For the past decade students of Venezuelan politics have devoted preponderant attention to the long-dominant Acción Democrática (AD). North Americans such as Edwin Lieuwen, Robert J. Alexander, and the present reviewer have examined at considerable length the history, program, and organization of that party. Venezuelans themselves have shown the same proclivity to emphasize the AD, its leadership, and its administrative activities. If some suspected that scholars had tilted the balance, the victory of the Christian Democratic COPEI in 1968 and the subsequent inauguration of Dr. Rafael Caldera as president made this generally apparent. José Elías Rivera Oviedo has now provided at least a partial remedy. While his study may not be definitive, it is nonetheless most useful in helping to fill this obvious lacuna in the literature.
An admitted admirer of COPEI, the author received his law degree in 1965 and later attended the University of Notre Dame. His master’s thesis there comprises the bulk of the present work. Roughly two-thirds represent a chronological survey of the party’s growth, from its inception through the 1959-1964 collaboration with the government of Rómulo Betancourt. Although there are apt references to copeyano documents and policy statements through the years, by and large the narrative of events is familiar to those already well informed about Venezuelan politics. Perhaps the most interesting passages are those describing the Unión Nacional Estudiantil (UNE), which in 1936 broke away from the existing student federation over issues of religion and politics, providing the nucleus of what was later to become COPEI.
In many ways, the most suggestive sections are those on party organization and ideology which conclude the book. Drawing extensively on copeyano publications, Rivera Oviedo sets forth clearly the internal structure of the party. There is relatively little analysis of the actual dynamics of the organization, although he does elaborate briefly on vertical and horizontal characteristics, “resulting in a mixed organizational system” (p. 202). The author’s treatment of party ideology is less political than philosophical. The reader will not learn much about the concrete policies which he may expect from a copeyano government, but he will come to understand the philosophical bases from which the party emerged and developed.
To summarize, the author has provided a fine introduction for those concerned with Venezuelan Christian Democracy. This becomes especially significant today, with the Caldera government in power, committed to policies of economic development and social justice in one of the hemisphere’s most important republics. If Rivera Oviedo does not tell a great deal about the internal workings of the party, he prepares the way for such an investigation. This he quite rightly recognizes in his concluding words: “It is hoped that our analysis may serve as a point of departure for later studies of Venezuelan Christian Democracy.” He himself would seem an appropriate candidate to undertake the task.
