Oswaldo Álvarez Paz

Who is Oswaldo Álvarez Paz?

Oswaldo Álvarez Paz is a Venezuelan politician.

He was born in Maracaibo, Zulia and graduated in Law from the University of Zulia. He was a Member of the Republic's Congress for over 20 years, President of the Venezuelan Chamber of Deputies and participated/directed the most important commissions of the Venezuelan Parliament. He was Rafael Caldera's campaign manager for the Venezuelan presidential election, 1983. In December 1989, he became the first Governor of the State of Zulia to be elected by the people, being re-elected for a second period in December 1992.

On April 25, 1993, his party, COPEI, held open primary elections to choose a presidential candidate for the Venezuelan presidential election, 1993; almost 20% of Venezuela's 9.8m voters participated in the primary. Álvarez Paz defeated COPEI party leader Eduardo Fernández, resigning his position as Governor in order to run. In the campaign Paz supported privatization and foreign investment, and said he aimed for Venezuela to join the North American Free Trade Agreement; he identified the contemporary political figure he admired most as Ronald Reagan. Oswaldo Alvarez Paz obtained more than 23% of the votes, in an election where the winner, Rafael Caldera, won with 30%.