Word: democrate
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Immediately after his election, rumors filled Caracas of an impending army coup to restore the defeated Acción Democrática party to power. Instead, Caldera has asserted control over the army. He appointed new and loyal commanders to key units, and boldly passed over senior pro-Acción officers to pick his Defense Minister. When the army's top general, Pablo Antonio Flores, openly grumbled, Caldera abruptly removed him from active service and now plans to send him into what Latin Americans call "golden exile" as ambassador to a Central American country...
Outgoing President Raúl Leoni has cut so many ribbons inaugurating public works during the campaign that opponents claim he keeps a pair of scissors in his pocket. Leoni cannot constitutionally succeed himself, but his appearances aid Acción Democrática's candidate. He is Gonzalo Barrios, 65, an adroit and tough politician who, as Interior Minister, put down Venezuela's Castroite rebels...
Generation Gap. Barrios can use all the help he can get. During Acción Democrática's ten years in power, it has fissioned three times, in each instance losing some of its younger and more radical supporters and some momentum for reform. Hoping to charge through that generation gap is Caldera, 52, a talented lawyer who has been trying for the presidency since 1947, and now has assembled the country's smoothest-functioning political machine. Also in the running are four splinter candidates, most notably Acción Democrática Dissident Luis Beltran Prieto...
...election turns largely on Caldera's cry for change and for more activist government as against Acción Democrática's slogan of continuismo, or more of the same. Undeniably, Venezuelans have never had it so good. During ten years in power, Acción Democrática has poured the country's ample oil revenues into schools, highways and public works. The economy is growing at an annual rate of 5.1%, and the benefits have spread through much of the population. Venezuela's per capita income, $745 a year, is the highest...
Venezuela's former President Rómulo Betancourt, 59, flew home from Europe for the first time in four years to try to patch up his splintered Acción Democrática party. The visit was a brief one, though, for there was another party back in Switzerland awaiting Betancourt's ministrations. That would be Renee Hartman Viso, 44, soon to become his wife. Betancourt disclosed that he had divorced his first wife, Costa Rican-born Carmen Valverde, to be free to marry Renee. But his absence during the long divorce proceedings, some Venezuelans believe, may cost...