Eduardo Mendoza Goiticoa
Encyclopedia
Eduardo Mendoza was a Venezuela
n scientific researcher and agricultural engineer. He served the government
of Romulo Betancourt
, becoming the youngest cabinet minister in Venezuelan history at the age of 28. His appointment was problematic due to his young age and required a Constitutional Amendment.http://www.analitica.com/va/sociedad/articulos/8584457.asp Betancourt had insisted on the appointment and vastly expanded the portfolio of the Secretary of Agriculture to include all immigration matters. Mendoza was married to Hilda Coburn Velutini (d. 2006) having two daughters.
's Universidad Nacional de La Plata
, Mendoza returned to Venezuela and settled on a family farm in Valles del Tuy.
from power for refusing to grant Venezuelans universal suffrage.[Venezuela, a century of change By Judith Ewell, p. 94-98 and The magical state: nature, money, and modernity in Venezuela By Fernando Coronil, p. 111-146] Mendoza was sworn in while gun battles continued on the streets. Betancourt, a socialist-democratic leader who had previously been a staunch communist, appointed Mendoza on the basis of his scientific research and academic credentials.http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/4571151 Mendoza was the youngest cabinet minister in Venezuelan history. This leftist government, resulting from a revolution, was the first to declare universal suffrage in Venezuela.
in 1946 (this body was later replaced by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees). Mendoza succeeded, despite fierce opposition within the cabinet, in ensuring that Venezuela would aid European refugees and displaced persons who could not or would not return to their homes after World War II and chose to emigrate to Venezuela. He assumed responsibility for the legal protection and resettlement of tens of thousands of refugees arriving in Venezuela.International Refugee Organization
officials consider Mendoza to have directed the most successful refugee program in the post-war period. Immigration reached a peak while he was minister and would later decline with a new government. http://www.analitica.com/va/sociedad/articulos/8584457.asp
By February 1950, an outbreak of hoof and mouth plagued the country's livestock. Venezuela has not yet successfully dealt with hoof and mouth disease.
Mendoza and Betancourt remained friends and the latter invited him to form part of his second term; Mendoza declined. The facts and subject of Mendoza's resignation have been widely studied and discussed in Venezuelan academic and journalistic circles as an example of principle. Mendoza was compared by Venezuelan president Ramon J. Velasquez to the historic politician from the Roman Republic Cato
.
, Mendoza played a role as part of the underground resistance movement. Specifically, he was part of the civilian leadership that organized the general strike that led to the downfall of the dictator and the restoration of Venezuelan democracy.
, he founded Protinal, Venezuela's largest animal feed company. He served as a director of Caracas
' central park, Parque Del Este, and as a founding member of the Universidad de Oriente
.http://www.acading.org.ve/miembro_honorario_3.htm He served on dozens of boards and published numerous papers.
A lifelong scientific researcher, he was elected to the Andean Parliament in 1998, serving until 2001.
. Mendoza is the great-great-nephew of Venezuela's liberator, Simón Bolívar
. Bolivar's sister, Juana, is his great-great-grandmother. With his brother Pedro (95) he was the closest living relative to Simón Bolívar. http://www.citymayors.com/mayors/chacao-mayor.html http://openlibrary.org/b/OL6538149M/Arbol-genealo%CC%81gico-del-libertador-Simon-Bolivar His brother Eugenio Mendoza
became a leading Venezuelan businessman.
Mendoza's grandson by his daughter Antonieta Mendoza is Leopoldo Lopez Mendoza, a leading opposition leader in Venezuela and former Mayor of Chacao
. Mendoza's daughter Hilda was shot during a peaceful protest in 2004 and her son Thor Halvorssen Mendoza went on to found the Human Rights Foundation
. http://www.analitica.com/va/sociedad/articulos/8584457.asp
(Eduardo Mendoza Goiticoa's family Tree)
, Order of Cecilio Acosta, and the Orden del Libertador, which is the highest honor the Venezuelan government can bestow on any citizen in recognition for contributions to the nation. http://docs.google.com/gview?a=v&q=cache:TsMfu3tA-AEJ:www.mijuicio.com/leyes/especiales/178.pdf+orden+del+libertador&hl=en&gl=us
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
n scientific researcher and agricultural engineer. He served the government
Government of Venezuela
|Venezuela is a federal presidential republic governed by a constitution. There are five branches of government: Executive, Legislative, Judicial, Citizen, and Electoral....
of Romulo Betancourt
Rómulo Betancourt
Rómulo Ernesto Betancourt Bello , known as "The Father of Venezuelan Democracy", was President of Venezuela from 1945 to 1948 and again from 1959 to 1964, as well as leader of Accion Democratica, Venezuela's dominant political party in the 20th century...
, becoming the youngest cabinet minister in Venezuelan history at the age of 28. His appointment was problematic due to his young age and required a Constitutional Amendment.http://www.analitica.com/va/sociedad/articulos/8584457.asp Betancourt had insisted on the appointment and vastly expanded the portfolio of the Secretary of Agriculture to include all immigration matters. Mendoza was married to Hilda Coburn Velutini (d. 2006) having two daughters.
Biography
Graduating in 1941 as agricultural engineering of ArgentinaArgentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
's Universidad Nacional de La Plata
Universidad Nacional de La Plata
The National University of La Plata is one of the most important Argentine national universities and the biggest one situated in the city of La Plata, capital of Buenos Aires Province...
, Mendoza returned to Venezuela and settled on a family farm in Valles del Tuy.
Government service
On the eve of 18 October 1945, he was awakened at home by a commission from the Revolutionary Governmental Junta offering him the position of Minister of Agriculture in the new government of Romulo Betancourt deposing General Isaias Medina AngaritaIsaías Medina Angarita
Isaías Medina Angarita was a Venezuelan military and political leader, president of Venezuela from 1941 until 1945....
from power for refusing to grant Venezuelans universal suffrage.[Venezuela, a century of change By Judith Ewell, p. 94-98 and The magical state: nature, money, and modernity in Venezuela By Fernando Coronil, p. 111-146] Mendoza was sworn in while gun battles continued on the streets. Betancourt, a socialist-democratic leader who had previously been a staunch communist, appointed Mendoza on the basis of his scientific research and academic credentials.http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/4571151 Mendoza was the youngest cabinet minister in Venezuelan history. This leftist government, resulting from a revolution, was the first to declare universal suffrage in Venezuela.
Immigration law and war refugees
As Secretary of Agriculture for Betancourt's government, Mendoza headed the Venezuelan Institute for Immigration and embraced the creation of the International Refugee OrganizationInternational Refugee Organization
The International Refugee Organization was founded on April 20, 1946 to deal with the massive refugee problem created by World War II. A Preparatory Commission began operations fourteen months previously. It was a United Nations specialized agency and took over many of the functions of the earlier...
in 1946 (this body was later replaced by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees). Mendoza succeeded, despite fierce opposition within the cabinet, in ensuring that Venezuela would aid European refugees and displaced persons who could not or would not return to their homes after World War II and chose to emigrate to Venezuela. He assumed responsibility for the legal protection and resettlement of tens of thousands of refugees arriving in Venezuela.International Refugee Organization
International Refugee Organization
The International Refugee Organization was founded on April 20, 1946 to deal with the massive refugee problem created by World War II. A Preparatory Commission began operations fourteen months previously. It was a United Nations specialized agency and took over many of the functions of the earlier...
officials consider Mendoza to have directed the most successful refugee program in the post-war period. Immigration reached a peak while he was minister and would later decline with a new government. http://www.analitica.com/va/sociedad/articulos/8584457.asp
Resignation
Mendoza resigned from the Betancourt government in 1947 over the importation of frozen beef from Argentina. Mendoza protested that the beef would permit hoof and mouth disease into the country. He was overruled by President Betancourt and the meat was unloaded at a Venezuelan port. Mendoza tendered his resignation in protest.http://www.eluniversal.com/2008/06/17/opi_673_art_caballeros-del-agro_17A1675525.shtml The resignation was a public disaster for Betancourt.By February 1950, an outbreak of hoof and mouth plagued the country's livestock. Venezuela has not yet successfully dealt with hoof and mouth disease.
Mendoza and Betancourt remained friends and the latter invited him to form part of his second term; Mendoza declined. The facts and subject of Mendoza's resignation have been widely studied and discussed in Venezuelan academic and journalistic circles as an example of principle. Mendoza was compared by Venezuelan president Ramon J. Velasquez to the historic politician from the Roman Republic Cato
Cato
-Literature:*Distichs of Cato, or simply Cato, a Latin collection of proverbial wisdom and morality from the 3rd or 4th century AD author Dionysius Cato...
.
Underground activism during dictatorship
In the 1950s, during the military dictatorship of Marcos Pérez JiménezMarcos Pérez Jiménez
Marcos Evangelista Pérez Jiménez was a soldier and Presidents of Venezuela from 1952 to 1958.-Career:Marcos Evangelista Pérez Jiménez was born in Michelena, Táchira State. His father, Juan Pérez Bustamante, was a farmer; his mother, Adela Jiménez, a schoolteacher...
, Mendoza played a role as part of the underground resistance movement. Specifically, he was part of the civilian leadership that organized the general strike that led to the downfall of the dictator and the restoration of Venezuelan democracy.
Other works
After government service Mendoza worked in a variety of agricultural and conservation concerns. With his brother Eugenio MendozaEugenio Mendoza
Eugenio Mendoza Goiticoa was a Venezuelan business tycoon who made important contributions in the modernization of the country during the 20th Century....
, he founded Protinal, Venezuela's largest animal feed company. He served as a director of Caracas
Caracas
Caracas , officially Santiago de León de Caracas, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela; natives or residents are known as Caraquenians in English . It is located in the northern part of the country, following the contours of the narrow Caracas Valley on the Venezuelan coastal mountain range...
' central park, Parque Del Este, and as a founding member of the Universidad de Oriente
Universidad de Oriente
The University of Oriente Venezuela is a university located in Eastern Venezuela.The university has 5 campuses located in the states of Sucre, Anzoátegui, Monagas, Bolívar, and Nueva Esparta....
.http://www.acading.org.ve/miembro_honorario_3.htm He served on dozens of boards and published numerous papers.
A lifelong scientific researcher, he was elected to the Andean Parliament in 1998, serving until 2001.
Personal life
Mendoza is the great-grandson of the author of Venezuela's Declaration of Independence: its first President, Cristóbal MendozaCristóbal Mendoza
Cristóbal Hurtado de Mendoza was a Venezuelan politician. Cristobal became the first President of Venezuela in 1811.-Biography:...
. Mendoza is the great-great-nephew of Venezuela's liberator, Simón Bolívar
Simón Bolívar
Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Palacios Ponte y Yeiter, commonly known as Simón Bolívar was a Venezuelan military and political leader...
. Bolivar's sister, Juana, is his great-great-grandmother. With his brother Pedro (95) he was the closest living relative to Simón Bolívar. http://www.citymayors.com/mayors/chacao-mayor.html http://openlibrary.org/b/OL6538149M/Arbol-genealo%CC%81gico-del-libertador-Simon-Bolivar His brother Eugenio Mendoza
Eugenio Mendoza
Eugenio Mendoza Goiticoa was a Venezuelan business tycoon who made important contributions in the modernization of the country during the 20th Century....
became a leading Venezuelan businessman.
Mendoza's grandson by his daughter Antonieta Mendoza is Leopoldo Lopez Mendoza, a leading opposition leader in Venezuela and former Mayor of Chacao
Chacao
Chacao may refer to the following articles:*Chacao Municipality - a municipality of Caracas, Venezuela*Chacao Channel*Chacao Channel bridge*Chacao , a Venezuelan cacique from the 16th century*Chacao Indian...
. Mendoza's daughter Hilda was shot during a peaceful protest in 2004 and her son Thor Halvorssen Mendoza went on to found the Human Rights Foundation
Human Rights Foundation
The Human Rights Foundation is a non-profit organization whose stated mission "is to ensure that freedom is both preserved and promoted" in the Americas. The Human Rights Foundation was founded in 2005 by Thor Halvorssen...
. http://www.analitica.com/va/sociedad/articulos/8584457.asp
(Eduardo Mendoza Goiticoa's family Tree)
Awards
Mendoza received numerous awards and honors for his activities in the public and business sectors of Venezuela, including the Order of Merit (Orden de Merito), Order of Francisco de MirandaFrancisco de Miranda
Sebastián Francisco de Miranda Ravelo y Rodríguez de Espinoza , commonly known as Francisco de Miranda , was a Venezuelan revolutionary...
, Order of Cecilio Acosta, and the Orden del Libertador, which is the highest honor the Venezuelan government can bestow on any citizen in recognition for contributions to the nation. http://docs.google.com/gview?a=v&q=cache:TsMfu3tA-AEJ:www.mijuicio.com/leyes/especiales/178.pdf+orden+del+libertador&hl=en&gl=us