José González-Lander

José González-Lander
José González-Lander in 1987
Born	November 13, 1933 Caracas, Venezuela
Died	January 18, 2000 Caracas, Venezuela

Jose Gonzalez-Lander (November 13, 1933 – January 18, 2000) was a Caracas, Venezuela born engineer credited for leading the planning, design and construction of the Caracas Metro during an uninterrupted period of more than thirty years, from 1966 to 1997.

Mr. Gonzalez-Lander dedicated his life to public service rising through the ranks of the Ministry of Public Works where he started as an assistant engineer when he was in his freshman year in engineering school. He graduated in 1958 with a degree in Civil Engineering from Universidad Central de Venezuela in Caracas. His graduation was delayed almost two years due to student unrest during the final years of General Marcos Pérez Jiménez' dictatorship. The Venezuelan government granted him a scholarship to attend graduate school at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he concentrated in Transportation Engineering and Economics.

On his return to Venezuela Mr. Gonzalez-Lander was put in charge of the Ministry of Public Works' Office of Transportation Planning where he spearheaded the design of the backbone of the future Caracas Metro system, a 20 km underground double track rail line connecting the East and West ends of the city. This effort would expand for 10 years before the project could muster enough public support for its construction.

Caracas' rapid growth as a result of the oil boom of the 1970s strained the capacity of the city's road network and the need for a rapid transit system became evident as automotive traffic along its modern expressways became chaotic. The government of President Carlos Andrés Pérez decided to provide full political and financial support to the construction of this complex project. The man selected to head this effort was Jose Gonzalez-Lander who, in 1977, founded the Compañía Anónima Metro de Caracas, an independent government enterprise that would plan and execute the construction of the system and would operate it once completed (similar to an American Transit Authority.)