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The 'President of Venezuela' (Spanish: ''Presidente de Venezuela'') is both the head of state and head of government of Venezuela. The current presidential term is for six years with one possibility of immediate re-election, and with the constitutionally guaranteed recourse of holding a popular recall referendum anytime within the last three years of a presidential term.
The designation "President" encompasses only those persons who were sworn into office as President of Venezuela following Venezuela's declaration of independence from
Spanish colonial rule, which took effect on
July 5,
1811. The first president, taking office on July 5, 1811, was one of the three signatories of the Declaration of Independence:
Cristóbal Mendoza.
[1]
Owing to the profound turmoil of the
South American Wars of Independence and the period of
Gran Colombia over what is now Venezuela, this page has gaps between 1814 and 1819. The
Congress of Angostura appointed
Simón Bolivar "Jefe Supremo de la República de Venezuela" (Supreme Commander of the Republic of Venezuela) from 1819 until 1830. The list below includes interim 'caretaker' as well as regular serving presidents, and democratically-installed presidents as well as those installed by other means (e.g.;
Marcos Pérez Jiménez,
Pedro Carmona Estanga).
Comments on presidential ordering
The first numbering column reflects the number of the presidency. Since its creation as a republic in 1812, Venezuela has had a total to date of 70 presidencies: a single person serving a single term beginning with
Cristóbal Mendoza. The second column reflects uninterrupted time in office served by a single person. For example,
Juan Crisóstomo Falcón served two consecutive terms and is counted ''in the first column'' as ''both'' 20th presidency and 21st presidency anthis is buld in the second column as 19th presidential office. The third column lists the actual numbering of distinct individual presidents. Venezuela has been ruled by a total of forty-three men to date. Many of the men listed below became President on a ''provisional'' basis as they waited for the arrival of the elected or regular president, such as commonly occurs in the aftermath of a
civil war,
rebellion, or
coup d'état. As a consequence, other Venezuelan presidential rosters may not choose to include the seventy terms below, citing the extreme brevity of certain terms, unusual circumstances that may have surrounded a president's ascendancy into office, and other factors. The colors shaded about each president indicate the political party affiliation of each President (''see key, below'').
List of Presidents of Venezuela
#
(unique) | #
(all) | #
(selected all) | | President | Dates in office | Form of entry | Occupation |
|---|
| 1 | 1 | 1 | | 'Cristóbal Mendoza' | 1811-1813 | Elected by First Congress | Lawyer / Politician |
| 2 | 2 | 2 | | 'Simón Bolívar' | 1813-1814 | Indirect elections | Military general |
| 3 | 3 | 2 | | 'Simón Bolívar' | 1819-1830 | Indirect elections | Military general |
|- bgcolor=#ffffcc
|4||4||3||
||'
José Antonio Páez'||1830-1835||Indirect elections||Military general
|- bgcolor=#ffffcc
|5||—||5||
||'
Andrés Narvarte'||1835-1835||Acting President||Lawyer / politician
|- bgcolor=#ffffcc
|6||5||4||
||'
José María Vargas'||1835-1835||Indirect elections||Physician
|- bgcolor=#ffffcc
|7||—||—||
||'
Santiago Mariño'||1835-1835||Acting President||Militar / politician
|- bgcolor=#ffffcc
|8||—||6||
||'
José María Carreño'||1835-1835||Acting President||Military general
|- bgcolor=#ffffcc
|9||—||4||
||'
José María Vargas'||1835-1836||Restoration||Physician
|- bgcolor=#ffffcc
|10||6||5||
||'
Andrés Narvarte'||1836-1837||Interim caretaker||Lawyer / politician
|- bgcolor=#ffffcc
|11||7||6||
||'
José María Carreño'||1837-1837||Interim caretaker||Military general
|- bgcolor=#ffffcc
|12||8||7||
||'
Carlos Soublette'||1837-1839||Interim caretaker||Military general
|- bgcolor=#ffffcc
|13||9||3||
||'
José Antonio Páez'||1839-1843||Indirect elections||Military general
|- bgcolor=#ffffcc
|14||10||7||
||'
Carlos Soublette'||1843-1847||Indirect elections||Military general
|- bgcolor=#ffffcc
|15||11||8||
||'
José Tadeo Monagas'||1847-1851||Indirect elections||Military general
|- bgcolor=#ffffcc
|16||12||9||
||'
José Gregorio Monagas'||1851-1855||Indirect elections||Military general
|- bgcolor=#ffffcc
|17||13||8||
||'
José Tadeo Monagas'||1855-1858||Indirect elections||Military general
|- bgcolor=#ffffcc
|18||14||10||
||'
Pedro Gual Escandon'||1858-1858||—||—
|- bgcolor=#ccffcc
|19||15||11||
||'
Julián Castro'||1858-1859||Coup d'état||Military general
|- bgcolor=#ffffcc
|20||16||10||
||'
Pedro Gual Escandon'||1859-1859||—||—
|- bgcolor=#ffffcc
|21||17||11||
||'
Manuel Felipe Tovar'||1859-1861||Coup d'état (first term);
direct elections (second term)||Politician
|- bgcolor=#ffffcc
|22||18||10||
||'
Pedro Gual Escandon'||1861-1861||—||—
|- bgcolor=#ccffcc
|23||19||3||
||'
José Antonio Páez'||1861-1863||—||—
|- bgcolor=#ccffcc
|24||20||12||
||'
Juan Crisóstomo Falcón'||1863 - 1865||Victory in the Federal War (first term)||—
|- bgcolor=#ffffcc
|25||20||12||
||'
Juan Crisóstomo Falcón'||1865 - April 1868||Indirect elections (second term)||Military general
|- bgcolor=#ffffcc
|26||21||13||
||'
Manuel Ezequiel Bruzual'||1868-1868||—||—
|- bgcolor=#ffffcc
|27||22||14||
||'
Guillermo Tell Villegas' || 1868-1869||—||—
|- bgcolor=#ccffcc
|28||23||15||
||'
José Ruperto Monagas'||1869-1870||Revolution||Military general
|- bgcolor=#ffffcc
|29||24||14||
||'
Guillermo Tell Villegas'||1870-1870||—||—
|- bgcolor=#ccffcc
|30||25||16||
||'
Antonio Guzmán Blanco'||1870-1877||Revolution (first term)||Lawyer / Military general
|- bgcolor=#ffffcc
|31||25||16||
||'
Antonio Guzmán Blanco'||1870-1877||Indirect elections (second term)||Lawyer / Military general
|- bgcolor=#ffffcc
|32||26||17||
||'
Francisco Linares Alcántara'||1877-1878||Indirect elections||Military general
|- bgcolor=#ffffcc
|33||27||18||
||'
José Gregorio Varela'||1878-1878||—||—
|- bgcolor=#ffffcc
|34||28||16||
||'
Antonio Guzmán Blanco'||1879-1880||Election by the Federal States||Lawyer / Military general
|- bgcolor=#ffffcc
|35||28||16||
||'
Antonio Guzmán Blanco'||1880-1882||Election by the Federal States||Lawyer / Military general
|- bgcolor=#ffffcc
|36||28||16||
||'
Antonio Guzmán Blanco'||1882-1884||Election by the Federal States||Lawyer / Military general
|- bgcolor=#ffffcc
|37||29||18||
||'
Joaquín Sinforiano de Jesús Crespo'||1884-1886||Elections by the Federal States||Military general
|- bgcolor=#ffffcc
|38||30||16||
||'
Antonio Guzmán Blanco'||1886-1887||Elections by the Federal States||Lawyer / Military general
|- bgcolor=#ffffcc
|39||31||19||
||'
Hermógenes López'||1887 - 1888||Intermin caretaker||Military general
|- bgcolor=#ffffcc
|40||32||20||
||'
Juan Pablo Rojas Paúl'||1888 - 1890||Elections by the Federal States||Lawyer
|- bgcolor=#ffffcc
|41||33||27||
||'
Raimundo Andueza Palacio'||1890-1892||Elections by the Federal States||Lawyer
|- bgcolor=#ffffcc
|42||34||—||
||'
Guillermo Tell Villegas'||1892-1892||—||—
|- bgcolor=#ccffcc
|43||35||28||
||'
Joaquín Sinforiano de Jesús Crespo'||1892-1894||Revolution||Military general
|- bgcolor=#ccffcc
|44||35||29||
||'
Joaquín Sinforiano de Jesús Crespo'||1894-1898||Revolution||Military general
|- bgcolor=#ffffcc
|45||36||30||
||'
Ignacio Andrade'||1898-1899||Direct elections||Politician
|- bgcolor=#ccffcc
|46||37||31||
||'
Cipriano Castro Ruiz'||1899-1908||Revolution||Military general
|- bgcolor=#ccffcc
|47||38||32||
||'
Juan Vicente Gómez'||1908-1914||Coup d'état||Military general
|- bgcolor=#ffffcc
|48||39||—||
||'
Victorino Márquez Bustillos'||1915-1922||Appointed provisional president
[1]||Lawyer / politician
|- bgcolor=#ccffcc
|49||40||32||
||'
Juan Vicente Gómez'||1922-1929||—||—
|- bgcolor=#ffffcc
|50||41||—||
||'
Juan Bautista Pérez'||
May 30 1929 -
June 13 1931||Indirect election by the National Assembly||Lawyer / magistrate
|- bgcolor=#ccffcc
|51||42||32||
||'
Juan Vicente Gómez'||1931-1935||Indirect election by the National Assembly||Military general
|- bgcolor=#ffffcc
|52||43||33||
||'
Eleazar López Contreras'||1935-1936||Interim caretaker (first term)||—
|- bgcolor=#ffffcc
|53||43||34||
||'
Eleazar López Contreras'||1936-1941||Indirect elections (second term)||Military general
|- bgcolor=#ffffcc
|54||44||35||
||'
Isaías Medina Angarita'||1941-1945||Indirect elections||Military general
|- bgcolor=#ccffff
|55||45||36||
||'
Rómulo Ernesto Betancourt Bello'||
October 18,
1945 -
17 February,
1948||Coup d'état||Politician
|- bgcolor=#ffffcc
|56||46||37||
||'
Rómulo Gallegos Freire'||
February 17,
1948 -
24 November,
1948||Direct elections||Writer / Novelist
|- bgcolor=#ccffcc
|57||47||38||
||'
Carlos Delgado Chalbaud' ||
November 24,
1948 -
13 November,
1950||Coup d'état||Military officer
|- bgcolor=#ffffcc
|58||48||39||
||'
Germán Suárez Flamerich'||
November 13,
1950 -
2 December,
1952||Interim caretaker||Lawyer
|- bgcolor=#ccffcc
|59||49||40||
||'
Marcos Pérez Jiménez'||
December 2,
1952 -
23 January,
1958||Indirect elections||Military officer
|- bgcolor=#ccffcc
|60||50||41||
||'
Wolfgang Larrazábal'||
January 23,
1958 -
14 November,
1958||Coup d'état||Rear admiral
|- bgcolor=#ffffcc
|61||51||42||
||'
Edgar Sanabria'||
November 14,
1958 -
13 February,
1959||Interim caretaker||Lawyer
|- bgcolor=#ccffff
|62||52||43||
||'
Rómulo Ernesto Betancourt Bello'||
February 13,
1959 -
13 March,
1964||Direct elections||Politician
|- bgcolor=#ccffff
|63||53||44||
||'
Raúl Leoni Otero'||
March 13,
1964 -
11 March,
1969||Direct elections||Lawyer
|- bgcolor=#ccccff
|64||54||45||
||'
Rafael Caldera Rodríguez'||
March 11,
1969 -
12 March,
1974||Direct elections||Lawyer
|- bgcolor=#ccffff
|65||55||46||
||'
Carlos Andrés Pérez Rodríguez'||
March 12,
1974 -
12 March,
1979||Direct elections||Politician
|- bgcolor=#ccccff
|66||56||47||
||'
Luis Herrera Campins'||
March 12,
1979 -
2 February,
1984||Direct elections||Lawyer
|- bgcolor=#ccffff
|67||57||48||
||'
Jaime Lusinchi'||
February 2,
1984 -
2 February,
1989||Direct elections||Physician
|- bgcolor=#ccffff
|68||58||49||
||'
Carlos Andrés Pérez Rodríguez[2]||
February 2,
1989 -
21 May,
1993||Direct elections||Politician
|- bgcolor=#ccffff
|69||—||—||
||'
Octavio Lepage Barreto[3]||
May 21,
1993 -
5 June,
1993||Interim president||Lawyer / Politician
|- bgcolor=#ffffcc
|70||59||50||
||'
Ramón José Velásquez'||
June 5,
1993 -
2 February,
1994||Interim president||Writer
|- bgcolor=#ffffcc
|71||60||51||
||'
Rafael Caldera Rodríguez'||
February 2,
1994 -
2 February 1999||Direct elections||Lawyer
|- bgcolor=#ffcccc
|72||61||52||
||'
Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías[4]||
2 February 1999 -
11 April 2002||Direct Elections||Military officer
(Lt. colonel)
|- bgcolor=#ccffcc
|73||62||—||
||'
Pedro Carmona Estanga'
[5][6][7][8]
||
11 April 2002-
13 April 2002(2 days)||Coup d'état||Businessman
|- bgcolor=#ffcccc
|74||63||—||
||'
Diosdado Cabello Rondón '||
13 April 2002 -
13 April 2002(several hours)||Interim caretaker||Engineer
|- bgcolor=#ffcccc
|75||64||53||
||'
Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías'||
13 April 2002 -
10 January 2007||Restoration of constitutional order||Military officer
(Lt. colonel)
|- bgcolor=#ffcccc
|76||64||52||
||'
Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías'||
10 January 2007 -
present||Direct elections||Military officer
(Lt. colonel)
|}
Latest election
Notes
1. Bustillos was appointed to the presidency in a provisional fashion after Juan Vicente Gómez, after himself being elected (by the National Assembly) as president. Gómez opted not to assume the presidency, instead choosing to continue in the role of directing the Venezuelan army.
2. On May 21 1993 Pérez resigned after being accused of corruption by the Attorney General.
3. Octavio Lepage was the President of Congress and was in charge of the government until Ramón J. Velásquez was elected by Congress on June 5, 1993.
4. On April 11, 2002, senior military officers refused Chávez's orders to carry out Plan Ávila. They arrested Chávez, saying he had resigned, and Pedro Carmona Estanga assumed the presidency. Following an uprising, aided by sectors of the military loyal to Chávez, the new government collapsed and Chávez was restored to power early on April 15 2002. Between the deposing of Carmona and the return of Chávez, Vice President Diosdado Cabello assumed the presidency.
5. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1927599.stm
6. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1927322.stm
7. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1926185.stm
8. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1927678.stm
See also
★
Politics of Venezuela
★
History of Venezuela
★
Venezuelan presidential election, 2000
★
lists of incumbents
★
Politics
★
★
External links
★
Official portal for the President.
★
Official government site (Government Online).
References
★
Nuestros Presidentes — Official government portal for presidential biographies.
★
Jefes de Estado de Venezuela
★
Cuadro de Presidentes Venezolanos
★
Presidentes y jefes de Gobierno
★
Comentarios sobre la Lista de Presidentes
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