Octavio Lepage Barreto (24 November 1923 – 6 January 2017) was a Venezuelan politician who served as acting president of Venezuela from 21 May 1993 to 5 June 1993.

Career

Lepage was a member of the student movement of the political party Acción Democrática (AD) at the

Central University of Venezuela The Central University of Venezuela (Spanish: ''Universidad Central de Venezuela''; UCV) is a public university of Venezuela located in Caracas. It is widely held to be the highest ranking institution in the country, and it also ranks 18th in ...

(UCV), being designated in 1945 as Secretary in the Executive Committee of AD in Caracas. He graduated from UCV with a degree in law in 1947, and in 1948 he was elected as the deputy for Anzoátegui to the National Congress. In November of that year, he was elected Secretary General of AD, but did not take the position due to the suppression of political parties following the overthrow of

Rómulo Gallegos Rómulo Ángel del Monte Carmelo Gallegos Freire (2 August 1884 – 5 April 1969) was a Venezuelan novelist and politician. For a period of nine months during 1948, he governed as the first freely elected president in Venezuela's history. He was ...

. Lepage was the First Secretary of Acción Democrática while it operated clandestinely from January to September 1949, when he was succeeded by

Leonardo Ruiz Pineda Leonardo Ruiz Pineda (28 September 1916 - 21 October 1952) was a Venezuelan lawyer and politician, member and one of the founders of the party Acción Democrática (AD), of which was Secretary General and leader of the clandestine resistance be ...

. Lepage also was part of the Secretariat of Organization of the party. In July 1950, he was arrested by the ''Seguridad Nacional'' (National Security) and imprisoned in

San Juan de los Morros San Juan de Los Morros () is the capital of the Guárico State in Venezuela. It is several miles almost the gateway to the Central Plains however without turning into simple itself. Having a complete specific geography in which brilliant mountain ...

. Upon being released in July 1954, he was expelled from the country, and in exile was a member of the coordinating foreign committee. Returning from exile, Lepage was elected deputy for Anzoátegui in 1959. In 1964 he was appointed as ambassador to Belgium. He served there until 1965, when he returned to Venezuela to assume the General Secretariat of Acción Democrática. In the 1973 elections he was elected to the

Venezuelan Senate The Senate of Venezuela was the upper house of Venezuela's legislature under its 1961 constitution. Under the 1999 constitution, the bicameral system was replaced by the unicameral National Assembly of Venezuela. However, since 1999 the former cham ...

for Miranda and in 1975 he was designated by President Carlos Andrés Pérez as Minister of Interior, being appointed again during the administration of

Jaime Lusinchi Jaime Ramón Lusinchi (27 May 1924 – 21 May 2014) was a Venezuelan politician who was the president of Venezuela from 1984 to 1989. His term was characterized by an economic crisis, growth of the external debt, populist policies, currency dep ...

. Lusinchi wanted Lepage to be the AD candidate in the 1988 Venezuelan presidential election, but in a primary election the party chose Carlos Andrés Pérez. He was the President of the

Senate of Venezuela The Senate of Venezuela was the upper house of Venezuela's legislature under its 1961 constitution. Under the 1999 constitution, the bicameral system was replaced by the unicameral National Assembly of Venezuela. However, since 1999 the former cham ...

from 1989 to 1990, and from 1993 to 1994. In 1993, he succeeded Carlos Andrés Pérez and assumed the Provisional Presidency of the Republic as the President of the Congress after the suspension of Pérez over corruption allegations.Review of the second presidency of Carlos Andrés Pérez at Venezuela Virtual / www.mipunto.com
Octavio Lepage was succeeded by

Ramón José Velásquez Ramón José Velásquez Mujica (28 November 1916 – 24 June 2014) was a Venezuelan politician, historian, journalist, and lawyer. He served as the president of Venezuela between 1993 and 1994. Background and personal life Velásquez was born ...

, who became President on 5 June 1993. He died on 6 January 2017 at the age of 93 of natural causes.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lepage, Octavio 1923 births 2017 deaths People from Anzoátegui Presidents of Venezuela Presidents of the Senate of Venezuela Central University of Venezuela alumni 20th-century Venezuelan lawyers Venezuelan Ministers of Interior Democratic Action (Venezuela) politicians Members of the Venezuelan Chamber of Deputies

Career

See also

References