Andrés Velásquez is a
Venezuelan politician of the
Radical Cause (''La Causa Radical'') party. Formerly the general secretary of the steelworkers union of
SIDOR, he became one of the leaders of
Radical Cause after the death of its founder,
Alfredo Maneiro, in 1982. He was the governor of
Bolívar State from 1989 to 1995, and a member of the
National Assembly of Venezuela from 2000 to 2006. In the
2000 Venezuelan regional elections he ran unsuccessfully for the governorship of
Anzoátegui state.
He was Radical Cause's candidate in the
1993 Venezuelan presidential election, coming fourth with 22% of the vote;
Rafael Caldera became president with 30.5%. He had also been Radical Cause's candidate in the
1983 election and
1988 election, gaining less than 1% of the vote.
In the
Venezuelan regional elections, 2008 he ran again for governor of Bolívar state, coming second with 30% of the vote. Velásquez ran again for governor of Bolívar in
2012
File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...
and
2017
File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...
, coming close second and claiming irregularities both times.
In May 2019,
Supreme Tribunal of Justice ordered the prosecution of seven National Assembly members, including Velásquez, for their actions during the
failed uprising. However, Velásquez's name was later scrapped from the list.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Velasquez, Andres
Living people
Governors of Bolívar (state)
People from Puerto la Cruz
Members of the National Assembly (Venezuela)
Radical Cause politicians
1953 births
Venezuelan city councillors
People of the Crisis in Venezuela