Background
Isaías Medina Angarita was born in San Cristóbal on 6 June 1897.
government official military president
Isaías Medina Angarita was born in San Cristóbal on 6 June 1897.
He was one of the first graduates, in 1914, of the military school established by Gómez, and his rise in the military ranks was steady if unspectacular.
In 1935 he was chief of staff of the army; between 1936 and 1941 minister of war and navy under Gómez successor. President Eleazar López Contreras; and in 1940 a brigadier general.
On October 18, 1945, Medina’s government fell.
Ex-President Medina went into exile in the United States, returning home in 1948 only after the Acción Democrática government had been overthrown. He played no further role in politics.
General López Contreras chose Medina as his successor, and Medina took office in early 1941. His administration was much more liberal than that of his predecessor. Among its most important acts were legalization of the hitherto underground National Democratic Party (PDN), led by Rómulo Betancourt, as Acción Democrática (AD) and of the Communist Party under the name Venezuelan Popular Union. Medina also had his own followers organized into the Venezuelan Democratic Party (PDV). He established the first stages of a social security system and a substantial middle-income housing program in Caracas. He reorganized relations with the petroleum companies, establishing closely similar dates for expiration of their concessions and substantially increasing the amount concessionaires had to pay the government.
Although substantially liberalizing the regime. President Medina refused to allow establishment of universal adult suffrage or direct popular election of his successor. However, he negotiated with AD to select a mutually acceptable candidate who would promise to introduce these two measures. Although agreement was reached on Diogenes Escalante, Venezuelan ambassador to Washington, no additional agreement was possible when Escalante fell ill and had to withdraw. Medina insisted that the PDV name his personal choice, Angel Biag- gini. As a consequence, AD accepted the overtures of junior army officers to cooperate in the overthrow of Medina.
