Carlos Capriles Ayala

Who is Carlos Capriles Ayala?

Carlos Capriles Ayala is a Venezuelan journalist and historian, and a former Ambassador of Venezuela in Spain during Rafael Caldera's presidency tenure. He is co-founder along with his brother, Miguel Ángel Capriles Ayala, of La Cadena Capriles, Capriles Publications and became Vice-President from 1950 to 1977. Founding editor of the Maracaibo daily Critica, el "Vespertino de Maracaibo", news magazines "Elite" and "Momento" and lastly "El Mundo" tabloid.

He is the author of a number of books, including a biography of Venezuelan dictator Marcos Pérez Jiménez. He is co-author of the three-volume Diccionario de la corrupción en Venezuela. He protagonized and fomented the defence for free expression, free press and the constitution of the democracy in Venezuela. He was politically persecutted during the dictatorship of Marcos Perez Jimenez, during which he was thrown in jail and afterwards sent into exile. His thirst for adventure was expressed by his arrival to Spain as Ambassador of Venezuela in the early 1970s, by crossing the Atlantic ocean sailing his beloved VITO sailboat.