Pérez Jiménez Takes Power in Venezuela
A military junta ousted Venezuela's elected president Rómulo Gallegos in November 1948, just nine months after his inauguration. The coup was led by officers including Marcos Pérez Jiménez, who gradually consolidated personal control and declared himself president after a fraudulent 1952 election. His decade in power was marked by rapid modernization funded by oil revenues — Caracas was transformed with highways and modernist architecture — alongside brutal repression by the secret police (Seguridad Nacional). He was overthrown by a popular uprising combined with military defections in January 1958, fleeing to the Dominican Republic. Venezuela's democratic transition thereafter — the Punto Fijo Pact between major parties — produced 40 years of stable democracy, one of the few in Latin America of the era.
- Year: 1948 CE
- Category: Political
