Bomb Attack at the Center of Caracas
At 10:30 a.m. on June 24, 1960, a hand grenade exploded in front of President Rómulo Betancourt's motorcade as he passed through Urdaneta Street in downtown Caracas. The attack caused minor burns to the president's left hand and face, and injured seven others—including two security officers and a journalist from *El Nacional*. Betancourt did not fall; he got up on his own, refused assistance, and continued to attend an official ceremony at Miraflores Palace after receiving initial treatment. The perpetrator, later identified as a member of a pro-dictator Rafael Trujillo armed group from the Dominican Republic, was arrested three days later in the city of La Guaira.Venezuela Under the Shadow of a Dictator
The year 1960 was not an ordinary one for Venezuela. The country had just emerged from two decades of dictatorial rule—first Juan Vicente Gómez (1908–1935), then Marcos Pérez Jiménez (1952–1958). Betancourt, who returned from exile in 1958, won the first free election in the country's history—with broad support from various parties, including the Venezuelan Communist Party (PCV) and the Venezuelan Socialist Party (PSV). However, the new government failed to gain full support: conservative groups, former military officers loyal to Pérez Jiménez, and multinational oil companies—especially Standard Oil—opposed the nationalization of natural resources and the new labor laws that expanded workers' rights and reduced working hours.Rómulo Betancourt: Not Just a President, but a Founder of the System
Born in Ciudad Bolívar on February 22, 1908, Betancourt was not a revolutionary with a gun—but a practical intellectual who believed in institutions, constitutions, and diplomacy. He founded the Democratic Action Party (AD) in 1941, and in 1945 led a *golpe blando*—a bloodless power takeover—that overthrew President Isaías Medina Angarita. Under his leadership, Venezuela became the first country in Latin America to hold direct and free presidential elections after the dictator era. His policies were not only economic: he introduced the *Doctrina Betancourt*, a formal rejection of recognizing any government that came to power through a coup—principle that later became the basis for the OAS in handling democratic crises in the region.The Attack Changed Everything
The June 24, 1960 attack was not an isolated incident—it was part of a cross-border conspiracy involving the Dominican intelligence, Chilean secret agents, and covert support from anti-communist groups in Washington. Document leaks in 2007 by the *National Security Archive* showed that the CIA knew about the plot but did not warn the Venezuelan government. As a result, Betancourt strengthened cooperation with democratic countries in Latin America—particularly Colombia and Peru—and accelerated the formation of the *Alianza para el Progreso* with President John F. Kennedy in 1961. Within the country, the attack accelerated the approval of the 1961 National Security Law, which gave the police greater powers to investigate subversive activities—but also raised criticism about the suppression of freedom of speech.Legacy That Still Echoes Today
Betancourt served until 1964, and although he was no longer president afterward, he remained an informal advisor to the government and a leading voice on economic sovereignty issues. He died on September 28, 1981, in New York due to heart complications—not as a result of the 1960 attack. However, the mark of the attack is still evident: in Plaza Bolívar in Caracas, a stone plaque dated June 24, 1960, was installed in 2010—not to commemorate the failed assassination, but as a sign that Venezuelan democracy was once attacked—and survived. For young historians at Simón Bolívar University, the event is not just a past episode; it is the first test of the Venezuelan democratic system—and the answer was not retaliation, but law, transparency, and trust in the people's electoral process.