Carlos Román Delgado Gómez (20 January 1909 – 13 November 1950) was a

Venezuelan Venezuelans (Spanish language, Spanish: ''venezolanos'') are the Citizenship, citizens identified with the country of Venezuela. This connection may be through citizenship, descent or cultural. For most Venezuelans, many or all of these connect ...

military officer who served as

president of Venezuela The president of Venezuela (), officially known as the president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (), is the executive head of state and head of government of Venezuela. The president leads the National Executive of the Venezuelan go ...

from 1948 to 1950 as leader of a

military junta A military junta () is a system of government led by a committee of military leaders. The term ''Junta (governing body), junta'' means "meeting" or "committee" and originated in the Junta (Peninsular War), national and local junta organized by t ...

. In 1945, he was one of the high-ranking officers who brought to power the Democratic Action party through a

coup d'état A coup d'état (; ; ), or simply a coup , is typically an illegal and overt attempt by a military organization or other government elites to unseat an incumbent leadership. A self-coup is said to take place when a leader, having come to powe ...

. In 1948, as a Minister of Defense, he led another military coup and ruled as President until his assassination in Caracas.

Early life

Delgado Chalbaud was the son of

Román Delgado Chalbaud Román Delgado Chalbaud (Mérida, Mérida, Mérida, 12 April 1882 - Cumana, 11 August 1929) was a Venezuelan naval officer, founder, admiral, and commander in chief of the Venezuelan navy, businessman and politician. Hero of the battle of "Ciudad ...

(grandson of a French immigrant and great-grandson of an Andalusian colonist) and Luisa Elena Gómez Velutini (of Corsican descent). He was known as Carlos Delgado Chalbaud because he used the last name of his father Román Delgado Chalbaud as a tribute to his memory. When he was 20, he approached the cruiser ' in the port of Danzig (

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

). It landed on the coasts of

Cumaná Cumaná () is the capital city of Venezuela's Sucre State. It is located east of Caracas. Cumaná was one of the first cities founded by Spain in the mainland Americas and is the oldest continuously-inhabited Hispanic-established city in Sout ...

on 11 August 1929, with the purpose to overthrow the strongman Juan Vicente Gomez. In this failed operation his father Román commandant of the expeditionary was killed, leading Carlos to return to

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. Delgado Chalbaud spent most of his life in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, where he studied engineering and later attended the

Saint-Cyr military academy Saint-Cyr refers to the popular child-saint Cyricus, whose following was strong in France because relics were brought back from Antioch by the 4th-century Bishop Saint Amator of Auxerre. Saint-Cyr may refer to: Places France * École spécia ...

. He returned to Venezuela in 1939 and was promptly commissioned in the Venezuelan army by president General

Eleazar Lopez Contreras Eleazar (; ) or Elazar was a priest in the Hebrew Bible, the second High Priest, succeeding his father Aaron after he died. He was a nephew of Moses. Biblical narrative Eleazar played a number of roles during the course of the Exodus, from crea ...

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 Isaías Medina Angarita (6 July 1897 – 15 September 1953) was a Venezuelan military and politician who served as President of Venezuela from 1941 until 1945, during World War II. He followed the path of his predecessor Eleazar López Contre ...

in 1945, Carlos was a member of the Government Revolutionary Junta that replaced Medina. He was Minister of Defense during the presidencies of

Rómulo Betancourt Rómulo Ernesto Betancourt Bello (22 February 1908 – 28 September 1981; ), known as "The Father of Venezuelan Democracy", was a Venezuelan politician who served as the president of Venezuela, from and again from Second presidency of Rómulo ...

and

Rómulo Gallegos Rómulo Ángel del Monte Carmelo Gallegos Freire (2 August 1884 – 5 April 1969) was a Venezuelan novelist and politician. In 1948, he became the first freely elected President of Venezuela, president in Venezuela's history. He was removed from ...

. 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 Marcos Evangelista Pérez Jiménez (25 April 1914 – 20 September 2001) was a Venezuelan military officer and the dictator of Venezuela from 1950 to 1958, ruling as member of the military junta from 1950 to 1952 and as president from 1952 t ...

and Luis Llovera Páez, who was the titular head of the three-person junta.

Death

Chalbaud was kidnapped and murdered on 13 November 1950, by a group led by

Rafael Simón Urbina Rafael Simón Urbina López (1897-13 November 1950) was a Venezuelan rebel who fought against the dictatorship of Juan Vicente Gómez. Biography Early battles Implicated in a 1919 conspiracy to overthrow President Gómez, he spent four years par ...

and his

nephew In the lineal kinship system used in the English-speaking world, a niece or nephew is a child of an individual's sibling or sibling-in-law. A niece is female and a nephew is male, and they would call their parents' siblings aunt or uncle ...

Domingo Urbina. The kidnapping took place in Caracas between the neighborhood of Country Club and Chapellin and his murder took place in the semi-abandoned Las Mercedes neighborhood. His murder seems to be the unintended outcome of a failed kidnapping led by Simón Urbina, who looked to overthrow the Chalbaud presidency. Some believe Urbina despised Delgado Chalbaud, while others argue they were close until a falling out over politics. The day after the capture and imprisonment of Urbina, he was assassinated by orders of the secret police DSN (Direction of National Security), efficiently securing Pérez Jiménez's position as the strongman in Venezuela for the next several years.

Personal life

Chalbaud was married to Lucía Devine, who served as First Lady of Venezuela from 1948 to 1950. Cerro Carlos Delgado Chalbaud (1047m), a mountain in Venezuela's Amazonas estate where the headwaters of the

Orinoco River The Orinoco () is one of the longest rivers in South America at . Its drainage basin, sometimes known as the Orinoquia, covers approximately 1 million km2, with 65% of it in Venezuela and 35% in Colombia. It is the List of rivers by discharge, f ...

are located, is named after him. File:Lucía Devine.jpg, Lucía Devine

References

External links