Darío Ramón Vivas Velasco (12 June 1950 – 13 August 2020) was a Venezuelan politician, member of the 2017 National Constituent Assembly and the Governor of the Capital District. Vivas formerly served as

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the rep ...

deputy representing the

Capital District A capital district, capital region or capital territory is normally a specially designated administrative division where a country's seat of government is located. As such, in a federal model of government, no state or territory has any poli ...

for two consecutive periods. He also served as its first vice president twice (2010–2011) and (2013–2015) and as vice president of the Inter-Parliamentary Union Conference in 2015.

Political career

He was Director of Tours and Events for the

Fifth Republic Movement The Fifth Republic Movement (Spanish: ''Movimiento V uintaRepública'', MVR) was a socialist political party in Venezuela. It was founded in July 1997, following a national congress of the Revolutionary Bolivarian Movement-200, to support the ca ...

(MVR) until 2006, when the party was renamed to the

United Socialist Party of Venezuela The United Socialist Party of Venezuela ( es, Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela, PSUV) is a left-wing to far-left socialist political party which has been the ruling party of Venezuela since 2010. It was formed from a merger of some of the p ...

(PSUV), where Vivas held the same position of Director of tours and events. He served as a member of the

National Assembly of Venezuela The National Assembly ( es, Asamblea Nacional) is the legislature for Venezuela that was first elected in 2000. It is a unicameral body made up of a variable number of members, who were elected by a "universal, direct, personal, and secret" vo ...

for two consecutive periods from 2010 to 2017, separating from his position to run for the next election. On 30 July 2017, he was re-elected as a member of the National Constituent Assembly.

Death

During the

COVID-19 pandemic in Venezuela The COVID-19 pandemic in Venezuela is part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). The first two cases in Venezuela were confirmed on 13 March 2020; the fi ...

, Vivas announced that he had tested positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

on 19 July 2020. He died from the virus on 13 August 2020, at the age of 70.

Laws

The laws promoted by Darío Vivas as Deputy to the National Assembly have included: *Reform of the Electoral Processes (2009) *Community Council Law Reform (2009) *Creation of the Two Level Municipal Regime of the Metropolitan Area (2009) *Special Law of the Capital District Regime (2009) *Capital District Budget Law (2009) *Law on Protection of Mortgage Debtors (2007)

Sanctions

United States

On 9 August 2017, the

United States Department of the Treasury The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States, where it serves as an executive department. The department oversees the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and ...

placed sanctions on Vivas for his position in the 2017 Constituent Assembly of Venezuela.

Panama

On 29 March 2018, Vivas was sanctioned by the Panamanian government for his alleged involvement with "money laundering, financing of terrorism and financing the proliferation of

weapons of mass destruction A weapon of mass destruction (WMD) is a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, or any other weapon that can kill and bring significant harm to numerous individuals or cause great damage to artificial structures (e.g., buildings), natu ...

Canada

Responding to the May 2018 presidential election, Canada sanctioned 14 Venezuelans, including Vivas, stating that the "economic, political and humanitarian crisis in Venezuela has continued to worsen as it moves ever closer to full dictatorship". The government said the 2018 presidential election was "illegitimate and anti-democratic," and sanctioned Vivas, along with 13 other members of the Constituent Assembly and Supreme Court.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vivas, Darío 1950 births 2020 deaths Members of the National Assembly (Venezuela) United Socialist Party of Venezuela politicians Fifth Republic Movement politicians People from Vargas (state) People of the Crisis in Venezuela Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Venezuela Death in Caracas Members of the Venezuelan Constituent Assembly of 2017