21 Facts About Jaime Lusinchi

Jaime Ramon Lusinchi was the president of Venezuela from 1984 to 1989.

Jaime Lusinchi's term was characterized by an economic crisis, growth of the external debt, populist policies, currency depreciation, inflation and corruption that exacerbated the crisis of the political system established in 1958.

Jaime Lusinchi was born in Clarines, Anzoategui, on 27 May 1924.

In 1937, at the age of 13, Jaime Lusinchi joined the National Democratic Party, organization created by Romulo Betancourt against the government of Eleazar Lopez Contreras.

In 1941, Jaime Lusinchi was present at the foundation of the social democratic party Accion Democratica.

Jaime Lusinchi acquired responsibilities in the national secretariats of organization and propaganda, and was a member of the party's Political Bureau.

Jaime Lusinchi was jailed for two months and was beaten with a sword.

Jaime Lusinchi resided in Santiago from 1953 and worked at Roberto del Rio Hospital.

Therein after the fall of the Perez Jimenez Government, Jaime Lusinchi returned from exile, and joined the National Executive Committee of Accion Democratica as secretary for International Affairs.

In 1977, Jaime Lusinchi unsuccessfully ran for the presidency of Accion Democratica and in the 1978 elections was defeated by Luis Pinerua Ordaz.

Jaime Lusinchi started his presidency at the age of 59, promising to govern with fairness, transparency, social sensitivity and austerity in the use of public funds, while presenting himself as a moderate president.

However, Jaime Lusinchi was not successful at crucial goals for the development of the country.

In 1987, Jaime Lusinchi finally stopped the economic program carried out from the beginning of his term in office, and gave up his attempts to pay off the external debt, control the fiscal deficit and restrain public spending.

Jaime Lusinchi supported the former minister and political leader Octavio Lepage in his bid to be AD's candidate for the 1988 elections, but Lepage was defeated in the internal elections of the party in October 1987 by the former president Carlos Andres Perez.

Jaime Lusinchi finished his term in office on 2 February 1989.

Jaime Lusinchi was declared a suspect in the August 1993 sending of mail bombs meant to intimidate members of the Supreme Court.

Jaime Lusinchi left Venezuela via Miami and lived in the city of San Jose, Costa Rica till 2009, when returned to Caracas.

Jaime Lusinchi died on 21 May 2014 at the age of 89 after having been hospitalized for lung problems.

Jaime Lusinchi died about 5 weeks before ex-President Ramon Jose Velasquez died on 24 June 2014 of natural causes.

Jaime Lusinchi then married his private secretary and long-term girlfriend, Blanca Ibanez, in 1991 and remained married to her until his death in 2014.

In 1988, President Jaime Lusinchi filed for divorce from his wife of 44 years, First Lady Gladys Castillo de Jaime Lusinchi, in favor of his longtime mistress and "private secretary", Blanca Ibanez.