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Venezuelan politician (1902–1993) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Luis Beltrán Prieto Figueroa (14 March 1902 – 22 April 1993), was a Venezuelan politician. A founder of Democratic Action and Minister of Education in its first government (1947–1948), he was a leader of Democratic Action after the restoration of democracy in 1958. He split from Democratic Action in 1967 when it tried to prevent his victory in district-level primary elections for the 1968 presidential race translating into Prieto Figueroa winning the nomination. He and a substantial group of supporters split from AD and founded the People's Electoral Movement, which he led until his death.[1]
Luis Beltrán Prieto Figueroa | |
|---|---|
 | |
| President of the Senate of Venezuela | |
| In office 1962–1967 | |
| President | Rómulo Betancourt Raúl Leoni |
| Preceded by | Raúl Leoni |
| Succeeded by | Luis Augusto Dubuc |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 14 March 1902 La Asunción, Nueva Esparta |
| Died | 22 April 1993 (aged 91) Caracas, Venezuela |
| Nationality | Venezuelan |
| Political party | Democratic Action, People's Electoral Movement |
| Profession | politician |
| Signature |  |
After completing a doctorate in political and social sciences at the Central University of Venezuela (1934),[1] he became engaged in politics, and was a senator from 1936 to 1941.[1] He was a founding member of party Acción Democrática (AD, Democratic Action), and Minister of Education under Rómulo Gallegos (1947-8).[1] After the 1948 coup he went into exile, working for UNESCO in Costa Rica and Honduras (1951-8), after a professorship at the University of Havana (1950-1).[1] Returning from exile after the end of the dictatorship of Marcos Pérez Jiménez in 1958, he was again elected senator (1959–1969).[1] During this time he was Secretary General of AD (1958-9), President of the Venezuelan Senate from 1962 to 1967,[2] and President of AD (1963–67).[1]
In 1967 Prieto Figueroa campaigned to be the party's presidential candidate for the 1968 Venezuelan presidential election; a Democratic Action convention was to be held in September 1967 which would choose the candidate. Previous practice had been for convention members to be chosen by a process where local party committees chose representatives for state conventions, and these chose state representatives for the national convention.[3] However in spring 1967 the party decided to hold primary elections at local level, with district representatives to district conventions elected by the mass membership instead of party committees.[3] The Rómulo Betancourt faction supported Gonzalo Barrios, considering Prieto too far left.[4] Prieto Figueroa split from AD over the affair along with a substantial number of his supporters, founding the People's Electoral Movement.[4] As its candidate in the 1968 election he gained nearly 20% of the vote, coming fourth in a close election (COPEI's Rafael Caldera won with 29%). However Prieto's subsequent electoral run, in the 1978 Venezuelan presidential election (the party endorsed Jesús Ángel Paz Galarraga in 1973), achieved only just over 1%.[citation needed]
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