Juan Vicente Gómez

Juan Vicente Gómez (1857-1935), Venezuelan dictator, who ruled his country from 1908 until his death in 1935. He was born in San Antonio del Táchira. He took a prominent part in the revolution that brought Venezuelan military leader Cipriano Castro to power in 1899. When Castro was elected president in 1902, Gómez was made vice president.

In 1908 Castro went to Europe for medical treatment, and he made Gómez provisional president. In Castro’s absence Gómez proclaimed himself president and became dictator; from 1915 he was commander in chief of the army. Gómez occupied the presidency from 1908 until 1935 except for two intervening periods. From 1915 to 1922 Victorino Márquez Bustillos was provisional president, and from 1929 to 1931 Juan Bautista Pérez held the office; however, both were dominated by Gómez.

With the aid of money from foreign countries and businesses, the exploitation of Venezuela’s petroleum resources became the most important industry in the country during the long Gómez regime. Petroleum was a source of great wealth for the dictator and his friends, who owned the majority of the oil concessions. Although Gómez ruthlessly suppressed opposition and neglected agriculture and social and educational improvements, he oversaw the modernization of Venezuela. Profits from oil sales helped support the construction of highways, ports, and cities.