Isaías Medina Angarita

President of Venezuela

6 July 1897 San Cristóbal, Venezuela

15 September 1953(1953-09-15) (56) Caracas, Venezuela

5 May 1941 – 18 October 1945

Isaías Medina Angarita (6 July 1897 – 15 September 1953) was a Venezuelan military and political leader, 33rd President of Venezuela from 1941 until 1945, during World War II. He followed the path of his predecessor Eleazar López Contreras, and ruled the country's democratic transition process. Medina was born in San Cristóbal, Venezuela, and graduated from the Military academy of Venezuela in 1914. He served as War Minister from 1936 to 1941 under López Contreras. In 1943, he founded the Venezuelan Democratic Party. Medina Angarita was the first Venezuelan president who traveled abroad (in active office). First, in 1943 to the Bolivarian countries, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Panama, and in January 1944, the United States invited by Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The visit marked a milestone in the Venezuelan-US relations. Besides being the first time a Venezuelan president (in office) visited the United States, the time was made the journey was understood as an expression of the alliance of Venezuela with the Allies that fought the Axis. During the administration of Medina, Venezuela establishes relations with China in 1943 and the Soviet Union in 1945. Some in the Army considered his presidential regime too liberal while other political enemies accused him of being too conservative, and both sides were involved in a putsch to remove him from power on 18 October 1945. Medina died, aged 56, in Caracas.