- Simón Bolívar
Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Palacios (born July 24, 1783 in Caracas, Venezuela – died December 17, 1830, in Santa Marta, Colombia) was a leader of several independence movements throughout South America, collectively known as Bolívar's War. Credited with leading the fight for independence in what are now the countries of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Panama, and Bolivia, …
- Manuel Rosales
Manuel Antonio Rosales Guerrero is a Venezuelan politician and current governor of the State of Zulia. Rosales was a presidential candidate, representing a broad spectrum of parties and organizations opposed to incumbent president Hugo Chávez in the 3 December 2006 presidential election. Other presidential opposition candidates agreed, on 9 August, to withdraw and support Rosales. A primary election scheduled for 13 August was cancelled, …
- Pedro Carmona
Pedro Francisco Carmona Estanga is a former Venezuelan trade organization leader who was briefly declared President of Venezuela during an abortive 2002 military coup against Hugo Chávez. He occupied the office of President from April 12 to April 13. After the coup failed, Carmona, wanted by the authorities for illegal usurpation of power, escaped house arrest, fled to Colombia and later surfaced in Miami, Florida.
- Johan Santana
Johan Alexander Santana Araque (born March 13, 1979) is a Major League Baseball left-handed starting pitcher who plays for the Minnesota Twins. He is a 2-time American League Cy Young Award winner.
- Gustavo Dudamel
He's the rock star of classical music. Handsome, talented, charismatic - the usual accolades apply to Gustavo Dudamel , at age 27, incoming music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He guest-conducts the New York Philharmonic Saturday at Tilles...
- Francisco de Miranda
Sebastián Francisco de Miranda y Rodríguez was a Venezuelan revolutionary whose own plan for the independence of the Spanish American colonies failed, but he is regarded as a forerunner of Simón Bolívar, who during the South American wars of independence successfully liberated a vast portion of South America. Miranda led a romantic and adventurous life. An idealist, he developed a visionary plan to liberate and unify all of Spanish America.
- Aleksander Boyd
Aleksander Boyd (born October 25, 1969) is a Venezuelan writer, blogger, and political activist. In November 2002, Boyd created and launched vcrisis.com. He also founded Pro Venezuela Organization, a London-based NGO that lobbies international bodies for democracy in his native Venezuela. His writings have revealed suspect connections and conflicts of interest of high officials of the Hugo Chavez administration.
- Teodoro Petkoff
Teodoro Petkoff Malec is a Venezuelan politician, ex-guerrilla, journalist and economist. One of the most prominent politicians on the left in Venezuela, Petkoff began as a communist but gravitated towards liberalism in the 1990s. He has been a prominent critic of President Hugo Chávez, and was a candidate to run against him in the December 2006 presidential elections, but dropped out of the race in August to support Manuel Rosales.
- Edwin Valero
Edwin Valero (born December 3, 1981 in Bolero Alto, Mérida, Venezuela) is an undefeated southpaw boxer who fights in the super featherweight (130 lb) division. His professional boxing record is 22-0 (22 KOs, 19 of which occurred in the first round). Valero is the current WBA super featherweight champion.
- Carlos Ortega
Carlos Ortega Carvajal is a union and political leader in Venezuela. He was sentenced to a 16 year prison term for his role in the 2002 december strike (not to be confused with 2002 April attempted coup d'etat), and escaped from prison on August 13, 2006. In 2001, Ortega was elected leader of the Confederación de Trabajadores de Venezuela (CTV), the largest union in Venezuela. The results were disputed and the Supreme Court refused to ratify them.
- Carlos Zambrano
Carlos Alberto Zambrano (born June 1, 1981 Puerto Cabello, Venezuela but raised in San Antonio de los Altos, Miranda State) is a right-handed starting pitcher in Major League Baseball who has played for the Chicago Cubs since 2001. He is one of the few switch-hitting pitchers and is known for being a particularly strong hitting pitcher. His nickname in the media is "Big Z," but among teammates, he is known as "el toro." Zambrano, a big, …
- Miguel Cabrera
José Miguel Torres Cabrera is a Major League Baseball player for the Florida Marlins. When he started his Major League career in 2003, Cabrera was 6'2" and weighed 210 pounds; he is now 6'4" and 240. He bats and throws right handed. He is the regular third baseman for the 2007 Florida Marlins. Unusually, the onetime shortstop has played a number of positions - he has at least 100 starts at each of third base, left field and right field. Cabrera didn't attend college.
- Andrés Bello
Andrés Bello Venezuelan humanist, poet, lawmaker, philosopher, educator and philologist, whose work constitutes an important part of Spanish American culture. Bello is featured on the 2,000 Venezuelan bolívars and the 20,000 Chilean pesos notes. Bello studied Liberal Arts, Law and Medicine at the University of Caracas and became known for his early writings and translations, …
- Carlos The Jackal
Vladimir Ilich Ramírez Sánchez is a Venezuelan-born self-proclaimed leftist revolutionary and mercenary. He was given the "nom de guerre" Carlos the Jackal when he became a member of the leftist Popular Front for Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). After several bungled bombings, Ramírez Sánchez obtained notoriety for a 1975 raid on the OPEC headquarters, resulting in the deaths of three people.
- Rafael Caldera
Rafael Caldera Rodríguez was president of Venezuela from 1969 to 1974 and again from 1994 to 1999. Caldera taught sociology and law at various universities before entering politics. He was a founding member of COPEI, Venezuela's Christian Democratic party. He first ran for president unsuccessfully in 1946 and tried again every time it was possible until finally succeeding in 1968, …
- Carlos Andrés Pérez
Carlos Andrés Pérez Rodríguez, best known as CAP was President of Venezuela from 1974 to 1979 and again from 1989 to 1993.
- Gustavo Cisneros
Gustavo Cisneros is a Venezuelan-born media mogul. He is among the world's richest men according to "Forbes" magazine, which estimates his fortune at $5 billion. "The New York Times" calls Cisneros, "one of Latin America’s most powerful figures" and says he and his wife, Patricia Phelps de Cisneros, have a reputation for being "a Latin American power couple in business and the global social scene." Cisneros' wealth comes from his holdings in media, …
- Carlos Silva
Carlos Silva is a starting pitcher in Major League Baseball who has played for the Minnesota Twins since 2004. Previously, he played for the Philadelphia Phillies (2002-03). He bats and throws right handed. Silva was acquired from Philadelphia in exchange for Eric Milton, who was a staple of the Minnesota rotation since 1998. During May 2006, Silva was demoted to the bullpen after struggling through the beginning of the season.
- Rafael Ramírez
Rafael Darío Ramírez Carreño is a Venezuelan engineer and politician. He is the current president of Venezuelan state-owned oil company PDVSA. He once served as Venezuelan Minister of Energy and Mines. He was appointed to that position on July 2002 by current Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez. Ramirez once headed Venezuela's Enegas, an energy watchdog and regulatory agency. Ramírez, a mechanical engineer, has a wide experience in the development, …
- Francisco Rodríguez
Francisco "Frankie" José Rodríguez, nicknamed "K-Rod", is a Major League Baseball player. A right-handed relief pitcher, he has played for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim since 2002, and served as the Halos' closer since 2005.
- Francisco Rodríguez
Francisco Rodríguez is a former Venezuelan boxer. At the 1968 Summer Olympics he won the gold medal in the inaugural men's light flyweight (48 kg) division, after having claimed the gold as well at the 1967 and 1971 Pan American Games. <br> <br>
- Milka Duno
Milka Duno (born April 22, 1972 in Caracas, Venezuela) is a female race car driver. She began racing sports cars in Venezuela at the late age of 24. In 1999, she moved to the United States and attended more advanced racing schools and she drove in the Barber Dodge Pro Series in 2000. Later that year she made her American Le Mans Series debut. She made her 24 Hours of Daytona debut the next year and her 24 Hours of Le Mans debut a year later.
- Omar Vizquel
Omar Enrique Vizquel (born April 24, 1967 in Caracas, Venezuela) is a Major League Baseball shortstop playing for the San Francisco Giants. Previously, Vizquel played for the Seattle Mariners (1989-93) and the Cleveland Indians (1994-2004). Vizquel is considered one of baseball's all-time best defensive shortstops, having nine consecutiveGold Gloves (1993-2001) and two consecutive in 2005-2006.
- José Vicente Rangel
José Vicente Rangel Vale is a Venezuelan leftist politician. He ran for president three times in the 1970s and 1980s, and later supported Hugo Chávez, successively becoming foreign minister, defense minister, and vice-president in Chávez's government.
- Franco de Vita
Franco De Vita is a singer-songwriter popular in Latin music. One of three children born in Latin America to Italian immigrants, De Vita’s family returned to Italy when he was 3. The family moved back to Venezuela when De Vita was 13, and he later studied piano at the university level. In 1982, De Vita formed the group Icaro, which released one self-titled album in his homeland. Two years later, he released his first disc as a solo artist, …
- Ricardo Montaner
Venezuelan pop singer Ricardo Montaner was born as Hector Eduardo Reglero Montaner on September 8 1957 in Valentín Alsina, Buenos Aires, Argentina, but moved to Venezuela when he was 6 years old. During his youth he performed in the church chorus in the town of Maracaibo and soon after launched his career in the early 80's.
- Danilo Anderson
Danilo Baltasar Anderson was a Venezuelan state prosecutor investigating more than 400 people accused of crimes against the state and Venezuelan people in the failed 2002 coup d'état attempt. Anderson, 38, was assassinated in Urbanización Los Chaguaramos in Caracas, Venezuela, while driving home from the college where he was taking post-graduate classes.
- Bobby Abreu
Bob Kelly Abreu (born March 11, 1974 in Maracay, Aragua State, Venezuela) is a Major League Baseball right fielder who plays for the New York Yankees. He bats left-handed and throws right-handed. Abreu is a 2-time all-star, who has won a Gold Glove Award and a Silver Slugger Award. He has led his league in games (twice), doubles, and triples. Through 2006 he was 7th among active ballplayers in on base percentage (.412), and 13th in stolen bases (271).
- Antonio Lauro
Antonio Lauro was a Venezuelan guitarist, considered to be one of the foremost South American composers for the instrument in the 20th century.
- Nicolás Maduro
Nicolás Maduro Moros is a Venezuelan politician who was appointed foreign minister by President Hugo Chávez on 9 August 2006. Maduro emerged as a student leader and then as a trade-unionist representing the workers of the Caracas Metro system in the 1970s and 1980s. He is one of the founders of the Fifth Republic Movement (MVR). Maduro was elected on the MVR ticket to the Chamber of Deputies in 1998, to the National Constituent Assembly in 1999, …
- Luis Aparicio
Luis Ernesto Aparicio Montiel is a former shortstop in professional baseball and a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame. His career spanned three decades, from 1956 through 1973. Aparicio played for the Chicago White Sox (1956–62, 1968–70), Baltimore Orioles (1963–67) and Boston Red Sox (1971–73). He batted and threw right handed.
- Ezequiel Zamora
Ezequiel Zamora was a famous Venezuelan soldier and leader in the Federal War "(Guerra Federal)" of 1859-1863. Zamora was born in Cúa, Miranda State and died in San Carlos, Cojedes.
- Julio Borges
Julio Andrés Borges Junyent is a Venezuelan politician. He was a lawyer who also had a TV court show called "Justicia Para Todos" on Radio Caracas Televisión before being elected a member of the National Assembly, representing Primero Justicia and Miranda State. Borges ran for president in the primaries for the Venezuelan presidential elections of 2006, but on August 9, 2006 dropped out to support Manuel Rosales, the current governor of the Zulia State
- Alberto Gonzalez
Alberto Ramon Gonzalez (born April 18, 1983 in Barquisimeto, Venezuela) is an infielder for the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball. Gonzalez spent his first three years in the minors with the South Bend Silver Hawks and Tucson Sidewinders.
- Juan Barreto
Juan Alejandro Barreto Cipriani is a politician in Venezuela. He has been mayor of Caracas since 2004, and belongs to the Movimiento Quinta República party (MVR).
- Guaicaipuro
Guaicaipuro was a native (indigenous) Venezuelan chief of both the Teques and Caracas tribes. Though known today as Guaicaipuro, in documents of the time his name was written "Guacaipuro". Guaicaipuro formed a powerful coalition of different tribes which he led during part of the XVI century against the Spanish conquest of Venezuelan territory in the central region of the country, specially in the Caracas valley.
- Kelvim Escobar
Kelvim Jose Escobar Bolivar [ess-coe-BAR] (born April 11, 1976 in La Guaira, Venezuela) is a starting pitcher in Major League Baseball who currently plays for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (2004-present). He bats and throws right handed. Escobar throws a four-seam 97 MPH fastball, a two-seamer, and a deceptive changeup. He has good command of a wide variety of other pitches, including a split-finger, a curve, and a slider that is a mainstay of his repertoire.
- Cilia Flores
Cilia Flores, a lawyer by training, is (as of 2007) the president (speaker) of the National Assembly of Venezuela. She is married to Foreign Minister Nicolás Maduro, who also presided over the National Assembly during the previous parliamentary session. On 10 January 2007, Flores swore President Hugo Chávez into office.
- Teresa Carreño
Maria Teresa Carreño was a Venezuelan pianist, singer, composer, and conductor. Born into a musical family, she was at first taught by her father and her talent was recognized at an early age. In, 1862 her family immigrated to New York City, and she made her debut at Irving Hall that same year. In 1863 she performed for Abraham Lincoln at the White House. In 1866 Teresa moved to Europe, and began touring, making her debut as an opera-singer in 1876.
- Edgar Ramirez
Edgar Ramirez (born Edgar Ramirez Arellanos March 25, 1977 in Caracas, Venezuela), is a Venezuelan actor.