ABSTRACT
Import-substituting industrialization—stimulated by the 1957 Industrial Development Law, by its promotion under the 1964 military junta, and by expectations of petroleum-led economic prosperity—had accelerated, providing reformists with hope for the emergence of an ally from those elements of the industrial elite producing for the domestic market. The 1972 military government headed by General Rodriguez Lara carried forward the tradition of reformist military governments first established with the 1925 military junta. The military's most recent attempt to govern, the 1963 junta, was widely regarded by both military and civilians as a failure. Agrarian reform was held to be essential to the elimination of rural poverty and the expansion of the domestic market to the extent required for the successful development of import-substituting industries. Tax reform, the remaining vehicle for the military's attack on social and economic inequality, fared little better than agrarian reform.
