Francisco Arias Cárdenas

Francisco Arias Cárdenas
Governor of Zulia
In office 1996–2000
Preceded by	Lolita Aniyar de Castro
Succeeded by	Germán Valero
Personal details
Born	20 November 1950 (1950-11-20) San Cristóbal, Táchira State
Political party	United Socialist Party of Venezuela
Profession	Politician

Francisco Javier Arias Cárdenas (born on 20 November 1950 in San Cristóbal, Táchira) is a Venezuelan politician and career military officer. He participated in Hugo Chávez' unsuccessful February 1992 coup attempt, being pardoned in 1994 by Rafael Caldera, along with the other conspirators. He was elected Governor of Zulia state in 1995 for the Radical Cause, and challenged Hugo Chávez for the presidency in 2000. He is currently Venezuelan Ambassador to the UN.

Background and military career

He graduated from the Venezuelan Academy of Military Sciences in Caracas, the Universidad de Los Andes in Mérida, and the Pontifical Xavierian University in Bogotá, Colombia.

Arias joined Hugo Chávez's clandestine organization, the MBR-200, 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 Rafael Caldera.

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, as a candidate of Radical Cause. 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, but lost. Despite his loss, Arias remained in politics at the head of his newly formed political party, Partido Unión.

On 11 April 2002 Arias responded in a televised interview to the killings that occurred during demonstrations on 11 April 2002 prior to the 2002 Venezuelan coup d'état attempt. At a time when it was widely reported that Chávez was responsible for the killings, he referred to Chávez as a "murderer," "paranoid," and "possessed," who had to be held accountable for ordering snipers to fire on protesting crowds. He repeated that Chávez could not be supported "for one more second....a murdering president stained with the blood of the Venezuelan people." After his restoration to office, Chávez accused the opposition of using the snipers to create the atmosphere needed for the coup.^{[citation needed]}

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.

References

• López Maya, Margarita (1998), "New Avenues for Popular Representation in Venezuela: La Causa R and the Movimiento Bolivariano 200", in Canache, Damarys; Kulisheck, Michael R., Reinventing Legitimacy: Democracy and Political Change in Venezuela, Greenwood Publishing Group, ISBN 978-0313306686 .

Preceded by Lolita Aniyar de Castro

Governor of Zulia 1996–2000

Succeeded by Germán Valero