Eduardo Mendoza Goiticoa
| Eduardo Mendoza Goiticoa | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Venezuelan Minister of Agriculture | |
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In office 1945–1947 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born |
9 June 1917 Caracas, Venezuela |
| Died | 25 August 2009 (aged 92) Caracas, Venezuela |
| Spouse(s) | Hilda Coburn Velutini |
Eduardo Mendoza Goiticoa (9 June 1917 – 25 August 2009) was a Venezuelan 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. 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.
Eduardo Mendoza obtained a degree in agricultural engineering from Argentina's Universidad Nacional de La Plata in 1941. Mendoza returned to Venezuela and settled on a family farm in Valles del Tuy.
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 Angarita from power for refusing to grant Venezuelans universal suffrage. 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.[2] 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.
As Secretary of Agriculture for Betancourt's government, Mendoza headed the Venezuelan Institute for Immigration and embraced the creation of the International Refugee Organization 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.[3]
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