Alí Rodríguez Araque (9 September 1937 – 19 November 2018) was a Venezuelan politician, lawyer, and diplomat. He was the leader of the political party Patria Para Todos ("

Fatherland for All Fatherland for All (''Patria Para Todos'', PPT) is a leftist political party in Venezuela. It was founded on September 27, 1997 by members of The Radical Cause party led by Pablo Medina, Aristóbulo Istúriz and Alí Rodríguez Araque. In 19 ...

") and occupied various positions in 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 ...

, such as

oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...

advisor, General Secretary of OPEC, President of

Petróleos de Venezuela Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA, ) (English: Petroleum of Venezuela) is the Venezuelan state-owned oil and natural gas company. It has activities in exploration, production, refining and exporting oil as well as exploration and production ...

(PDVSA), Minister of External Relations and Ambassador to

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribb ...

. He was appointed as

Minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", ...

in June 2008. His last occupation was Ambassador of Venezuela in Cuba since 2014 until his death in 2018.

Career

Born in Ejido, Mérida, he received his legal certification from

Universidad Central de Venezuela The Central University of Venezuela (Spanish: ''Universidad Central de Venezuela''; UCV) is a public university of Venezuela located in Caracas. It is widely held to be the highest ranking institution in the country, and it also ranks 18th in L ...

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 th ...

in 1961. He studied economics, specialising in

crude oil Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crude ...

; he wrote several works about the energy sector. During the 1960s and early 1970s, he was active in the

Marxist Marxism is a left-wing to far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand class relations and social conflict and a dialecti ...

guerrilla movement operating in Venezuela. He was known as "Commander Fausto", allegedly acting as an explosives expert. He was one of the last guerrilla fighters to put down arms, after the so-called "appeasement" policy (Pacificación) signaled the end of the armed insurgency. He was pardoned and became involved in parliamentary politics, and was elected to the then National Congress. He was minister of energy of Venezuela from 1999, when Chávez took office, until 2000. In 2000 he was elected

secretary-general Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the organization. The term is derived ...

OPEC The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC, ) is a cartel of countries. Founded on 14 September 1960 in Baghdad by the first five members (Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela), it has, since 1965, been headqua ...

and served from January 2001 to July 2002. He then became president of Venezuela's state-owned oil company

(PDVSA), where he masterminded the firing of more than 20,000 workers in response to their part in the company's leading role in the

Venezuelan general strike of 2002-2003 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 t ...

. He remained in that position until November 2004 when Chávez appointed him

foreign minister A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between co ...

in a cabinet reshuffle. On 1 September 2006, Rodríguez was appointed as Ambassador of Venezuela to Cuba. Later he served some time as Vice President of 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 ...

for the Andean region in Venezuela before being appointed as Minister of Finance by Chávez on 15 June 2008. He died in Havana on 19 November 2018 at the age of 81.

References

External links

World Energy Magazine – The Global Energy Industry: An Opportunity for Cooperation, Stability and InvestmentWorld Energy Magazine – OPEC: New Realities and New Challenges
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rodriguez Araque, Ali 1937 births 2018 deaths People from Mérida (state) Venezuelan Ministers of Foreign Affairs Central University of Venezuela alumni Recipients of Venezuelan presidential pardons Government ministers of Venezuela Finance ministers of Venezuela Fatherland for All politicians United Socialist Party of Venezuela politicians Secretaries General of OPEC Recipients of the Order of the Liberator General San Martin Secretaries General of the Union of South American Nations Ambassadors of Venezuela Venezuelan guerrillas

Career

See also

References

External links