DICTATOR OF VENEZUELA

Greymouth Evening Star, 14 April 1934, Page 9

DICTATOR OF VENEZUELA

A REMARKABLE CAREER. General Juan Vicente Gomez, President and Dictator of Venezuela, recently celebrated the 25th anniversary of his seizure of power. Citizens of Caracas, capital of Venezuela, do not see much of their President. He dislikes public functions and spends as much of his time as possible at Maracay, 77 miles away, where, beside a lake on his great model farm, he sits in a rocking chair under a giant rubber tree and holds court. But his people are proud of him. Venezuela, has a balanced budget, and a surplus in the national treasury. Her money is said

to be the soundest in the world. Not a single foreigner owns a Venezuelan Government bond. There is practically no unemployment. Farmers pay no land taxes at all, and may borrow up to 50 per cent of the value of their land from a government farm bank. The country, with nearly 4000 miles or good roads, claims the finest highway system in Latin America. But this record dictatorship is not all due to the personal virtue of Dictator Gomez. In 1917, oil began to gush in Venezuela in unbelievable quantities. Last year more oil than anywhere else outside the United States and Russia sprouted from Venezuelan wells, and every gallon of it pays a 7 per cent to 10 per cent, royalty to the government. Dictatoi’ Gomez is not only the richest man in Venezuela, but for all.

practical purposes owns the country. Ail attempts to overthrow his Government are instantly suppressed. Venezuela’s pride, her highway sysstem, has been built largely by the labour of political prisoners.