Venezuela: Carrying On

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New President, old woes he campaign slogan repeated in speeches and newspaper ads was blunt: "THANK GOD, THEY ARE FINALLY GOING." It was also prophetic. As celebrating citizens jammed the streets of Caracas last week, the results of Venezuela's sixth free presidential election in 25 years overwhelmingly confirmed that the ele gant presidential residence, La Casona, would be getting a new tenant. By a thumping 8-to-5 margin, voters had ousted the centrist Social Christian Party in favor of the country's strongest grass roots political force, the center-left Action Democratica under its amiable, soft-spoken leader, Jaime Lusinchi, 59. Said an exuberant Lusinchi after the vote:

"The festival of the people has begun."

Economics loomed large in Lusinchi's campaign and in that of his Social Christian opponent, Rafael Caldera, 67, who served as President from 1969 to 1974.

Advised by U.S. Media Consultant Jo seph Napolitan, Lusinchi blamed outgoing President Luis Herrera Campins, 58, for all of Venezuela's many economic woes. Among them: a 4.5% drop during Herrera Campins' tenure in the country's gross domestic product ($69.3 billion in 1982) and a current unemployment rate of 20%. The key problem, however, is a foreign debt of about $34 billion, the result of years of uncontrolled government spending that eventually coincided with sharply reduced revenues from oil, Venezuela's principal foreign-exchange earner.

For his part, Caldera and his U.S. campaign adviser, David Garth, spent an estimated $150 million in a vain effort to make voters forget the past shortcomings of the Social Christians and concentrate on the future. The result: not only did Lusinchi win a projected 57% of the 7.7 million votes cast, vs. 34.5% for Caldera, but Actión Democrática also gained comfortable majorities in both houses of Venezuela's 249-member Congress.

Facing up to the debt crisis will be the sternest test for Lusinchi, a pediatrician who has spent 40 years working for Action Democratica, chiefly as a quiet but effective grass-roots organizer. Though he is a populist by inclination, he will confront the need to administer a stiff dose of austerity after taking office next February.

His most immediate challenge: rescheduling $18.4 billion in short-term debts that come due over the next two years. Despite the magnitude of that task, Lusinchi insists, "we will not shy away from any effort, no matter how tough it is."