Luis Herrera Campins

Luis Herrera Campins
President of the Republic of Venezuela
In office 12 March 1979 – 2 February 1984
Preceded by	Carlos Andrés Pérez
Succeeded by	Jaime Lusinchi
Senator for life
In office 2 February 1984 – 30 December 1999
Personal details
Born	Luis Antonio Herrera Campins 4 May 1925 Acarigua, Portuguesa, Venezuela
Died	9 November 2007 (aged 82) Caracas, Venezuela
Political party	Copei
Spouse(s)	Betty Urdaneta
Religion	Roman Catholic
Signature

Luis Antonio Herrera Campins (4 May 1925 – 9 November 2007) was President of Venezuela from 1979 to 1984. He was elected to one five-year term in 1978. He was a member of the COPEI, a Christian Democrat party.

Early life and career

Luis Herrera at the age of 15

Luis Antonio Herrera Campins was born in Acarigua, Portuguesa. He studied law initially at Central University of Venezuela, though his studies were interrupted when he was imprisoned during the regime of Marcos Pérez Jiménez. He eventually earned his law degree in 1955 from the Universidad de Santiago de Compostela.

Herrera entered politics in 1937, and from 1959 to 1979 he served in the National Congress. He became President of Venezuela on 12 March 1979.

Presidency

Venezuelan Presidential election 1978

Results

Candidates Votes % Luis Herrera 2.469.042 % Luis Piñerúa 2.295.052 % Abstention: % Total votes:

Herrera won the December 1978 presidential elections for COPEI, replacing the social democrat Carlos Andrés Pérez of the Democratic Action (AD) party, who had nationalised the oil industry at the height of the boom in 1975. Oil revenues continued to rise during the early years of Herrera's presidency. Herrera had a dirigiste view of the Government's economic role, which involved channelling public funds into agricultural and industrial projects, paying generous subsidies and controlling the prices of many goods. His Government continued President Pérez's policy of borrowing on a world market awash with petrodollars, and by the early 1980s Venezuela owed the banks more than $20 billion. The Government's tacit assumption was that oil prices would remain high forever, and would sustain high levels of public and private consumption.

As president, Herrera implemented cultural development programs and education reforms. He liberalised prices, resulting in rapid changes in the value of the Venezuelan bolívar.

Moved in part by territorial claims, Herrera developed a muscular foreign policy. He signed an agreement with Mexico in 1980 to jointly provide Central American and Caribbean countries with a steady flow of oil, a precursor of Hugo Chávez’s wide-reaching oil diplomacy in the developing world. In 1982 Herrera sided with Argentina in its war with the United kingdom over the Falkland Islands or Islas Malvinas, adroitly exploiting anti-British and anti-American sentiment to boost his flagging popularity. His support for Argentina came while he was asserting Venezuela’s longstanding claim to more than half of neighboring Guyana, a former British colony. His government also recognized the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic as the sovereign state in Western Sahara.

Herrera's cabinet (1979-1984)

Ministries [1] OFFICE NAME TERM President Luis Herrera Campins 1979–1984 Home Affairs Rafael Montes de Oca 1979–1982   Luciano Valero 1982–1984 External Affairs José Alberto Zambrano Velasco 1979–1984 Finance Luis Ugueto 1979–1982   Arturo Sosa 1982–1984 Defense Fernando Paredes Bello 1979   Luis Rangel Burgoing 1979–1980   Tomás Abreu Rescaniere 1980–1981   Bernardo Leal Puchi 1981–1982   Vicente Narváez Churión 1982–1983   Humberto Alcalde Álvarez 1983–1984 Development Manuel Quijada 1979–1981   José Enrique Porras Omaña 1981–1984 Transport and Communications Vinicio Carrera 1979–1983   Francisco Lara García 1983–1984 Education Rafael Fernández Heres 1979–1982   Felipe Montilla 1982–1984 Justice José Guillermo Andueza 1979–1981   J. Reinaldo Chalbaud Zerpa 1981–1984 Mines and Oil Humberto Calderón Berti 1979–1983   José Ignacio Moreno León 1983–1984 Environment Vinicio Carrera 1979–1983   Francisco Lara García 1983–1984 Agriculture Luciano Valero 1979–1981   José Luis Zapata Escalona 1981–1982   Nidia Villegas 1982–1984 Labor Reinaldo Rodríguez Navarro 1979–1981   Rangel Quintero Castañeda 1981–1984 Health and Social Services Alfonso Benzecri 1979–1981   Luis González Herrera 1981–1984 Urban Development Orlando Orozco 1979–1982   María Cristina Maldonado 1982–1984 Information and Tourism José Luis Zapata Escalona 1979–1981   Enrique Pérez Olivares 1981–1982   Guido Díaz Peña 1982–1984 Youth Charles Brewer Carías 1979–1982   Guillermo Yépez Boscán 1982–1984 Secretary to the Presidency Ramón Guillermo Aveledo 1979–1984 Office of Planning and Coordination Ricardo Martínez 1979–1982   Maritza Izaguirre 1982–1984

Later life

By the time Herrera's term ended, the economy was in meltdown, poverty and hardship were widespread and the voters turned on the ruling Christian Democrat, ejecting the party from office in the elections of December 1983. After the end of his presidency, Herrera remained influential in the Copei party, becoming its president in 1995.

In 2001, Herrera made headlines when gunmen stole his car. Afterward, he could be seen on foot wearing old clothes and carrying his own groceries. He underwent a series of surgeries for an abdominal aneurysm that led to a kidney infection and other complications. Herrera died on 9 November 2007 in Caracas at the age of 82, at a juncture by which he had already retired from Venezuelan politics. He was survived by his wife Betty Urdaneta and three sons.

See also

• Venezuela
• Presidents of Venezuela

References

1. Gaceta Oficial de Venezuela, period 1979-1984.

• (Spanish) Luis Herrera Campins — Official biography (but rather biased, based on historical view of current Venezuelan administration)
• (Spanish) Luis Herrera Campins
• Obituary in The Times, 14 November 2007
• Obituary from the International Herald Tribune
• Herrera's inauguration day on YouTube