Juan Oropeza
Encyclopedia
Juan Oropeza Riera was a Venezuela
n lawyer, diplomat, writer, educator and political science expert. He was born in Carora
in the state of Lara
, and was the younger brother of pediatrics pioneer, Pastor Oropeza Riera
.
In his youth, he opposed the totalitarian regime of President
Juan Vicente Gómez
and became a member of the student-led movement called "Generation of 1928
". He was imprisoned and eventually sent into exile with some of the other group members. In 1931, he worked as a correspondent for Élite
Magazine in Madrid, Spain. Upon his return to Venezuela he became a founding member of Acción Democrática, one of the two most prominent political parties in the nation's republican history, alongside such important figures as Luis Beltrán Prieto Figueroa
, Mariano Picón Salas
and later Venezuelan President Rómulo Betancourt
.
In 1944, he married Venezuelan Alicia Sosa in Mexico City, with whom he only had one child. Under Isaias Medina Angarita
's presidential term, he became the rector
of the Universidad Central de Venezuela
(Central University of Venezuela) and was subsequently appointed Venezuela's ambassador
to the United Kingdom under President Rómulo Gallegos
's term, where he attended Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip's wedding.
He took up Paris as his permanent residence during the dictatorship of Marcos Pérez Jiménez
, where he befriended such personalities as poet Paul Éluard
, writers Jorge Luis Borges
, Nicolás Guillén
, Miguel Ángel Asturias
and painters Salvador Dalí
, Marie Laurencin
and Pablo Picasso
.
In the 1960s, he continued his duties as the Venezuelan ambassador
in Paris for Rómulo Betancourt
's administration. During that time, he was also chosen to represent Venezuela as its ambassador
before UNESCO
and, during Raúl Leoni
's presidency, was assigned to the position of Venezuelan ambassador in Bogotá
, Colombia
, the highest honor any Venezuelan diplomatic official can achieve. He received the Orden del Libertador (first class) and the Orden Francisco de Miranda, as well as the Orden del Águila Azteca (Mexico) in recognition for his outstanding academic skills. He was an arts and literature professor at the University of Minnesota
. Some of his literary works include: Sucre, Cuatro siglos de historia venezolana, En perpetua fuga, Sobre Inglaterra y los ingleses, Imparidad del destino americano, Breve Historia de Venezuela, Fronteras and Del tiempo en que vivimos.
Juan Oropeza died of cancer
in Caracas
on 29 November 1971, at the age of 65.
Trivia
- Juan Oropeza was close friends with writers Mariano Picón Salas
, Andrés Eloy Blanco
, Arturo Uslar Pietri
, Agustín Nieto Caballero
, Miguel Otero Silva
, Pablo Neruda
, Georges Pillement
, French politician Pierre Cot
and his wife Luisa "Nena" Phelps-Cot, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Ernest Bevin
and Colombian President Carlos Lleras Restrepo
.
- One of his mentors was Rómulo Gallegos
.
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...
n lawyer, diplomat, writer, educator and political science expert. He was born in Carora
Carora
Carora is a town in Lara State, Venezuela, on the Morere River, a branch of the Tocuyo River. It is about 54 miles southwest of Barquisimeto. Carora was founded twice. The first time, in the year 1569 by Juan de Tejo, but due to constant attacks from the indigenous population, it was abandoned,...
in the state of Lara
Lara (state)
Lara State is one of the 23 states into which Venezuela is divided. The state capital is Barquisimeto.Lara State covers a total surface area of and, in 2007, had an estimated population of 1,795,100.- Municipalities and municipal seats :...
, and was the younger brother of pediatrics pioneer, Pastor Oropeza Riera
Pastor Oropeza Riera
Pastor Oropeza Riera , born in Carora, Lara State, Venezuela, was a renowned pediatrician and one of the most prominent medical personalities in Venezuela. Later on in his life he also occupied certain political positions....
.
In his youth, he opposed the totalitarian regime of President
President
A president is a leader of an organization, company, trade union, university, or country.Etymologically, a president is one who presides, who sits in leadership...
Juan Vicente Gómez
Juan Vicente Gómez
Juan Vicente Gómez Chacón was a military general and de facto ruler of Venezuela from 1908 until his death in 1935. He was president on three occasions during this time, and ruled as an unelected military strongman for the rest of the era.-Early years:Gómez was a barely literate cattle herder and...
and became a member of the student-led movement called "Generation of 1928
Generation of 1928
The Generation of 1928 was a group of Venezuelan students who led protests in Caracas in 1928 against the dictatorship of Juan Vicente Gómez. Many politicians prominent in Venezuela's transition to democracy took part in the protests...
". He was imprisoned and eventually sent into exile with some of the other group members. In 1931, he worked as a correspondent for Élite
Elite
Elite refers to an exceptional or privileged group that wields considerable power within its sphere of influence...
Magazine in Madrid, Spain. Upon his return to Venezuela he became a founding member of Acción Democrática, one of the two most prominent political parties in the nation's republican history, alongside such important figures as Luis Beltrán Prieto Figueroa
Luis Beltrán Prieto Figueroa
Luis Beltrán Prieto Figueroa , was a Venezuelan politician. A founder of Democratic Action and Minister of Education in its first government , he was a leader of Democratic Action after the restoration of democracy in 1958...
, Mariano Picón Salas
Mariano Picón Salas
Mariano Federico Picón Salas, an influential Venezuelan diplomatic, cultural critic and writer of the 20th century, was born in Mérida on January 26, 1901 and died in Caracas on January 1, 1965. Among his books, his collection of essays on history, literary criticism and cultural history are...
and later Venezuelan President Rómulo Betancourt
Rómulo Betancourt
Rómulo Ernesto Betancourt Bello , known as "The Father of Venezuelan Democracy", was President of Venezuela from 1945 to 1948 and again from 1959 to 1964, as well as leader of Accion Democratica, Venezuela's dominant political party in the 20th century...
.
In 1944, he married Venezuelan Alicia Sosa in Mexico City, with whom he only had one child. Under Isaias Medina Angarita
Isaías Medina Angarita
Isaías Medina Angarita was a Venezuelan military and political leader, president of Venezuela from 1941 until 1945....
's presidential term, he became the rector
Rector
The word rector has a number of different meanings; it is widely used to refer to an academic, religious or political administrator...
of the Universidad Central de Venezuela
Central University of Venezuela
The Central University of Venezuela is a premier public University of Venezuela located in Caracas...
(Central University of Venezuela) and was subsequently appointed Venezuela's ambassador
Ambassador
An ambassador is the highest ranking diplomat who represents a nation and is usually accredited to a foreign sovereign or government, or to an international organization....
to the United Kingdom under President Rómulo Gallegos
Rómulo Gallegos
Rómulo Ángel del Monte Carmelo Gallegos Freire was a Venezuelan novelist and politician. For a period of some nine months during 1948, he was the first cleanly elected president in his country's history....
's term, where he attended Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip's wedding.
He took up Paris as his permanent residence during the dictatorship of Marcos Pérez Jiménez
Marcos Pérez Jiménez
Marcos Evangelista Pérez Jiménez was a soldier and Presidents of Venezuela from 1952 to 1958.-Career:Marcos Evangelista Pérez Jiménez was born in Michelena, Táchira State. His father, Juan Pérez Bustamante, was a farmer; his mother, Adela Jiménez, a schoolteacher...
, where he befriended such personalities as poet Paul Éluard
Paul Éluard
Paul Éluard, born Eugène Émile Paul Grindel , was a French poet who was one of the founders of the surrealist movement.-Biography:...
, writers Jorge Luis Borges
Jorge Luis Borges
Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo , known as Jorge Luis Borges , was an Argentine writer, essayist, poet and translator born in Buenos Aires. In 1914 his family moved to Switzerland where he attended school, receiving his baccalauréat from the Collège de Genève in 1918. The family...
, Nicolás Guillén
Nicolás Guillén
Nicolás Cristóbal Guillén Batista was a Cuban poet, journalist, political activist, and writer. He is best remembered as the national poet of Cuba.Guillén was born in Camagüey, Cuba...
, Miguel Ángel Asturias
Miguel Ángel Asturias
Miguel Ángel Asturias Rosales was a Nobel Prize–winning Guatemalan poet, novelist, playwright, journalist and diplomat...
and painters Salvador Dalí
Salvador Dalí
Salvador Domènec Felip Jacint Dalí i Domènech, Marquis de Púbol , commonly known as Salvador Dalí , was a prominent Spanish Catalan surrealist painter born in Figueres,Spain....
, Marie Laurencin
Marie Laurencin
Marie Laurencin was a French painter and printmaker. -Biography:Laurencin was born in Paris, where she was raised by her mother and lived much of her life. At 18, she studied porcelain painting in Sèvres...
and Pablo Picasso
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso known as Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish expatriate painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the...
.
In the 1960s, he continued his duties as the Venezuelan ambassador
Ambassador
An ambassador is the highest ranking diplomat who represents a nation and is usually accredited to a foreign sovereign or government, or to an international organization....
in Paris for Rómulo Betancourt
Rómulo Betancourt
Rómulo Ernesto Betancourt Bello , known as "The Father of Venezuelan Democracy", was President of Venezuela from 1945 to 1948 and again from 1959 to 1964, as well as leader of Accion Democratica, Venezuela's dominant political party in the 20th century...
's administration. During that time, he was also chosen to represent Venezuela as its ambassador
Ambassador
An ambassador is the highest ranking diplomat who represents a nation and is usually accredited to a foreign sovereign or government, or to an international organization....
before UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
and, during Raúl Leoni
Raúl Leoni
Raúl Leoni Otero was President of Venezuela from 1964 until 1969. He fought against the dictators Juan Vicente Gómez and Marcos Pérez Jiménez, and was a charter member of the Acción Democrática party....
's presidency, was assigned to the position of Venezuelan ambassador in Bogotá
Bogotá
Bogotá, Distrito Capital , from 1991 to 2000 called Santa Fé de Bogotá, is the capital, and largest city, of Colombia. It is also designated by the national constitution as the capital of the department of Cundinamarca, even though the city of Bogotá now comprises an independent Capital district...
, Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
, the highest honor any Venezuelan diplomatic official can achieve. He received the Orden del Libertador (first class) and the Orden Francisco de Miranda, as well as the Orden del Águila Azteca (Mexico) in recognition for his outstanding academic skills. He was an arts and literature professor at the University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
. Some of his literary works include: Sucre, Cuatro siglos de historia venezolana, En perpetua fuga, Sobre Inglaterra y los ingleses, Imparidad del destino americano, Breve Historia de Venezuela, Fronteras and Del tiempo en que vivimos.
Juan Oropeza died of cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
in 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...
on 29 November 1971, at the age of 65.
Trivia
- Juan Oropeza was close friends with writers Mariano Picón Salas
Mariano Picón Salas
Mariano Federico Picón Salas, an influential Venezuelan diplomatic, cultural critic and writer of the 20th century, was born in Mérida on January 26, 1901 and died in Caracas on January 1, 1965. Among his books, his collection of essays on history, literary criticism and cultural history are...
, Andrés Eloy Blanco
Andrés Eloy Blanco
Andrés Eloy Blanco Meaño was an important Venezuelan poet, politician, member of the Generación del 28, and one of the founders of Acción Democrática ....
, Arturo Uslar Pietri
Arturo Uslar Pietri
Arturo Uslar Pietri , was a Venezuelan intellectual, lawyer, journalist, writer, television producer and politician.- Life :...
, Agustín Nieto Caballero
Agustín Nieto Caballero
Agustín Nieto Caballero was a Colombian pedagogue; who, in 1914, founded Gimnasio Moderno, a prestigious private school, located in Bogotá. The school is considered to be the oldest new school in South America....
, Miguel Otero Silva
Miguel Otero Silva
Miguel Otero Silva , was a Venezuelan writer, journalist, humorist and politician. Remaining a figure of great reference in Venezuelan literature, his literary and journalistic works were strictly related to the social and political history of Venezuela.-Life:Born in Barcelona, Anzoátegui State,...
, Pablo Neruda
Pablo Neruda
Pablo Neruda was the pen name and, later, legal name of the Chilean poet, diplomat and politician Neftalí Ricardo Reyes Basoalto. He chose his pen name after Czech poet Jan Neruda....
, Georges Pillement
Georges Pillement
Georges Pillement was a French writer, translator and photographer. He was born in Mayet in the Loire region. He won the Prix des Deux Magots for his novel Plaisir d'amour in 1937....
, French politician Pierre Cot
Pierre Cot
.Pierre Cot , French politician, was a leading figure in the Popular Front government of the 1930s...
and his wife Luisa "Nena" Phelps-Cot, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Ernest Bevin
Ernest Bevin
Ernest Bevin was a British trade union leader and Labour politician. He served as general secretary of the powerful Transport and General Workers' Union from 1922 to 1945, as Minister of Labour in the war-time coalition government, and as Foreign Secretary in the post-war Labour Government.-Early...
and Colombian President Carlos Lleras Restrepo
Carlos Lleras Restrepo
Carlos Lleras Restrepo was a Colombian lawyer and political figure, President of Colombia .- Biographic data :...
.
- One of his mentors was Rómulo Gallegos
Rómulo Gallegos
Rómulo Ángel del Monte Carmelo Gallegos Freire was a Venezuelan novelist and politician. For a period of some nine months during 1948, he was the first cleanly elected president in his country's history....
.