Perez Jimenez which stated that he won by an incredible 85% . In January 1, 1958, there was a military insurrection led by the junior military officers of the airforce as well as a civilian revolt named the Patriotic Junta. The airforce dropped bombs on the capital. The insurrection was not very well planned or coordinated, but the bombs were enough to scare Perez and his cronies to flee the country with about $250 million of the Venezuelan treasury. All the political parties of the Patriotic Junta could not agree on a political candidate for the upcoming new elections in December of the same year. So in October 31, 1958 the leaders of Accion Democatica, Romulo Betancourt; Copei, Rafael Caldera, and Union Republicana Democratica, Jovito Villalba came together to draw up the Pact of Punto Fijo. Also underwritten were the Fedecamaras, Confederacion de Trabajadores de Venezuela, the Catholic Church and the Fuerzas Armadas. Punto Fijo guaranteed the political stability of the government by compromising between all the countries' major powers. The biggest points of the pact are "1) Defensa de la constitucionalidad y derecho a gobernar conforme al resultado electoral. 2) Gobierno de Unidad Nacional, dando participacion en el poder a la oposicion. 3) Programa minimo comun, lo que permitiria garantizar la cooperacion partidista durante el proceso electoral". This pact allowed for fair elections among all the parties. In December 1958, Romulo Betancourt won the presidential elections with 49% of the vote and also won the majority of seats in both congressional houses . Betancourt realized that he would have to consolidate power and form a coalition of the nations' most powerful entities to form and establish a sturdy democracy that would last. Most importantly, Betancourt announced that there would be no prosecution of crimes during the dictatorship as well as increased military salaries and housing along with weekly trips he made to visit the m...
