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 repr ...

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 politic ...

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 The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU; , UIP) is an international organization of national parliaments. Its primary purpose is to promote democratic governance, accountability, and cooperation among its members; other initiatives include advancing g ...

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 Socialism, socialist political party in Venezuela. It was founded in July 1997, following a national congress of the Revolutionary Bolivarian Movement-200, to ...

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

United Socialist Party of Venezuela The United Socialist Party of Venezuela (, PSUV, ) is a Socialism, socialist political party which has been the ruling party of Venezuela since 2007. It was formed from a merger of some of the political and social forces that support the Bolivar ...

(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 () is the federal legislature of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, which was first elected in 2000 under the 1999 constitution. It is a unicameral body made up of a variable number of members, who are elected by a ...

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 was a 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 ...

, Vivas announced that he had tested positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

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 Treasury, national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States. It is one of 15 current United States federal executive departments, U.S. government departments. ...

placed sanctions on Vivas for his position in the

2017 Constituent Assembly of Venezuela The Constituent National Assembly (; ANC) was a constituent assembly elected in 2017 to draft a new constitution for Venezuela. Its members were elected in a special 2017 election that was condemned by over forty mostly Latin American and Wester ...

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 Biological agent, biological, chemical weapon, chemical, Radiological weapon, radiological, nuclear weapon, nuclear, or any other weapon that can kill or significantly harm many people or cause great dam ...

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 Members of the Venezuelan Constituent Assembly of 2017