Fifty his overthrow, published a summary of the eight-hour long conversation, where the former dictator told me that it seemed an aberration to the fate of Venezuela was debating between a soldier and a beauty queen, referring to presidential candidates for elections as 1988. He also spoke of his confrontations with the United States, their differences with the State Department and its proximity to the Pentagon.
"Delgado did not murder, but Urbina if I sent him to kill me ...", I said in the interview.
"My mother, who was born in Colombia, came to Michelena (Táchira) to found a college for women, and married, my father had more than 60 years and my mother was about 40. "
La Moraleja, Madrid, Spain
Marcos Evangelista, the general who ruled with an iron fist to Venezuela for a decade, took a nostalgic air of a "grandfather" who knows that his end is near. In the middle of our eight-hour interview, recorded in April 1998, he felt something like the need to make some disclosures outside their trite speech to the press. We talked about his childhood, his mother was born in Colombia, "and later, when referring to Rafael Simon Urbina, his revelation sounded like an explosion: "In this great fuck yeah I sent to kill him ...". We turned on the recorder again, and explained his reasons. In another moment
ran off laughing after a Mexican to refer to the death of John Fitzgerald and Robert: "In the Kennedy gave the first tower, I saved some CHURUP, because it would have given anything for the physical elimination of John Fitzgerald ...".
I asked if he could give copies of these declarations to a library, for academic use, and said he had nothing to repent of what he said, he did not expect to die yet ("I'm lying here ... now die I want to die yet) but it was full of health ailments, had just returned from a checkup. I had to turn off the recorder, because the list of ills is long ago.
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The conversation was initiated following a few copies in my possession on the meetings of the presidents Isais Rómulo Gallegos Medina Angarita and Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman, documents that lie at the U.S. National Archives, which made it clear that at some point Pérez Jiménez was followed by embassies estadounideneses to detect the target of their tours of some countries in Latin America, visiting military and dictators before him to exercise power, a fact admitted. Some papers
showed how President Harry Truman to recognize opposed the coup of 48, the end to maintain relations with the "rebel" ambassador Carnevalli entrenched in Venezuela's residence in Washington after ousted Gallegos, while a section of the Pentagon and oil companies pressing for the coup, in a letter which stated that Rómulo Betancourt was the flag of communism in Latin America and Rómulo Gallegos was his puppet ... papers for history.
recall the shooting death of Rafael Simon Urbina and his alleged attempted suicide within the Embassy of Nicaragua, after the assassination of President of the Board, Colonel Carlos Delgado Chalbaud made registered on November 13, 1950, and note that Urbina to dictate to his wife, Maria Isabel, led to Perez Jimenez, where he stated:
"Since I came to the country wished that you were the President, Major Delgado Chal is seriously injured and I find myself badly wounded at the Embassy of Nicaragua, where I ask for protection. "
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Pérez Jiménez said to me: "I told Urbina, and who the hell told you to kill Delgado?, Do not you see the pod cast us?". Urbina die shortly after several shots while being taken by a committee of National Security.
In relation to other crimes he is charged, ironically the general replied: "Look, I've been blamed for many deaths, but I can tell Berruecos's murderer was not me ... I did not murder the marshal (Antonio José de) Sucre. "
I said he was unaware of the capacity of Lieutenant Colonel Hugo Chávez Frías to lead the country, and that seemed an aberration that people were torn between a soldier and a beauty queen.
Finally, after a session of "poetry" of his creation, he replied: "I wrote some poems, but I put that I am a poet ... I am a versifier, and more than versifier am sonneteer ... to be a poet is to be exquisite, to fantasies, fantasies live ... Gallegos therefore fell.
The rest is understood in the course of the interview.
Early in poverty
- What was your childhood?
-Dura. We belong to a very poor family . The founder of the town of Michelena was a priest-uncle of mine. Michelena was founded because it came an earthquake and much of Lobatera was destroyed. After my father came from Lobatera where he married his first wife very young. My father was widowed. My mother, who was born in Colombia, Michelena came to found a college for women, and married, my father had more than 60 years and my mother was about 40. The first marriage, my father had eight children, the second five.
"When my father was born nearly 70 years. My brother, who was murdered at the Country Club, was born three years after me. I come from long-lived people. When my father died, leaving many debts, and there was the possibility of that we could study. Often they ate poorly, had to have a full board. "
"When my father died, there were few assets to divide between the first and second family, So that became nothing. Fortunately for us, the German Pharmacy, with whom my father had a debt, was donated to us, and so preserve the house in Michelena. That house, with the passage of time, the government seized because it was a house supposedly ill-gotten, ill-gotten goods that were attributed after my ouster. "
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- What about his early years .. school?
"I wanted to go to the Free University in Bogota, but that's not even dream. I started studying mechanical engineering by correspondence. It introduced the fact that my brother left candidate of a School Officers, and one year lieutenants left school. I said, "I am going to the military environment." Had not reached 17 years that were required then to enter. I did a loitering there, add me for another year. Then they said I could spend the third year, which meant that official could leave in two years, but the director of the School, Colonel Eulogio Becerra said he was very young. It was better that way, because in three months and made me commander over the coming freshmen. There began a military career.
U.S. Confrontation
- few documents that lie in the historical archives in Washington make accusations about an alleged crusade waged by you between 1945 and 1948, promoting a feeling in Latin America against U.S. ...
"To some extent they're right in the sense that what he wanted, then, was a definition of United States policy toward Latin America that was more worthy to our interests and not the policy that sought to distance tibia keep these nations as economic colonies and in a state of permanent backwardness which was more suitable for economic colonialism.
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- What time pressures felt the first part of U.S. government?
"There was pressure and blandishments. Eisenhower honored me with the highest U.S. award, which is the Congressional Order of Merit. Now, I always tried that relations between Venezuela and the United States be maintained at a high level of respect, not subservience. There were several events which led to these relations were souring somewhat.
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"One of them, when there was a motion restrictionist was going to happen in the United States Congress, in order to reduce the share acquisition of oil than the United States had assigned him to Venezuela. To them suited then import more oil from Saudi Arabia. Then I went to Congress and said that if we restrict the market for our oil to northern markets, would remove our shipments of iron to the United States. Before this action, dismissed the motion constraints and the market was as it was before. I knew that if he removed the shipments of iron, practically paralyzed the steel industry in the Atlantic Coast in the United States. "
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- From the moment you have the first contact with the government in 1945 until the time of his extradition from Miami to Venezuela, accounted for agreeing to act four presidents of the United States, one of them was Kennedy ...
"The evils caused me President Kennedy concurred with great evils to the United States. In the war in Vietnam, had to get effective action to counter the forces of North Vietnam and the Viet Cong, who led by more than half a million soldiers. They lost the war in Vietnam, after spending over 200 billion dollars. Of combatants in Vietnam, came the first batch of 400,000 drug addicts, who have been the basis of the 25 million drug addicts in the United States has now. All the work of a clumsy Kennedy.
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- What reasons do you think for there to be deprived his extradition from the United States to Venezuela, during the government of President Kennedy?
"I do not know what would be the reason that took John Kennedy. He was primarily responsible for my extradition, and when Robert Kennedy was attorney-who dealt with my extradition. On both, as the Mexicans say, they were given by the first tower, as if a providential hand had done a good job ... If you had asked me if I wanted to delete them both, I would have said: "Yes, how much to pay?". And if he had been within my means, I would have spent as needed. But it turns out the two I have eliminated free. Look you, I saved about CHURUP. Dictator
atomic
- say that you keep many secrets, and that these may never be known. But one that has aired is the project you are promoted to the creation of a Nuclear Plant in Guyana ...
-Make a large power reactor in the Gran Sabana, because we wanted to convert it into a major industrial zone, the reactor generating power of fiction, because fiction reactors, unfortunately, not been very practical. Fission is the disintegration of the the atom decays. But the predominant energy in the cosmos is the fusion of hydrogen atoms. The principal transformation of hydrogen atoms into atoms of helium, which is the energy in the interior of stars, and is the energy that mankind will in the future: clean, inexhaustible, because hydrogen is water .
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- What was the project?
-I in the IVIC Project in order to create the Gran Sabana. There was going to put the nuclear reactor, but it would harness the energy generated by the waters of the Caroni River, which is the second basin hydroelectric potential is South America. We begin by making Macagua Plant to supply electricity for the plant in Matanzas, Matanzas Steel, which now will sell. I say sell. Not to privatize ...
Exercise of
-Looking in retrospect, do not you think it was wrong to have ousted the government of Isaias Medina Angarita?
-Venezuela did not have the socio-economic situation should have with respect to its historical tradition, its natural resources and geographical location. One felt that Venezuela, better managed, could achieve that status. And the general government of Medina, while he was a good man, easy to some extent, with some charisma, seemed to have all the credentials to ensure that Venezuela had achieved. Perhaps politically misguided. In Venezuela, this politician who has the ability to cheat and move from one side to another. Bypass talanquera sometimes changed the jacket, that is what Venezuela is recognized as political.
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- When did you first crossed the idea of \u200b\u200bbeing president of Venezuela?
I can not say one time, but Depending on the circumstances that presented themselves. When I returned from Peru, after having made the artillery school and the school of war, I had opened the idea that Venezuela had to be a more hierarchical nation. At that time we were under, behind the other South American countries. I brought this idea to achieve that potential.
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- He began to indoctrinate their comrades in arms ...
-No. There was already a motion. They began to make contact with me. The idea of \u200b\u200ba hierarchy in Venezuela itself was mine. So, I answered affirmatively, but the movement had to have a national character, with purposes that are not exclusively military. Then drew up the five points with which many officers were sworn.
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- How come there Rómulo Betancourt and the Democratic Action?
"I thought, when the revolution of October 18, 1945, Betancourt was the most prepared for the exercise of the functions of head of state. In one of the five points that I wrote saying that we would hand over power to a group of Venezuelans. And we had to find matches because we could not turn to a person. Democratic Action preached that could Venezuela to get to better horizons. I was one of the Betancourt told him: "You must be the President of Venezuela, where the movement succeed, but even before the movement ended, I realized he did not have sufficient capacity , he was very fond of sectarianism, the party and putting personal interests above the interests of the nation.
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- In which time he met Romulo Betancourt?
"When I returned from Peru found that there was a movement in the military. I was invited to participate. The motion was Delgado Chalbaud, Gutiérrez, Mario Vargas Márquez Añez. I told them it was worth making a move for Venezuela to occupy the place it deserves in the world. I noted how favorable factors were not being used, and that he should not give the military the only character insurgent to wield power, but a government structure based on the most representative that had the nation in civil order. That was why, having sounded Betancourt as opposition to the government of Medina, I thought he could give new life to the country, but I deeply wrong ... Movement came from 18 October. I did not want go to Miraflores to sign the Memorandum of Association of the Government, so that there is not my signature.
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- Why not sign?
"Because I had not realized the sectarianism of Betancourt. Following the October 18 is that I was sent to the South American tour. They forced me. The first thing they did was invent it had to go to America to seek a weapon. I was there for a month and returned to Venezuela, where I had a little distant. Invented after a tour of Latin America, Haiti, Guatemala, Panama, Ecuador, Peru, Chile and Argentina. At that time I did do work for the relationship between the United States and Latin America were in a position of greater dignity for Latin America. That made United States began to me carefully.
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- Was it his idea to integrate a civilian government with a civilian-military junta Rómulo Betancourt?
"Yes. Suggested that integrated civilian-military government, which were represented the cream of the representation of Venezuelans.
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- not mentioned Romulo Gallegos ...
-Romulo Gallegos, excellent writer and novelist, but Venezuela is thought that the poet, the novelist, is fit to lead the nation. There is nothing so far from the conditions required for the conduct of a nation because they are dreamers, are image makers, and the more abstract images created more good novelists are more good poets are. To be head of state must have adequate knowledge and be a very pragmatic man.
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- Does Betancourt Gallegos drove him?
"I drove all the ministers handled. Some say it had character, he had no character, nothing. Miraflores reached at 10 am, he began to spin, asked for a cup of coffee, started a chat, and a minister came to tell him and say, "leave it there, let's talk about other things", and embarked on a talk that had nothing to do with the conduct of the State. Government was not involved. Now, as a novelist my hat.
(part five)
