Octavio Lepage Barreto (24 November 1923 – 6 January 2017) was a Venezuelan politician who served as the acting

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 21 May 1993 to 5 June 1993.

Career

Lepage was a member of the student movement of the political party

Acción Democrática Democratic Action (, AD) is a Venezuelan social democratic and centre-left political party established in 1941. The party played an important role in the early years of Venezuelan democracy, leading the government during Venezuela's first democ ...

(AD) at the

Central University of Venezuela Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...

(UCV), being designated in 1945 as Secretary in the executive committee of AD in

Caracas Caracas ( , ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas (CCS), is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the northern p ...

. 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. In 1948, he became the first freely elected President of Venezuela, president in Venezuela's history. He was removed from ...

. 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 ...

. 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. 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. At the time, he participated in the 2nd Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

in 1964. 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 cha ...

for Miranda and in 1975 he was designated by President

Carlos Andrés Pérez Carlos Andrés Pérez Rodríguez (27 October 1922 – 25 December 2010) also known as CAP and often referred to as ''Venezuelan Spanish#Some examples of Spanish words common in Venezuela.2C including some native Venezuelanisms .28slang.29, El ...

as Minister of Interior, being appointed again during the administration of

Jaime Lusinchi Jaime Ramón Lusinchi (27 May 1924 – 21 May 2014) 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 depreciation, inflation and corrupt ...

. Lusinchi wanted Lepage to be the AD candidate in the

1988 Venezuelan presidential election General elections were held in Venezuela on 4 December 1988.Dieter Nohlen (2005) ''Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume II'', p555 The presidential elections were won by Carlos Andrés Pérez of Democratic Action, who received 53% ...

, but in a

primary election Primary elections or primaries are elections held to determine which candidates will run in an upcoming general election. In a partisan primary, a political party selects a candidate. Depending on the state and/or party, there may be an "open pr ...

the party chose

. He was the President of the Senate of Venezuela from 1989 to 1990, and from 1993 to 1994. In 1993, he succeeded

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 Ministers of interior of Venezuela Democratic Action (Venezuela) politicians Members of the Venezuelan Chamber of Deputies Jaime Lusinchi ministers Carlos Andrés Pérez ministers

Career

See also

References