Revolutionary Left Movement (Venezuela)
Encyclopedia
The Revolutionary Left Movement (Spanish
: Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionaria, MIR), was a left-wing Marxist political party
in Venezuela
. It split from Acción Democrática in 1960 and became involved in armed guerrilla struggle against the Venezuelan state.
MIR merged with the Movement for Socialism
(MAS) in 1988.
made to Venezuela, specifically to its capital Caracas
on January, 1959, to celebrate the first anniversary of the fall of the military dictatorship
of General Marcos Pérez Jiménez
. Castro's visit served him to encourage the youth of the Democratic Action
around the epic lived by the Cuban Revolution
in Sierra Maestra. The political contrast of Castro and then Venezuelan president, Rómulo Betancourt
, made the political youth of the time more encouraged towards Castro's position, this made more by generational differences than ideological ones. To round off the internal crisis, Democratic Action expelled from their ranks a number of youth leaders and party members that identified themselves with Cuban policy in addition to constant criticism of the policy of unemployment, struggle against reaction, land reform, economic policy, fiscal and international all contrary to the doctrinal basis of Democratic Action.
For these reasons, Domingo Alberto Rangel, Gumersindo Rodriguez and Jose Rafael Muñoz justified the division from their formar party and founded, with groups of mostly young people, the new leftist revolutionary party. At the exact moment of the creation of MIR, it pleaded, according to their weekly Izquierda, as a "Marxist party, their goal was to drive the Venezuelan people to the path of socialism through the National Revolution realizing a clearly anti-imperialist and anti-feudal program".
On May 9, 1962, the Communist Party of Venezuela
(PCV) and the MIR are disabled by the government of Romulo Betancourt
and they assume the armed struggle that lasted until the first government of Rafael Caldera
. However it was MIR that first launched to the armed struggle in Venezuela causing serious urban clashes between 1961 and 1962 and the installation of a guerrilla front in the East of the country which they called Front Manuel Ponte Rodríguez, to be later dismantled in 1964 by the Venezuelan army and reconstituted in 1965 with the name of Guerrilla Front Antonio Jose de Sucre.
During this time, the MIR integrates with the PCV, the so-called Armed Forces of National Liberation (FALN). Some of their leaders included Domingo Alberto Rangel, Jose Manuel "Chema" Saher, Américo Silva and Americo Martin, Simon Saez Merida, Etanislao Gonzalez, Jose Manuel Gilli Trejo, Ruben Jaramillo, Gabriel Puerta Aponte, Victor and Fernando Soto Rojas, Julio Escalona, Marcos Gomez, Carlos José Ugueto Marino and Carlos Betancourt.
The MIR was actively involved in subversive struggles developed in Venezuela in the 1960's. One of the most active cells was named "Van Troi" led by Jesus Alberto Marquez Finol who executed many officers, soldiers and civilians for not supporting the armed struggle, such as the shooting of Doctor Alfredo Seijas, Legal Counsel of the DIGEPOL on September of 1965, who was a lawyer and was abducted from inside the Central University of Venezuela
(UCV) and moved towards urbanization Macaracuay of Caracas, to run to death. Other rural guerrilla Youth members of the MIR, as Ramon Amundaray Sanchez, died after being caught flying a pipeline north of the state Anzoátegui
.
(MAS) candidates: José Vicente Rangel
and Teodoro Petkoff
. The group of Carlos Betancourt
who formed the Red Flag Party
on January 20 of 1970 with a predominantly rural guerrilla trend, later legalized as a party in 2000 but not before suffering several internal divisions. And the third group led by Jorge Rodriguez
and Julio Escalona who decide to start an urban guerrilla struggle but combined with legal means, creating the Revolutionary Organization (OR), whose legal facade would be called Socialist League
and would participate in the elections being led by Carmelo Laborit, Jorge Rodriguez, Orlando Yajure, Oscar Bataglinni, Norelkis Meza and David Nieves. Furthermore, Américo Martin created a new political group called New Alternative.
Starting on 1982, the main trend in the MIR began a process of alliance and merger with the Movement for Socialism
(MAS). In 1983, participating in the elections for President and Congress within the electoral card called MAS-MIR. After this election, it starts the final merger of both parties, leaving the MIR officially disbanded and most of its members integrated into the MAS.
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
: Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionaria, MIR), was a left-wing Marxist political party
Political party
A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...
in Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
. It split from Acción Democrática in 1960 and became involved in armed guerrilla struggle against the Venezuelan state.
MIR merged with the Movement for Socialism
Movement for Socialism (Venezuela)
Movement for Socialism is a center-left political party in Venezuela.-History:The Movement for Socialism is a social-democratic political party in Venezuela. MAS was founded in 1971 by a faction of the Communist Party of Venezuela, with a view to emphasising a socialist message...
(MAS) in 1988.
History
The origins of the party can be traced directly to the first visit Commander Fidel CastroFidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...
made to Venezuela, specifically to its capital Caracas
Caracas
Caracas , officially Santiago de León de Caracas, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela; natives or residents are known as Caraquenians in English . It is located in the northern part of the country, following the contours of the narrow Caracas Valley on the Venezuelan coastal mountain range...
on January, 1959, to celebrate the first anniversary of the fall of the military dictatorship
Military dictatorship
A military dictatorship is a form of government where in the political power resides with the military. It is similar but not identical to a stratocracy, a state ruled directly by the military....
of General Marcos Pérez Jiménez
Marcos Pérez Jiménez
Marcos Evangelista Pérez Jiménez was a soldier and Presidents of Venezuela from 1952 to 1958.-Career:Marcos Evangelista Pérez Jiménez was born in Michelena, Táchira State. His father, Juan Pérez Bustamante, was a farmer; his mother, Adela Jiménez, a schoolteacher...
. Castro's visit served him to encourage the youth of the Democratic Action
Democratic Action
Democratic Action is a centrist Venezuelan political party established in 1941. The party and its antecedents played an important role in the early years of Venezuelan democracy, and led the government during Venezuela's first democratic period...
around the epic lived by the Cuban Revolution
Cuban Revolution
The Cuban Revolution was an armed revolt by Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement against the regime of Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista between 1953 and 1959. Batista was finally ousted on 1 January 1959, and was replaced by a revolutionary government led by Castro...
in Sierra Maestra. The political contrast of Castro and then Venezuelan president, Rómulo Betancourt
Rómulo Betancourt
Rómulo Ernesto Betancourt Bello , known as "The Father of Venezuelan Democracy", was President of Venezuela from 1945 to 1948 and again from 1959 to 1964, as well as leader of Accion Democratica, Venezuela's dominant political party in the 20th century...
, made the political youth of the time more encouraged towards Castro's position, this made more by generational differences than ideological ones. To round off the internal crisis, Democratic Action expelled from their ranks a number of youth leaders and party members that identified themselves with Cuban policy in addition to constant criticism of the policy of unemployment, struggle against reaction, land reform, economic policy, fiscal and international all contrary to the doctrinal basis of Democratic Action.
For these reasons, Domingo Alberto Rangel, Gumersindo Rodriguez and Jose Rafael Muñoz justified the division from their formar party and founded, with groups of mostly young people, the new leftist revolutionary party. At the exact moment of the creation of MIR, it pleaded, according to their weekly Izquierda, as a "Marxist party, their goal was to drive the Venezuelan people to the path of socialism through the National Revolution realizing a clearly anti-imperialist and anti-feudal program".
On May 9, 1962, the Communist Party of Venezuela
Communist Party of Venezuela
The Communist Party of Venezuela is a Marxist-Leninist political party, and the oldest continuously existing party in Venezuela...
(PCV) and the MIR are disabled by the government of Romulo Betancourt
Rómulo Betancourt
Rómulo Ernesto Betancourt Bello , known as "The Father of Venezuelan Democracy", was President of Venezuela from 1945 to 1948 and again from 1959 to 1964, as well as leader of Accion Democratica, Venezuela's dominant political party in the 20th century...
and they assume the armed struggle that lasted until the first government of Rafael Caldera
Rafael Caldera
Rafael Antonio Caldera Rodríguez was president of Venezuela from 1969 to 1974 and again from 1994 to 1999.Caldera taught sociology and law at various universities before entering politics. He was a founding member of COPEI, Venezuela's Christian Democratic party...
. However it was MIR that first launched to the armed struggle in Venezuela causing serious urban clashes between 1961 and 1962 and the installation of a guerrilla front in the East of the country which they called Front Manuel Ponte Rodríguez, to be later dismantled in 1964 by the Venezuelan army and reconstituted in 1965 with the name of Guerrilla Front Antonio Jose de Sucre.
During this time, the MIR integrates with the PCV, the so-called Armed Forces of National Liberation (FALN). Some of their leaders included Domingo Alberto Rangel, Jose Manuel "Chema" Saher, Américo Silva and Americo Martin, Simon Saez Merida, Etanislao Gonzalez, Jose Manuel Gilli Trejo, Ruben Jaramillo, Gabriel Puerta Aponte, Victor and Fernando Soto Rojas, Julio Escalona, Marcos Gomez, Carlos José Ugueto Marino and Carlos Betancourt.
The MIR was actively involved in subversive struggles developed in Venezuela in the 1960's. One of the most active cells was named "Van Troi" led by Jesus Alberto Marquez Finol who executed many officers, soldiers and civilians for not supporting the armed struggle, such as the shooting of Doctor Alfredo Seijas, Legal Counsel of the DIGEPOL on September of 1965, who was a lawyer and was abducted from inside the Central University of Venezuela
Central University of Venezuela
The Central University of Venezuela is a premier public University of Venezuela located in Caracas...
(UCV) and moved towards urbanization Macaracuay of Caracas, to run to death. Other rural guerrilla Youth members of the MIR, as Ramon Amundaray Sanchez, died after being caught flying a pipeline north of the state Anzoátegui
Anzoátegui
Anzoátegui State , is one of the 23 component states of Venezuela, located in the northeastern region of the country. Anzoátegui is well known for its beautiful beaches that attract many visitors. Its coast consists of a single beach approximately 100 km long...
.
Divisions
Just as the MIR decided to go to the armed struggle, a sector of the party opposed to these actions, led by George Dager, decided to found on 20 August 1962 the People's Democratic Force party, achieving about 10% of the votes in 1963. On 1965 another sector from the party withdraws and merges itself to the Revolutionary Party of Nationalist Integration (PRIN). Then at the end of 1968, the MIR faces fierce controversy at the armed struggle infertile actions and is divided into three groups: the main MIR, led by Domingo Alberto Rangel, who pacifies and denies armed violence, supporting presidential elections from 1973, 1983 and 1988 choosing Movement for SocialismMovement for Socialism (Venezuela)
Movement for Socialism is a center-left political party in Venezuela.-History:The Movement for Socialism is a social-democratic political party in Venezuela. MAS was founded in 1971 by a faction of the Communist Party of Venezuela, with a view to emphasising a socialist message...
(MAS) candidates: José Vicente Rangel
José Vicente Rangel
José Vicente Rangel Vale is a Venezuelan leftist politician. He ran for President three times in the 1970s and 1980s and later supported Hugo Chávez, successively becoming Foreign Minister, Defense Minister, and Vice President in Chávez's government.-Political activism:His political activism began...
and Teodoro Petkoff
Teodoro Petkoff
Teodoro Petkoff Malec is a Venezuelan politician, ex-guerrilla, journalist and economist. One of the most prominent politicians on the left in Venezuela, Petkoff began as a communist but gravitated towards liberalism in the 1990s. As Minister of Planning he oversaw President Rafael Caldera's...
. The group of Carlos Betancourt
Carlos Betancourt
Carlos Betancourt , American, generally described as a contemporary artist influenced by the artworks of sensationalist, conceptualist and neo primitive artists, although his work defies specific categorization....
who formed the Red Flag Party
Red Flag Party
Red Flag Party is a communist party in Venezuela. It was formed in 1970 by anti-revisionist members of the Movement of the Revolutionary Left...
on January 20 of 1970 with a predominantly rural guerrilla trend, later legalized as a party in 2000 but not before suffering several internal divisions. And the third group led by Jorge Rodriguez
Jorge Rodríguez
Jorge Rodríguez may refer to:* Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada, Cuban-American artist* Jorge Rodríguez , Mexican football player* Jorge Marcelo Rodríguez, Uruguayan football player* Jorge Rodríguez , former Vice President of Venezuela...
and Julio Escalona who decide to start an urban guerrilla struggle but combined with legal means, creating the Revolutionary Organization (OR), whose legal facade would be called Socialist League
Socialist League (Venezuela)
The Socialist League was a Venezuelan political party. It was established in 1973 in a split from the Revolutionary Left Movement, and merged into PSUV in 2007. The League was co-founded by Jorge Antonio Rodriguez; he was its Secretary General when he was murdered on 25 July 1976, having been...
and would participate in the elections being led by Carmelo Laborit, Jorge Rodriguez, Orlando Yajure, Oscar Bataglinni, Norelkis Meza and David Nieves. Furthermore, Américo Martin created a new political group called New Alternative.
Starting on 1982, the main trend in the MIR began a process of alliance and merger with the Movement for Socialism
Movement for Socialism (Venezuela)
Movement for Socialism is a center-left political party in Venezuela.-History:The Movement for Socialism is a social-democratic political party in Venezuela. MAS was founded in 1971 by a faction of the Communist Party of Venezuela, with a view to emphasising a socialist message...
(MAS). In 1983, participating in the elections for President and Congress within the electoral card called MAS-MIR. After this election, it starts the final merger of both parties, leaving the MIR officially disbanded and most of its members integrated into the MAS.
See also
- Red Flag PartyRed Flag PartyRed Flag Party is a communist party in Venezuela. It was formed in 1970 by anti-revisionist members of the Movement of the Revolutionary Left...
(Partido Bandera Roja), which split from MIR in 1970 - Socialist LeagueSocialist League (Venezuela)The Socialist League was a Venezuelan political party. It was established in 1973 in a split from the Revolutionary Left Movement, and merged into PSUV in 2007. The League was co-founded by Jorge Antonio Rodriguez; he was its Secretary General when he was murdered on 25 July 1976, having been...
(Liga Socialista), which split from MIR in 1973