Rómulo Gallegos | |
|---|---|
 Gallegosc. 1947-48 | |
| President of Venezuela | |
| In office 17 February 1948 – 24 November 1948 | |
| Preceded by | Rómulo Betancourt |
| Succeeded by | Carlos Delgado Chalbaud |
| Senator for life | |
| In office 23 January 1961 – 5 April 1969 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Rómulo Ángel del Monte Carmelo Gallegos Freire (1884-08-02)2 August 1884 |
| Died | 5 April 1969(1969-04-05) (aged 84) Caracas, Venezuela |
| Political party | Acción Democrática |
| Spouse | Teotiste Arocha Egui (1888–1950) |
| Signature |  |
Rómulo Ángel del Monte Carmelo Gallegos Freire (2 August 1884 – 5 April 1969)[1][2][3] was aVenezuelan novelist and politician. In 1948, he became the first freely electedpresident in Venezuela's history.[4] He was removed from power after only nine months bya military coup.[5]
Rómulo Gallegos is considered the most relevant Venezuelan novelist of the 20th century and a prominent figure in Latin American literature.[6]
Rómulo Gallegos was born inCaracas to Rómulo Gallegos Osío and Rita Freire Guruceaga, into a family of humble origin. He began his work as a schoolteacher, writer, classical music enthusiast and journalist in 1903. His novelDoña Bárbara was first published in 1929 and it was because of the book's criticisms of the regime of longtime dictatorJuan Vicente Gómez that he was forced to flee the country. He took refuge in Spain, where he continued to write: his acclaimed novelsCantaclaro (1934) andCanaima (1935) date from this period.He returned to Venezuela in 1936 and was appointed Minister of Public Education.
In 1937 he was elected toCongress and, in 1940–41, served as Mayor of Caracas.
In 1945, Rómulo Gallegos was involved in thecoup d'état that broughtRómulo Betancourt and the "Revolutionary Government Junta" to power, in the period known asEl Trienio Adeco. In the1947 general election he ran for thepresidency [es] of the republic as theAcción Democrática candidate and won in what is generally believed to be the country's first honest election.[citation needed] He took over 74 percent of the vote, still a record for a free election in Venezuela. He took office on 15 February and was noted for raising the state's tax revenue for oil profits increase from 43% to 50%, a tax scheme known as "fifty / fifty" and which was subsequently replicated in several oil producing countries such as Saudi Arabia. President Gallegos initiated the implementation of an "open-door" policy, which sparked an influx of Italians, eventually becoming the largest European population group within Venezuela. Nevertheless, army officersCarlos Delgado Chalbaud,Marcos Pérez Jiménez and Luis Felipe Llovera Páez overthrew him in the1948 Venezuelan coup d'état in November of that year. He took refuge first inCuba and then in Mexico. Gallegos returned to his country after the fall of the dictatorship ofMarcos Pérez Jiménez in 1958. While he was named asenator for life, he no longer took an active role in politics.
Gallegos was awarded theNational Literature Prize (1958, forLa doncella), and elected to theVenezuelan Academy of the Language (the correspondent agency in Venezuela of theSpanish Royal Academy).[7]
From 1960 to 1963, he was a Commissioner of the newly createdInter-American Commission on Human Rights (created by OAS in Washington on 18 August 1959), and he was also its first President (1960) a position he held until 1963.
| Cabinet of Rómulo Gallegos[8] | ||
|---|---|---|
| Ministry | Name | Períod |
| Internal Relations | Eligio Anzola Anzola | February – November, 1948 |
| External relationships | Andrés Eloy Blanco | |
| Treasury | Manuel Pérez Guerrero | |
| Defense | Carlos Delgado Chalbaud | |
| Development | Juan Pablo Pérez Alfonzo | |
| Public Works | Edgar Pardo Stolk | |
| Education | Luis Beltrán Prieto Figueroa | |
| Jobs | Raúl Leoni | |
| Communications | Leonardo Ruiz Pineda | |
| Agriculture & Livestock | Ricardo Montilla | |
| Health & Social Care | Edmundo Fernández | |
| Office | Gonzalo Barrios | |
He was nominated for theNobel Prize in Literature in 1960, largely due to the efforts ofMiguel Otero Silva and gained widespread support in Latin America,[9] but ultimately lost out toSaint-John Perse. TheRómulo Gallegos International Novel Prize was created in his honor on 6 August 1964 by a presidential decree, enacted by Venezuelan president Raúl Leoni. The declared purpose of the prize is to "perpetuate and honor the work of the eminent novelist and also to stimulate the creative activity of Spanish language writers." It is awarded by the government of Venezuela, through the offices of the Rómulo Gallegos Center for Latin American Studies (Celarg). The first prize was given in 1967. It was awarded every five years until 1987, when it became a biannual award. The award includes a cash prize of €100,000 making it among the richest literary prizes in the world.
Gallegos was married to Teotiste Arocha Egui, who served asFirst Lady of Venezuela in 1948.[citation needed] Rómulo Gallegos Freire died in Caracas on 5 April 1969.
In 2016 his grave was desecrated by thieves, who stole the marble and his remains. His granddaughter tookTwitter to express her frustration: "Here in Venezuela, not even the remains of an ex-president can be kept away from the hands of crime."
| Venezuelan Presidential election 1947 | ||||||||
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| Preceded by | President of Venezuela 1948 | Succeeded by |
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