Rafael Caldera

Rafael Caldera
Caldera in 1979
President of Venezuela
In office
2 February 1994 – 2 February 1999
Preceded byRamón José Velásquez
Succeeded byHugo Chávez
In office
11 March 1969 – 11 March 1974
Preceded byRaúl Leoni
Succeeded byCarlos Andrés Pérez
Senator for Life
In office
11 March 1974 – 2 February 1994
In office
2 February 1999 – 20 December 1999
President of the Chamber of Deputies of the Congress of Venezuela
In office
1959–1962
Succeeded byManuel Vicente Ledezma
Solicitor General of Venezuela
In office
26 October 1945 – 13 April 1946
Personal details
Born
Rafael Antonio Caldera Rodríguez

(1916-01-24)24 January 1916
San Felipe, Venezuela
Died24 December 2009(2009-12-24) (aged 93)
Caracas, Venezuela
Resting placeEast Cemetery (Venezuela)[1]
Political partyCOPEI
(1946–1993)
National Convergence
(1993–2009)
SpouseAlicia Pietri Montemayor
Children6
Alma materCentral University of Venezuela
OccupationLawyer
Signature
WebsiteOfficial website

Rafael Antonio Caldera Rodríguez (Spanish pronunciation: [rafaˈel anˈtonjo kalˈdeɾa roˈðɾiɣes] ; 24 January 1916 – 24 December 2009),[2] was a Venezuelan politician and academician who was the president of Venezuela for two five-year terms (1969–1974 and 1994–1999), becoming the longest serving democratically elected politician to govern the country in the twentieth century.[3]

Widely acknowledged as one of the founders of Venezuela's democratic system,[4] one of the main architects of the 1961 Constitution, and a pioneer of the Christian Democratic movement in Latin America, Caldera was President during the second period of civilian democratic rule in a country beleaguered by a history of political violence and military caudillos.[5]

His leadership helped to establish Venezuela's reputation as one of the more stable democracies in Latin America during the second half of the twentieth century.[6]

He is also remembered as the acting President who pardoned Hugo Chávez on December 1994, enabling him to gain freedom from prison and later on to run for the Presidency, which he achieved in 1998.

  1. ^ "Sepultados restos del ex presidente Rafael Caldera en cementerio de Caracas". 26 December 2009.
  2. ^ Rafael Caldera at the Encyclopædia Britannica
  3. ^ Rafael Caldera – Cognitio
  4. ^ John D. Martz, "Venezuela, Colombia, and Ecuador," in Jan Knippers Black, ed. Latin America, Its Problems and Its Promise, 2nd ed. (Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1991), 439
  5. ^ Rafael Caldera: President of Venezuela who helped forge an era of democracy and political stability in his country – Independent
  6. ^ "02 Feb 1994 – 02 Feb 1999 – Rafael Caldera Rodríguez – Global Security"

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