Alexis Rafael Navarro Rojas (October 2, 1946 – May 22, 2016) was a Venezuelan politician, physician, and

diplomat A diplomat (from grc, δίπλωμα; romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state or an intergovernmental institution such as the United Nations or the European Union to conduct diplomacy with one or more other states or internati ...

. Navarro served as the governor of the

Venezuelan state The Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela is a federation made up of twenty-three states ('' es, estados''), a Capital District (Venezuela), Capital District ('' es, Distrito Capital'') and the Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, Federal D ...

of Nueva Esparta from 2000 until 2004 as a member of the MVR political party. He also served as the

Ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or sov ...

of Venezuela to the Russian Federation from 2005 until 2008 under

Hugo Chávez Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías (; 28 July 1954 – 5 March 2013) was a Venezuelan politician who was president of Venezuela from 1999 until his death in 2013, except for a brief period in 2002. Chávez was also leader of the Fifth Republ ...

Career

Navarro was born on October 2, 1946, in El Pilar, a section of

Maneiro Municipality Maneiro is a municipality of Isla Margarita in the state of Nueva Esparta, Venezuela. The capital is Pampatar Pampatar is a city on Isla Margarita, Nueva Esparta State, Venezuela. It is located in the Maneiro Municipality. Pampatar lies 10&nb ...

on Margarita Island, Nueva Esparta.He married María del Carmen Cabezas, whom he had 3 children with. He later went on to marry Gabriella Montilla who bore his 4th child. In 1970, Navarro graduated from the University of Zaragoza in Spain with a bachelor of medicine.He then studied to become a surgeon, specializing in trauma, at the Central University of Venezuela.He also received a master's degree in psychiatry from the University of Salamanca in Spain. Navarro later chaired the School of Medicine at the Central University of Venezuela (UCV). Navarro was a former member of the National Assembly, where he represented Nueva Esparta.A leftist politician and close ally of Hugo Chavez, Navarro was elected Governor of his home state of Nueva Esparta in 2000. Navarro, the candidate of Chavez's Fifth Republic Movement (MVR), narrowly won the state gubernatorial election by garnering 60,928 votes, or 49.82%, defeating his opponent, Morel Rodríguez Ávila of the Democratic Action (AD). He held the position of Governor of Nueva Esparta from 2000 until 2004. The Chavez government later appointed Navarro as Ambassador to Russia from 2005 until 2008. Navarro died of a heart attack in Caracas, Venezuela, on May 22, 2016, at the age of 69. He was buried in the cementerio de Los Robles on Margarita Island on May 24, 2016.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Navarro, Alexis 1946 births 2016 deaths Governors of Nueva Esparta Ambassadors of Venezuela to Russia Members of the National Assembly (Venezuela) Fifth Republic Movement politicians University of Zaragoza alumni Central University of Venezuela alumni University of Salamanca alumni People from Nueva Esparta