On December 1993, during a voting marked by unprecedented abstention and amidst a deep political crisis, Rafael Caldera was elected president with only 30.45 percent of the ballot. He also broke up with the bipartisan prevalence for 33 years when running for president with the support of his political Convergencia party. The coalition of political minority groups called El Chiripero (the cockroach pool) went on the political stage that used to feature political AD and Copei parties only.

Caldera, the founder of Copei party, was certain since 1990 that the country was looking for an alternative to prevailing political structures and an ineffective state that failed to meet the people's needs.

He expressed his view during a speech at the special session held at the Congress on February 4th, 1992, to discuss a failed coup attempt on that same day against the government of President Carlos Andrés Pérez. There, Caldera cleared his way to the presidency. "It is difficult to ask the people to sacrifice themselves for freedom and democracy, as they feel that freedom and democracy are unable to give them food and prevent a dramatic hike in the cost of living; are unable to put an end to the scourge of corruption."

In May, seven months before Caldera's triumph, the Congress dismissed President Pérez and declared his incumbency vacant as he faced criminal charges for the use of USD 116,660 of the secret allocation for the custody of Nicaragua's President Violeta Chamorro. He was replaced by historian Ramón J. Velásquez, who acted as provisional president for eight hard months.

Sports comforted Venezuelans. Baseball player Andrés "Gato" Galarraga was the first Venezuelan who became a bat champion of the National League as a result of his agility and perseverance both in the field and in his fight against a cancer in his spine.

On December 1993, Colombian drug trafficking received a knock-out blow. Pablo Escobar Gaviria, the kingpin of the Medellín Cartel, was shot dead by the army after chasing him for almost two years following his jailbreak from Envigado. He was found in a house of Medellín.

Additional news shocked the world. Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) signed a historical peace agreement at the US White House, witnessed by president-elect Bill Clinton. In Germany, race violence against immigrants reemerged. Groups of neo-Nazi skinheads set fire to a building inhabited by Turkish-German families in Solingen. Two women and three girls died. Most of the German society condemned the racial hatred.