protect the continuous autonomy and profitability of Venezuela's oil (among other reasons), establishing a strong link between the South American nation and the Middle East region that survives to this day. His extensive notes of the TRC methods for regulation of production to maximize recovery served him well both in Venezuela and later when he took them translated into Arabic to the Cairo meeting that served as launching platform for OPEC, where Wanda Jablonski introduced him to then minister of petroleum of Saudi Arabia, Abdullah Tariki, co-founder of OPEC. Personal life He was an ascetic vegetarian. Legacy and death After the 1973 oil crisis, the brief period of economic prosperity for Venezuela was relatively short lived. In 1976 Pérez Alfonzo gave an intuitive warning about what economists now call the "natural resource curse": "Ten years from now, twenty years from now, you will see, oil will bring us ruin... It is the devil's excrement." This was the case during the "1980s oil glut". OPEC member countries were not adhering strictly to their assigned quotas, and once again oil prices plummeted. Pérez Alfonzo died in Washington, D.C., at the Georgetown University Hospital on 3 September 1979, having succumbed to pancreatic cancer. He was 75 years old. El Vigía's Juan Pablo Pérez Alfonzo Airport was named in his honor in 1991. Since 1998, the Orden Juan Pablo Pérez Alfonzo (Order of Juan Pablo Pérez Alfonzo) is the Venezuelan award of state given to those who contribute to works related to mining, petroleum and energy. Books Petróleo: jugo de la tierra. Caracas: Editorial Arte, 1961. La Dinámica del petróleo en el progreso de Venezuela. Caracas: Central University of Venezuela, 1965. Petróleo de vida o muerte (debate with Arturo Uslar Pietri). Caracas: Editorial Arte, 1966. El pentágono petrolero: la política nacionalista de defensa y conservación del petroleo. Caracas: Revista Política, 1967. ¿Hasta cuándo los abusos de La Electricidad?: informe sobre el caso Guarenas. Guarenas: Municipal Council, 1969. Petróleo y dependencia. Caracas: Síntesis Dos Mil, 1971. Hundiéndonos en el excremento del diablo. Caracas: Editorial Lisbona, 1976. El desastre (with Domingo Alberto Rangel and Pedro Duno). Valencia: Vadell Hermanos, 1976. Alternativas (with Iván Loscher). Caracas: Garbizu & Todtmann Editores, 1976. Venezuela y el petróleo. Caracas: Centro Gumilla, 1976. Notes References Fundación Polar (1997), Diccionario de Historia de Venezuela, Caracas, Venezuela 1903 births 1979 deaths People from Caracas Venezuelan diplomats Oil ministers OPEC people Democratic Action (Venezuela)