdHV6r_AZOsdtvpV75EbXyrKQ?docId=83c398371de749cc9dc373aba871e7bd

[AlphaCentauri]

5. sad event el Caracazo n/t

[Judi Lynn]

6. Romerogram: Carlos Andrés Pérez, Led Venezuela Through Boom and Bust, Dies at 88

Carlos Andrés Pérez, Led Venezuela Through Boom and Bust, Dies at 88
By SIMON ROMERO
Published: December 26, 2010

CARACAS, Venezuela — Carlos Andrés Pérez, the former president who tried to make Venezuela a leader of the developing world during a 1970s oil boom only to have his legacy upended in a tumultuous 1989 return to the presidency marked by civil unrest, coup attempts, impeachment and exile, died Saturday in Miami. He was 88.

~snip~
Mr. Pérez burst onto the Latin American political scene in the mid-1970s when a quadrupling of oil prices suddenly enriched Venezuela’s government, opening the way for state-led development efforts and an era of glitzy consumption known here as “Venezuela Saudita,” or Saudi Venezuela.

A gifted orator known for his bushy sideburns and flashy suits, Mr. Pérez nationalized Venezuela’s oil industry and the holdings of American iron-ore companies. At the same time, he secured a vocal role for Venezuela in hemispheric affairs, portending, in some ways, President Hugo Chávez’s more assertive foreign policy.

In his first term, Mr. Pérez re-established ties with Cuba and donated a ship to Bolivia, in support of that landlocked nation’s aspiration to regain sea access. He opposed the right-wing Somoza dictatorship in Nicaragua and encouraged Omar Torrijos, Panama’s leftist military leader, in his effort to gain sovereignty over the Panama Canal.

More:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/27/world/americas/27perez.html?_r=1&ref=global-home

[Judi Lynn]

7. Colombia president laments death of ex-Venezuelan president

Colombia president laments death of ex-Venezuelan president
13:17, December 27, 2010

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos on Sunday expressed grief over the death of former Venezuelan president Carlos Andres Perez who died on Saturday in Miami, United States.

Santos also sent condolences to the family of Perez, with whom he said he had a "great personal relationship," according to a statement posted on the Colombian president's website.

Perez, 88, ruled Venezuela twice between 1974-1979 and 1989-1993. He was a critic of current president Hugo Chavez and had been living in exile in the United States since 2001.

Chavez on Sunday offered condolences over the death of Perez, but he also criticized the former president's governing style.

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90777/90852/7243272.html