Some observers believed that Venezuelans were ready to elect a leader who opposed the lavish expenditures of predecessor Carlos Andrés Pérez.

However, it also faced extremely high foreign debt due to the effects of spending by the previous President, Carlos Andrés Pérez.

During his campaign he pledged to reduce expenditures, but during his term he spent on extravagant projects such as the Teresa Carreño Theater and expensive public works such as the Caracas Metro.

Díaz Bruzual was a protégé of and advisor to Reinaldo Cervini, a very rich man who had life-time tenure at Pro-Venezuela, a kind of semi-official institute founded to promote Venezuelan industrialization.

There was much talk at the time of "bipolarity", the belief that Venezuela was stuck forever in the cycle of AD-COPEI ruling alternatively but following the same policies of high-spending, high-bureaucracy, and a statized economy.

In the USA, president Jimmy Carter was fighting inflationary pressures and interests rates there, and in the industrialized nations generally, went up to unheard of levels.

During his presidency the inauguration of Teatro Teresa Carreno and the Metro de Caracas took place, along with the presidential election of Jaime Lusinchi of Acción Democrática.