Francisco José Ameliach Orta (born 14 June 1963) is a

Venezuelan Venezuelans (Spanish language, Spanish: ''venezolanos'') are the Citizenship, citizens identified with the country of Venezuela. This connection may be through citizenship, descent or cultural. For most Venezuelans, many or all of these connect ...

retired military officer and politician who is vice president of the

United Socialist Party of Venezuela The United Socialist Party of Venezuela (, PSUV, ) is a Socialism, socialist political party which has been the ruling party of Venezuela since 2007. It was formed from a merger of some of the political and social forces that support the Bolivar ...

(PSUV).

Political career

Born in Valencia, Ameliach was part of the

1992 Venezuelan coup d'état attempts The Venezuelan coup attempt of February 1992 was an attempt to seize control of the government of Venezuela by the Hugo Chávez-led Revolutionary Bolivarian Movement-200 (MBR-200) that took place on 4 February 1992.Uppsala Conflict Data Progr ...

led by

Hugo Chávez Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías (; ; 28 July 1954 – 5 March 2013) was a Venezuelan politician, Bolivarian Revolution, revolutionary, and Officer (armed forces), military officer who served as the 52nd president of Venezuela from 1999 until De ...

, later in 1999 he retired of the National Armed Forces in order to be candidate to the National Constituent Assembly. In 2000 he joined the

Fifth Republic Movement The Fifth Republic Movement (Spanish: ''Movimiento V uintaRepública'', MVR) was a Socialism, socialist political party in Venezuela. It was founded in July 1997, following a national congress of the Revolutionary Bolivarian Movement-200, to ...

and was elected to the National Assembly on 6 January 2000. He was reelected in 2005. In 2008 Ameliach ran for the candidature for Governor of Carabobo but lost the primary election against Mario Silva. In 2012 he finally won the elections defeating incumbent Governor Henrique Salas Feo.

Sanctions

Ameliach has been sanctioned by several countries. On 9 August 2017, the

United States Department of the Treasury The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the Treasury, national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States. It is one of 15 current United States federal executive departments, U.S. government departments. ...

placed sanctions on Ameliach for his position in the Presidential Commission in the

2017 Constituent Assembly of Venezuela The Constituent National Assembly (; ANC) was a constituent assembly elected in 2017 to draft a new constitution for Venezuela. Its members were elected in a special 2017 election that was condemned by over forty mostly Latin American and Wester ...

. Months later on 22 September 2017,

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

sanctioned Ameliach due to rupture of Venezuela's constitutional order. On 29 March 2018, Ameliach was sanctioned by the Panamanian government for his alleged involvement with "money laundering, financing of terrorism and financing the proliferation of

weapons of mass destruction A weapon of mass destruction (WMD) is a Biological agent, biological, chemical weapon, chemical, Radiological weapon, radiological, nuclear weapon, nuclear, or any other weapon that can kill or significantly harm many people or cause great dam ...

References

1963 births Living people People from Valencia, Venezuela Fifth Republic Movement politicians United Socialist Party of Venezuela politicians Members of the National Assembly (Venezuela) Speakers of the National Assembly (Venezuela) Governors of Carabobo People of the 1992 Venezuelan coup d'état attempts Members of the Venezuelan Constituent Assembly of 1999 Members of the Venezuelan Constituent Assembly of 2017 Secretariat of the Presidency ministers of Venezuela Hugo Chávez ministers {{Venezuela-politician-stub