Econ267s
From Dickinson College Wiki
- Formation of a Petroleum Economy
- Before the installation of the petroleum industry, Venezuelans lived by agriculture.
- Tachira liberals, dominant in the Andes Mountains, gained control of the central government in 1899. These liberals were a part of a fading middle class. Most of them were high school graduates that could not afford college; they had to settle for jobs with mediocore pay. They sensed that there middle class was being wiped out because they did not have governmental help with college. Tese liberals were led by Cipuano Castro and took over Venezuela by 1899. This Andean rule lasted from 1899-1945.
- Juan Vincent Gomez (1908-1935) presided over the transformation of Venezuela from an agricultural economy to a petroleum republic.
- Gomez took control of the government during a coup in 1908 that threw out Cipuano Castro.
- Gomez appointed economic ministers that had the same view as his. During the thirties, the government revamped the currency so it would favor capitial goods (petroleum) and so it would help eliminate the old agricultural economy. Gome also reestablished diplomatic relations with different world powers that Castro offended, including the United States.
