Teodoro Petkoff facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Teodoro Petkoff
Minister of the Central Office of Coordination and Planning (Cordiplan)
In office 1996–1999
Personal details
Born	Teodoro Petkoff Malec (1932-01-03)3 January 1932 Bobures, Zulia State
Died	31 October 2018(2018-10-31) (aged 86) Caracas, Venezuela
Political party	MAS
Residence	Caracas
Alma mater	Central University of Venezuela
Profession	Politician, Journalist

Teodoro Petkoff Malec (born January 3, 1932 – died October 31, 2018) was a famous Venezuelan politician, economist, and journalist. He was known as one of Venezuela's most important politicians on the left.

Petkoff started his political journey as a communist. However, after the 1968 Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia, he helped create a new party. This party was called the Movement Toward Socialism, which believed in democratic socialism.

He was elected as a senator and tried to become president twice in the 1980s, but he did not win. Later, as the Minister of Planning, he helped President Rafael Caldera make big changes to the country's economy in the mid-1990s.

Petkoff was also a strong critic of President Hugo Chávez. He even planned to run against Chávez in the 2006 Venezuelan presidential election. But he decided to drop out and support another candidate, Manuel Rosales, instead. In 2000, Petkoff started his own newspaper, Tal Cual, and worked as its editor until he passed away in 2018.

Life and Career Highlights

Early Years and Education

Teodoro Petkoff's father was from Bulgaria, and his mother was a Pole with Jewish family. He earned a degree in Economics from the Central University of Venezuela (UCV). He also taught there for 14 years.

In the 1950s, he was part of the student group that stood up against the dictator Marcos Pérez Jiménez. He was put in prison many times during this period. In the 1960s, he and his brother Luben Petkoff joined a guerrilla group. They fought against the government of Rómulo Betancourt. Later, he became a member of the Communist Party of Venezuela (PCV).

In 1971, Petkoff left the Communist Party. He and other members who disagreed with the party formed the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS). This happened after the 1968 Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia. He became a member of Congress. He also ran for president twice, in 1983 and 1988, but he did not win either election.

Minister for Rafael Caldera

When Rafael Caldera was president for his second term (1994-1999), Petkoff's party, MAS, worked with Caldera's party. Petkoff became the Minister of the Central Office of Coordination and Planning (Cordiplan). In this role, he was in charge of the government's economic plans.

He managed something called the "Venezuela Agenda." This plan aimed to make the government smaller and control rising prices. It also worked to stop the currency from losing value. At the same time, it included social programs to help people get better food and health services, especially for mothers and children in need.

Opponent of Hugo Chávez

In 1998, Petkoff left the MAS party. He did not agree with their decision to support Hugo Chávez for president. After leaving politics, he became a journalist. He worked as a director for the newspaper El Mundo.

Later, he started his own newspaper, Tal Cual. This newspaper was very open about its criticisms of both Chavismo (Chávez's political movement) and those who supported the 2002 attempt to remove Chávez from power.

Petkoff also wrote several books about politics. In 2005, he published The Two Lefts. In this book, he looked at how left-wing politics were growing again in Latin America. He explained that there were big differences between leaders like Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Néstor Kirchner and leaders like Chávez and Fidel Castro. He saw Chávez and Castro as having similar, more controlling styles of leadership.

On April 21, 2006, Teodoro Petkoff announced he would run for president in the 2006 Venezuelan presidential election. He explained his reasons and asked Venezuelans to help build a new, better Venezuela. However, on August 4, 2006, Petkoff decided to stop his presidential campaign. Five days later, he announced his support for Manuel Rosales for president.

In 2008, Petkoff wrote a paper about Venezuela under Chávez. He said that Chávez's Venezuela was a unique kind of "dictatorship." He believed Chávez wanted the military to be the main support for his power. In an interview in 2012, Petkoff noted that while Venezuela still had some democratic parts, like elections, other parts, like freedom of speech, were "very troubled" under Chávez. He felt that Chávez had more elements of Stalinism than socialism, such as a strong focus on violence and disrespect for opponents.

Personal Life

On May 12, 2012, Petkoff and his wife were robbed by an armed person on a motorcycle after leaving a restaurant in Caracas. In December 2012, while on the island of Margarita, Petkoff fell and was injured. He needed surgery for his injuries. Teodoro Petkoff passed away on October 31, 2018.

Works

• "Checoslovaquia: El Socialismo como problema". (1969,1990)
• "¿Socialismo para Venezuela?" (1970).
• "Razón y pasión del socialismo: el tema socialista en Venezuela" (1973)
• "Proceso a la izquierda: O de la falsa conducta revolucionaria." (1976)
• "Del optimismo de la voluntad: Escritos políticos" (1987)
• "Por qué hago lo que hago" (1997)
• (with Raúl Huizzi) "Venezuela en la encrucijada" (1998)
• "Una segunda opinión: La Venezuela de Chávez: un libro hablado con Ibsen Martínez y Elías Pino Iturrieta." (2000)
• "Hugo Chávez, tal cual" (2000)
• "Las Dos Izquierdas" (2005)
• "The two lefts: A new South-American revolution" (2006)
• "El chavismo como problema" (2010)
• "El chavismo al banquillo: Pasado, presente y futuro de un proyecto político" (2011)

See also

In Spanish: Teodoro Petkoff para niños

• Presidents of Venezuela
• List of Venezuelans