Second presidency of Rómulo Betancourt

Rómulo Betancourt won the 1958 Venezuelan general elections for Democratic Action and held the Presidency of Venezuela from February 13, 1959, to March 13, 1964. Betancourt started his second presidency (his first had been under El Trienio Adeco) as a moderate, except on the issue of dictatorships, instituting the foreign policy (known as the Betancourt Doctrine) that Venezuela would not recognize dictatorial government anywhere, particularly in Latin America, but including the USSR. One significant domestic policy was land reform, with land largely from expropriated private landholdings redistributed to around 200,000 families.

Betancourt's term in office saw the split of the Revolutionary Left Movement from Democratic Action in 1960, several military rebellions, and the development of a guerrilla movement that included the Armed Forces of National Liberation (FALN). Betancourt survived an assassination attempt on June 24, 1960, blamed on Rafael Leonidas Trujillo, dictator of the Dominican Republic.