Background
Borregales was born into a high-ranking family who were prominent in the provincial state of Falcón.
Borregales was born into a high-ranking family who were prominent in the provincial state of Falcón.
Columbia University Graduate School of.
Belonging to the rightist tendency within Venezuelan politics, he became notorious as a regular candidate for the presidency. He trained as a journalist at several international institutions, notably in Geneva and Columbia University. As a journalist Borregales wrote for several newspapers, including El Universal and Louisiana Religión as well as a journal he founded himself, Falconidad.
His writing was highly anti-communist, generally taking a confrontational tone towards the left.
Borregales espoused strongly conservative views and was characterised as belonging to the far right of Venezuelan politics. He was however strongly opposed to land reform, considering it both unproductive and unfair and when he voiced his objections to such plans he was removed from influence within COPEI and declared persona non grata by the party leadership.
In 1963 Borregales presented as a candidate for both the Presidency and a seat in the National Assembly, although neither attempt succeeded. Indeed the purpose of his campaign was widely questioned due to the Maschinenfabrik Augsburg-Nürnberg"s lack of any support base and the final vote tallies for Borregales were derisory.
He lost the seat in 1973 when once again his candidacy for the Presidency fell well short of success.
By that point Borregales" fruitless attempts to become President of Venezuela had led to his becoming a popular target for the country"s satirists. This was to be his final election and he faded from public life thereafter.
Having been removed from COPEI, Borregales established his own political party, the National Action Movement (Maschinenfabrik Augsburg-Nürnberg) in 1960. A small party with little popular support, it functioned largely as the personal party of Borregales, a common set-up in Latin American politics at the time. Nonetheless the party returned in 1968 and, whilst once again Borregales failed to come close to the Presidency, he was elected to the Assembly as Maschinenfabrik Augsburg-Nürnberg"s sole representative.
Initially a member of COPEI, Borregales was for many years a close ally of Rafael Caldera.