José Vicente Rangel

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José Vicente Rangel (left) with Juan Barreto

José Vicente Rangel Vale (born on 10 July 1929 in Caracas) is a Venezuelan leftist politician. He ran for president three times in the 1970s and 1980s, and later supported Hugo Chávez, successively becoming foreign minister, defense minister, and vice-president in Chávez's government.

[edit] Political activism

His political activism began with his active opposition of the military coup d'état that overthrew President Rómulo Gallegos in 1948. He was arrested by the military authorities and expelled from Venezuela. He took refuge in Chile, where he met and married the sculptor Ana Avalos.

He returned to Venezuela following the downfall of the dictatorship of Marcos Pérez Jiménez in 1958 and ran for, and was elected to, Congress that same year, representing the Democratic Republican Union (Unión Republicana Democrática, URD). In addition to his political activities, he exercised the legal profession, for which he had studied, and worked as a journalist. He also made presidential bids on three occasions: in 1973 and 1978 as candidate of MAS - Movimiento al Socialismo (Movement for Socialism), and in 1983 as candidate of MEP - Movimiento Electoral del Pueblo. In 1998 he had a political opinion show on Televen called "José Vicente Hoy", from where he openly supported then-presidential candidate Hugo Chávez.

[edit] Government of Hugo Chávez

President Hugo Chávez chose Rangel to serve as his minister of foreign affairs when he took office in 1999,^[1] and he served in this position until early February 2001, when Chávez selected him to be his minister of defence, replacing General Ismael Hurtado and becoming the first civilian defense minister in decades.^[2]^[3] Rangel held this position until he assumed the vice-presidency in May 2002, replacing Diosdado Cabello. On January 3, 2007, Chávez announced that Rangel would be replaced as vice-president by Jorge Rodríguez. Chávez said that the decision was "not easy", and that he regarded Rangel "with the same respect and affection as a son would a father", but did not explain the reasoning behind the decision.^[4] At the swearing in ceremony for the new cabinet on January 8, Rangel said that he was leaving the government, but not the revolution. He and Rodríguez exchanged praise, with the latter saying that Rangel was the first person he had ever voted for, in the 1983 election.^[5]

Rangel is the author of Expediente Negro, an investigation of human rights violations in Venezuela in the 1960s and 1970s. His son, Jose Vicente Rangel Avalos, has also been involved in Venezuelan politics, having been mayor of the Sucre District in Caracas.