Andrés Izarra (born 26 May 1969 in

Caracas Caracas ( , ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas (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 northern p ...

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

) 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, Bolivarian Revolution, revolutionary, and Officer (armed forces), military officer who served as the 52nd president of Venezuela from 1999 until De ...

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 lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, and later worked in

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

and the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

on the news networks

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

and

CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

. In 1999, he returned to

where he served as production manager for the Venezuelan company

RCTV Radio Caracas Televisión (RCTV and sometimes referred to as the Canal de Bárcenas) is a Venezuelan over-the-top streaming service and formerly a free-to-air television Television network, network headquartered in the Caracas neighborhood of Q ...

. 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 most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

. 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 that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crim ...

. Izarra was a minister until 2005, when he was appointed director of the multi-state network

TeleSUR Telesur (stylized as teleSUR) is a Latin American terrestrial and satellite news television network headquartered in Caracas, Venezuela, and sponsored by the governments of Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua. First proposed in 2005 and subsidized ...

. 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 Politicians from Caracas United Socialist Party of Venezuela politicians CNN people Venezuelan journalists Nicolás Maduro ministers Communications ministers of Venezuela Tourism ministers of Venezuela Hugo Chávez ministers