Luis Miquilena

Infobox President
honorific-prefix =
name = Luis Manuel Miquilena Hernández
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birth_date = July 29, 1919
birth_place = Santa Ana de Coro, Venezuela
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nationality = Venezuelan
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party = PCV, PRP, URD, MVR
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profession = industrialist, politician
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Luis Manuel Miquilena Hernández is a Venezuelan politician. He was born on July 29, 1919 in Santa Ana de Coro, Falcón State.

First political career

Miquilena began his political career with the Venezuelan Communist Party (PCV) in the 1940s as Secretary General of the Union of Bus Drivers (Spanish: "Sindicato de Autobuseros"), allied with President Isaías Medina Angarita. He remained with the PCV for the next four years. Later, he became a firm opponent of president Rómulo Betancourt (first presidency 1945-1948). In 1945, he broke with the PCV over their support of Betancourt and formed his own political party, the Revolutionary Party of the Proletariat (PRP). The PRP was short-lived, lasting from the overthrow of the Gallegos government (in office February 1948-November 1948) until the rise of Marcos Pérez Jiménez. He opposed this government as well and as a result was jailed for a time. Jiménez was overthrown in 1958, and in an attempt to stabilize the fledgling democracy that succeeded the dictatorship, three Venezuelan political parties entered into the Pacto de Punto Fijo.

In 1959, Miquilena became the owner and director of the newspaper "El Clarín". Over time, he progressively became a strong opponent of the government of Rómulo Betancourt (second presidency 1959-1964) over its opposition to the Cuban government under Fidel Castro and its alleged repression of leftwing political groups.

In 1961, Miquilena joined the Democratic Republican Union (URD) party and he became a Representative for the state of Falcón in the House of Representatives. In 1964, he left the staff of "El Clarín", quit the URD, and retired from political life. For the next 30 years, he dedicated himself to business, becoming a landowner and industrialist.

In the 1990s, he met Hugo Chávez and returned to the political arena as one of the founders of the Fifth Republic Movement (MVR).

Political activity during the Chávez regime

During the first years of the Chávez regime, Miquilena held important government posts: president of the Constituent Assembly, president of the National Legislative Commission, Senator (term began 1999), and minister of Justice and the Interior. In the latter post, he launched the Citizen Security Plan and promoted the Peaceful Prison Disarmament Plan. ["El Universal" (Caracas), 1 Feb 2008] Miquilena was the first high official of the Chávez regime to be accused and tried on charges of corruption. He was acquitted of these charges.

Break with Chávez

Disagreements with measures taken by president Chávez led to a political break. In an interview a month after the failed coup against Chávez in April 2002, Miquilena rebutted Chávez's contention that the people had restored Chávez to power. Miquilena declared it was the incompetence of one of the coup leaders, Pedro Carmona, who had served as president for 36 hours, which restored Chavez to power "by his decree to dissolve the Assembly and by ousting all mayors". ["El Mundo" (Madrid), 12 May 2002] In 2007, Miquilena voiced his disagreement with the proposal for constitutional reform.

Notes

References

*"El Mundo" (Madrid). May 12, 2002. [http://www.elmundo.es/papel/2002/05/12/opinion/1142028_imp.html "Hugo Chávez Junto al Patio del Pez que Escupe Agua"] .
*"El Universal" (Caracas, Venezuela). 1 Feb 2008. [http://buscador.eluniversal.com/2008/02/01/pol_art_hombres-y-proyectos_693318.shtml Hombres y proyectos que han pasado por el MIJ en la revolución.] (Men and projects and have passed through the Ministry of Interior and Justice during the revolution.)

External links