Andrés Izarra (born 26 May, 1969 in

Caracas Caracas (, ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas, abbreviated as CCS, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the ...

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

) is a Venezuelan politician, journalist and former Minister of Tourism of the Bolivarian Republic of

. Previously, he held various positions in the media area and in Venezuelan politics, mainly during the government of President

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 ...

Early life

Izarra is the son of the retired Venezuelan Army colonel, William Izarra. Unlike his father, Andrés Izarra was not linked to politics from the beginning: in the beginning he worked as a journalist in different places. He worked in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

and

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, and later worked in

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and the

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on the news networks

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and

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. In 1999, he returned to

where he served as production manager for the Venezuelan company RCTV. In April 2002 citing ethical conflicts with the news channel he resigned, which made him better known among government supporters. In 2003 he returned to work for the American company

. In 2003, he was appointed press attaché of the Venezuelan embassy in

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

. In 2004, he was appointed Minister of Communication and Information of Venezuela. From the ministry he promoted pending reforms, by improving the Venezuelan State Television Channel, and promoted the Law of Social Responsibility in Radio and Television (Ley Resorte, called "''Gag Law''" by the sectors adverse to the government, under the argument that it forced the media to incur in the censorship of their contents for political reasons). This was criticized by the

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...

. Izarra was a minister until 2005, when he was appointed director of the multi-state network TeleSUR. That same year, he married Isabel González Capriles, a television presenter and journalist for Globovisión. In January 2008, Izarra was again appointed Minister of Communication, replacing journalist

Willian Lara Willian Lara (28 July 1959 – 10 September 2010) was a Venezuelan politician. Elected several times to the National Assembly, he was the Minister of Communication and Information between 2006 and 2008 and Governor of Guárico state from 2008 ...

. In December 2008 he was replaced in office by Jesse Chacón Escamillo. On April 21, 2013, Izarra was appointed Minister of Tourism for the Government of Nicolás Maduro. In 2018 he asked for a change of government, thus separating himself from the ranks of the ruling party.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Izarra, Andres Living people 1969 births People from Caracas Venezuelan politicians United Socialist Party of Venezuela politicians 21st-century Venezuelan politicians CNN people Venezuelan journalists Government ministers of Venezuela Communications ministers Tourism ministers