Francisco Javier Arias Cárdenas (born 20 November 1950) is a

Venezuela 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 th ...

n politician and career military officer, and was the governor of

Zulia state Zulia State ( es, Estado Zulia, ; Wayuu: ''Mma’ipakat Suuria'') is one of the 23 states of Venezuela. The state capital is Maracaibo. As of the 2011 census, it has a population of 3,704,404, the largest population among Venezuela's states. It ...

. He participated in Hugo Chávez's unsuccessful February 1992 coup attempt, being pardoned in 1994 by

Rafael Caldera Rafael Antonio Caldera Rodríguez ( (); 24 January 1916 – 24 December 2009), twice elected the president of Venezuela, served for two five-year terms (1969–1974 and 1994–1999), becoming the longest serving democratically elected leade ...

, along with the other conspirators. He was elected Governor of

Zulia Zulia State ( es, Estado Zulia, ; Wayuu: ''Mma’ipakat Suuria'') is one of the 23 states of Venezuela. The state capital is Maracaibo. As of the 2011 census, it has a population of 3,704,404, the largest population among Venezuela's states. It ...

state in 1995 for the

Radical Cause The Radical Cause ( es, La Causa Radical, LCR), stylized as La Causa Я, is a minor left-wing political party in Venezuela, and today part of the Venezuelan opposition to president Nicolás Maduro. At its peak in the early 1990s, the party came ...

, and challenged Hugo Chávez for the presidency in 2000. He subsequently served as Venezuelan Ambassador to the UN, and deputy to the National Assembly after the 2010 parliamentary elections.

Background and military career

Born at San Cristóbal in

Táchira Táchira State ( es, Estado Táchira, ) is one of the 24 states of Venezuela. The state capital is San Cristóbal. Táchira State covers a total surface area of and as of the 2011 census, had a population of 1,168,908. At the end of the 19t ...

, Arias graduated from the Venezuelan Academy of Military Sciences in Caracas, the Universidad de Los Andes in Mérida, and the

Pontifical Xavierian University The Pontifical Xavierian University (in Spanish Pontificia Universidad Javeriana) is a private higher education institution founded in 1623. It is one of the oldest, most traditional, and prestigious Colombian universities, directed by the Soc ...

in Bogotá, Colombia. Arias joined Hugo Chávez's clandestine organization, the

MBR-200 The Revolutionary Bolivarian Movement-200 (Movimiento Bolivariano Revolucionario 200 or MBR-200) was the political and social movement that the later Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez founded in 1982. It eventually planned and executed the Febr ...

, in 1985, and with Chávez went on to lead a coup attempt against the government of Carlos Andrés Pérez on 4 February 1992. Arias was in charge of the battalion that took over the city of Maracaibo. Despite the success of Arias' battalion, the coup failed when Chávez surrendered to the government. Arias was detained and imprisoned until 1994, when he was pardoned by

Political career

In 1993, Arias split with Chávez and left the MBR-200, disagreeing with the group's then-strategy of electoral abstentionism. In 1995, Arias ran for governor of

Zulia State Zulia State ( es, Estado Zulia, ; Wayuu: ''Mma’ipakat Suuria'') is one of the 23 states of Venezuela. The state capital is Maracaibo. As of the 2011 census, it has a population of 3,704,404, the largest population among Venezuela's states. It ...

, as a candidate of

. When preliminary results showed the candidate of Acción Democrática winning, people rioted. Things returned to normal later the same day after a final recount of the votes showed Arias as the winner of the election. In 1998, Arias supported Chávez in his bid for the presidency, while he ran again for the governorship of Zulia. Both won their respective elections. Over time, Arias became critical of Chávez' policies and actions. In 2000, when new presidential elections were called following the approval of a new constitution, Arias contested the election against Chávez. He was supported by a faction of the MBR-200 that had separated with Chávez following the inauguration of the 1999 constitution and claimed to be the "authentic" part of the Bolivarian movement. Arias lost the 2000 election but remained in politics at the head of his newly formed political party, Partido Unión. On 4 February 2006, Chávez announced that Arias would be rejoining his government. On 1 May 2006, Arias was designated Venezuela's ambassador to the UN. In 2010 Arias was elected to represent Zulia state as a deputy to the National Assembly in the 2010 parliamentary elections. In 2012, 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 ...

(''Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela'' / PSUV) selected Arias as its gubernatorial candidate for

. He was elected governor of Zulia State with 52.99% of the vote. Since 2019, he serves as Venezuela's ambassador to

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

Notes

References

*. {{DEFAULTSORT:Arias Cardenas, Francisco Living people 1950 births Governors of Zulia Venezuelan diplomats Permanent Representatives of Venezuela to the United Nations Venezuelan prisoners and detainees Prisoners and detainees of Venezuela Recipients of Venezuelan presidential pardons Radical Cause politicians United Socialist Party of Venezuela politicians People from San Cristóbal, Táchira Venezuelan soldiers