Background
Jaime Lusinchi was born in Clarines on 27 May 1924.
Jaime Lusinchi was born in Clarines on 27 May 1924.
He studied medicine at the Central University in Caracas and the University of the East.
While still very young, he became a local leader of AD in the state of Anzoátegui, being elected president of the state legislature in 1948. From 1948 to 1952 he served as regional secretary general of Acción Democrática, but then was arrested and exiled by the Military Junta then in power. He spent the next six years in Argentina, Chile, and the United States.
Upon returning to Venezuela after the fall of Pérez Jiménez, Jaime Lusinchi became a member of the National Executive Committee of AD, and served as the party’s international secretary from 1958 to 1961. He was a member of the Chamber of Deputies in 1959-1967 and subsequently was elected to the Senate. 222 President of the Acción Democrática parliamentary group from 1968 to 1978, he was secretary general of the party between 1980 and 1983, until he became AD’s candidate for president.
Jaime Lusinchi decisively defeated ex-President Rafal Caldera Rodriguez of the Social Christian Copei Party in the 1983 election. He took office in February 1984.