- Leopoldo Sucre Figarella
Leopoldo Sucre Figarella (1926-1996), was a Venezuelan
politician andengineer . A member of theSucre family Sucre Figarella served asGovernor ,Minister andSenator during his long and eventful political career. He was nicknamed "The Builder" and "The Czar of Guayana".Early Career
He was born in Tumeremo in the state of Bolivar on
August 1 ,1925 . He received his education as a civil engineer at theUniversidad Central de Venezuela and soon entered public service as an engineer at theMinistry of Public Works in Miranda. During the 1950s, he actively opposed the dictatorship ofMarcos Perez Jimenez and had to go into hiding several times due to security concerns.In 1958 and with the fall of Pérez Jiménez, Sucre Figarella was named
Governor of Bolivar by new presidentRomulo Betancourt . There he pushed for the creation of Santo Tomé de Guayana, today known asCiudad Guayana , one of the most important and largest cities in the state. From 1960 to 1969 he served as Minister of Public Works during the governments of Betancourt andRaul Leoni . From this position, Sucre pushed forward many important works such as theAngostura Bridge inCiudad Bolivar , theGeneral Rafael Urdaneta Bridge inMaracaibo , the Araña highway distributor, the Tejerías-Caracas highway, theGuri Dam in Bolivar, the famous Cota Mil in Caracas as well as pushing forth works on theCaracas Metro and the expansion of theSimon Bolivar International Airport among others.Czar of Guayana
In 1984, President
Jaime Lusinchi named him President of theCorporacion Venezolana de Guayana with the rank of cabinet member. From there Sucre Figarella gave an important push to the region's development, the likes of which had not been seen previously. During this time theGuri Dam project is finally completed, theCiudad Bolivar -Ciudad Guayana andCiudad Guayana -Upata highways are built along with other important roadworks including the completion of several bridges. He also expanded the production capacity ofSidor , Ferrominera,Venelum , Alcasa and Interalumina and createdBauxiven , Proforca, Remorca and other important companies. The entirewaterworks of theGuayana region was improved upon along with the health, justice, sports and agriculture infrastructure.Some, such as newspaper columnist José Ignacio Acevedo, consider Sucre Figarella's infrastructure construction to be the most useful and expansive during the whole of the democratic period in Venezuela. He would remain at the helm of the CVG during the presidencies of
Jaime Lusinchi andCarlos Andres Perez , finally stepping down in 1993. During his time with the CVG, he had also been electedSenator for the state of Bolivar for the period between 1984 and 1989. After his resignation from the state-owned company, he was elected for another period lasting between 1994 and 1999. He was unable to complete this second appointment due to his sudden death onOctober 17 ,1996 only a few months after the death of his brother GeneralJuan Manuel Sucre Figarella .References
* http://www.analitica.com/va/sociedad/articulos/4142469.asp
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.