Carlos Delgado Chalbaud

Carlos Delgado Chalbaud
President of Venezuela
In office 24 November 1948 – 13 November 1950
Preceded by	Rómulo Gallegos
Succeeded by	Germán Suárez Flamerich
Minister of Defense
In office 21 October 1945 – 24 November 1948
Preceded by	Delfín Becerra
Succeeded by	Marcos Pérez Jiménez
Personal details
Born	(1909-01-20)20 January 1909 Caracas
Died	Caracas
Spouse(s)	Lucía Devine
Signature

Carlos Román Delgado Chalbaud Gómez (20 January 1909 – 13 November 1950) was a Venezuelan career military officer, and as leader of a military junta was President of Venezuela from 1948 to 1950. By 1945 he was a high-ranking officer and was among the leaders of a military coup which brought to power the mass membership party Democratic Action. In 1948, whilst Minister of Defense, he led another military coup and became head of state as President of a military junta, serving in that position until his death. He was assassinated in Caracas.

Background

Delgado Chalbaud was the son of Román Delgado Chalbaud and Luisa Elena Gómez Velutini. He was known as Carlos Delgado Chalbaud because he used the last names of his father Román Delgado Chalbaud as a form of tribute to his memory. He studied Engineering in France; after finishing his studies he returned to Venezuela and joined the Army with the rank of captain.

Career

As one of the brightest officials of the Armed Forces associated with the group that overthrew Isaías Medina Angarita in 1945, he was a member of the Government Revolutionary Junta which replaced Medina in power. He was Minister of Defense during the presidencies of Rómulo Betancourt and Rómulo Gallegos.

In 1948 Chalbaud was among those who overthrew that government of president Gallegos, and was a member of the Military Junta of Government along with Marcos Pérez Jiménez and Luis Llovera Páez, being the titular head of the three-person junta. Delgado Chalbaud was twice a betrayer, but Venezuelan historians tend to speak well of him, analogously as they argue in America that John F. Kennedy would not have allowed the Vietnam War to escalate. But both positions are counterfactual, hence un-provable. What is often said is that Delgado Chalbaud was planning to restore Venezuelan democracy. If that was his intention, he did not get the chance to accomplish it. He was kidnapped and assassinated on 13 November 1950, by a group led by Rafael Simon Urbina and his nephew Domingo Urbina. The kidnapping took place in Caracas in the now urbanized "La Cinta" street, in Baruta.

Although it has not been possible to confirm, for many people, the mastermind was Pérez Jiménez; nevertheless some believe this is unlikely since the wife of Marcos Pérez Jiménez, Doña Flor María Chalbaud Cardona de Pérez Jiménez, was Delgado Chalbaud's cousin. His murder seems to be the unintended outcome of a failed kidnapping led by Simon Urbina who looked to overthrow the Chalbaud presidency. Some believe Urbina despised Delgado Chalbaud although others allege they were close until a falling out over politics split them apart. The day after the capture and imprisonment of Urbina, he was assassinated by orders of the Direction of National Security, effectively securing Pérez Jiménez's position as the strongman in Venezuela for the next several years.

Legacy

Cerro Carlos Delgado Chalbaud (1047m), a mountain in Venezuela's Amazonas estate where the headwaters of the Orinoco River are located, is named after him.

See also

• Presidents of Venezuela

References

Political offices
Preceded by Rómulo Gallegos	President of Venezuela 1948–1950	Succeeded by Germán Suárez Flamerich