Business leader Pedro Carmona takes the reigns of a Venezuela in crisis - Fri Apr 12, 9:24 AM ET - [Full Text] CARACAS, Venezuela - Pedro Carmona Estanga, the president of Venezuela's leading association of businesses picked by the military as interim president, played a key role in the protests against ousted President Hugo Chavez.
Carmona, 60, is expected to rule this South American nation until new elections. "My only interest in these last days was the fight against the government of Hugo Chavez. But I didn't fight to arrive at this, (I fought) only because it was necessary," Carmona told reporters early Friday morning.
Chavez resigned under military pressure early Friday after a massive opposition demonstration ended in a bloodbath.
Carmona, an economist who studied in Venezuela and in Belgium, worked most of his life in private enterprise although he also represented Venezuela in economic and commercial missions abroad.
Since his election in June 2001 as the president of the association of businesses, Fedecameras, Carmona led a revolt within the business sector against Chavez in reaction to the former paratrooper's statist economic policies.
Between 1988 and 1989 Carmona was president of the Venezuelan-Colombian Chamber for Commerce and Industry. From 1995 to 1997 he presided over the Venezuelan Confederation of Industries.
Juan Calvo, an executive who has worked side by side with Carmona for over 30 years, described him as "a balanced and intelligent man, a leader, who knows how to resolve problems." [End]