Juan Alejandro Barreto Cipriani (born 1959) is a politician in Venezuela

Venezuela

Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...

. He was mayor of Caracas

Caracas

Caracas , officially Santiago de León de Caracas, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela; natives or residents are known as Caraquenians in English . It is located in the northern part of the country, following the contours of the narrow Caracas Valley on the Venezuelan coastal mountain range...

 from 2004 until 2008. Juan Barreto belongs to the United Socialist Party of Venezuela

United Socialist Party of Venezuela

The United Socialist Party of Venezuela is the name of a democratic socialist political party in Venezuela which resulted from the fusion of some of the political and social forces that support the Bolivarian Revolution led by incumbent President Hugo Chávez...

 (PSUV).

Congressperson

Juan Barreto entered the political scene with his election to the Venezuelan Chamber of Deputies

Venezuelan Chamber of Deputies

The Venezuelan Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of Venezuela's legislative under its 1961 constitution; the Venezuelan Senate was the upper house...

 in November 1998. On July 30, 2000, Barreto was elected to the newly created National Assembly (the legislative body that replaced the Chamber of Deputies), receiving 276,952 votes, or 53.98% of the total votes, and represented the Venezuelan Capital District

Venezuelan Capital District

The Capital District of Venezuela is a federal district corresponding to the capital Caracas. It has an area of 433 km² and there is only one administrative division , Libertador, which contains about half City of Caracas. It is the seat of the federal government and the head of the public...

. He resigned from this position when he was elected mayor of Caracas in October 2004.

Mayor of Caracas

During his term in office, Barreto's relationships with the other mayors of Caracas were hostile. On August 22, 2006 he denounced fellow mayors Leopoldo López

Leopoldo López

Leopoldo López Mendoza is a Venezuelan politician and economist. From 2000 until 2008, López was the mayor of the Chacao Municipality of Caracas. A 2006 Los Angeles Times article describes López as an immensely popular leader of the opposition to Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, as well as a...

 and Henrique Capriles. In response, both announced legal action against him.

Other

Juan Barreto has received degrees in journalism

Journalism

Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...

 and social sciences

Social sciences

Social science is the field of study concerned with society. "Social science" is commonly used as an umbrella term to refer to a plurality of fields outside of the natural sciences usually exclusive of the administrative or managerial sciences...

. He was the director of the newspaper "Correo del Presidente", the Oficina Central de Información (OCI, now the Ministry of Communication and Information), and the news agency Venpres (now known as the Agencia Bolivariana de Noticias

Agencia Bolivariana de Noticias

Agencia Venezolana de Noticias is the national news agency of Venezuela. It is part of the Ministry of Communication and Information , but run as an autonomous service...

, or ABN). Barreto is also a professor at the Universidad Central de Venezuela

Central University of Venezuela

The Central University of Venezuela is a premier public University of Venezuela located in Caracas...

.

He was longlisted for the 2008 World Mayor

World Mayor

World Mayor is a biennial award organized by The City Mayors Foundation since 2004. It intends to raise the profile of mayors worldwide, as well as honour those who have served their communities well and who have contributed to the well-being of cities, nationally and internationally...

award.

External links

• CityMayors profile
• Venezuela to seize golf courses, BBC, 30 August 2006
• VHeadline
• "Si tenemos que expropiar un municipio completo, lo haremos", El Universal, 23 August 2006