Liborio Guarulla Garrido is an

indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology) In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often populari ...

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

. He is of

Baniwa Baniwa (also known with local variants as Baniva, Baniua, Curipaco, Vaniva, Walimanai, Wakuenai) are indigenous South Americans, who speak the Baniwa language belonging to the Maipurean (Arawak) language family. They live in the Amazon Region, ...

ethnicity An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people with shared attributes, which they Collective consciousness, collectively believe to have, and long-term endogamy. Ethnicities share attributes like language, culture, common sets of ancestry, ...

. He served as

governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

of Amazonas state from 2001 to 2017.

Early life

Guarulla was born on July 23, 1954, in the Amazonas town of La Isleta, in the

Maroa Municipality The Maroa Municipality () is one of the seven municipalities (municipios) that makes up the southern Venezuelan state of Amazonas and, according to the 2011 census by the National Institute of Statistics of Venezuela, the municipality had a popu ...

. He studied at the

Universidad Central de Venezuela Universidad (Spanish for "university") may refer to: Places * Universidad, San Juan, Puerto Rico * Universidad (Madrid) Football clubs * Universidad SC, a Guatemalan football club that represents the Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala ...

Caracas Caracas ( , ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas (CCS), is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the northern p ...

, graduating with a degree in

Visual Arts The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics (art), ceramics, photography, video, image, filmmaking, design, crafts, and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual a ...

Career

He joined several political parties: MAS,

La Causa Radical The Radical Cause (, LCR), stylized as La Causa Я, is a minor left-wing political party in Venezuela, and today part of the Venezuelan opposition to president Nicolás Maduro. At its peak in the early 1990s, the party came within touching dista ...

, and

Patria Para Todos Fatherland for All (''Patria Para Todos'', PPT) is a leftist political party in Venezuela. It was founded on September 27, 1997 by members of The Radical Cause party led by Pablo Medina, Aristóbulo Istúriz and Alí Rodríguez Araque. In 199 ...

; with the latter, he won the governorship of his state. A challenge was mounted before the

Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

in the 2000 election in which José Bernabé Gutiérrez of the

Acción Democrática Democratic Action (, AD) is a Venezuelan social democratic and centre-left political party established in 1941. The party played an important role in the early years of Venezuelan democracy, leading the government during Venezuela's first democ ...

party was initially declared the winner. After an alleged fraud was demonstrated, the areas in question re-voted, and Guarulla won for the 2001–2005 period. He was re-elected in 2005 and 2010. Guarulla worked with other opposition leaders to form a unity candidate to challenge

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 ...

for the

presidency A presidency is an administration or the executive, the collective administrative and governmental entity that exists around an office of president of a state or nation. Although often the executive branch of government, and often personified b ...

. He separated from the party

Patria para todos Fatherland for All (''Patria Para Todos'', PPT) is a leftist political party in Venezuela. It was founded on September 27, 1997 by members of The Radical Cause party led by Pablo Medina, Aristóbulo Istúriz and Alí Rodríguez Araque. In 199 ...

and formed the

progressivist Progressivism is a left-leaning political philosophy and reform movement that seeks to advance the human condition through social reform. Adherents hold that progressivism has universal application and endeavor to spread this idea to human so ...

party MPV. In the

election An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold Public administration, public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative d ...

, Chavez beat opposition candidate

Henrique Capriles Henrique Capriles Radonski (; born 11 July 1972) is a Venezuelan politician and lawyer, who served as the 36th Governor of Miranda (state), Miranda from 2008 to 2017. Born in Caracas, he received a degree in law from the Universidad Católica ...

. In the same year, Guarulla was again re-elected in Amazonas. In 2014, Guarulla and another opposition-aligned governor

Henri Falcón Henri Falcón Fuentes (born 19 June 1961) is a Venezuelan politician, lawyer, and retired Bolivarian Army non-commissioned officer. He served as mayor for two consecutive terms of Barquisimeto, Iribarren Municipality from 2000 to 2008 and as ...

participated in the dialogue with the government amid the

protests A protest (also called a demonstration, remonstration, or remonstrance) is a public act of objection, disapproval or dissent against political advantage. Protests can be thought of as acts of cooperation in which numerous people cooperate ...

. In 2019, Guarulla joined

A New Era Un Nuevo Tiempo (Spanish for 'A New Era', UNT) is a centre-left politics, centre-left political party in Venezuela. It received 11% of the vote in the 2008 Venezuelan regional elections, 2008 regional elections. The party arose in Zulia State, ...

party.

Dabucuri-Curse

In the context of the

2017 Venezuelan protests The 2017 Venezuelan protests were a series of protests occurring throughout Venezuela. Protests began in January 2017 after the arrest of multiple opposition leaders and the cancellation of dialogue between the opposition and Nicolás Maduro's g ...

, which started when the Supreme Tribunal of Justice closed the parliament, Guarulla was barred from office for 15 years. In consequence of that decision, Guarulla cursed those responsible. «I will invoke the power of my ancestors and my shamans so that the curse of the Dabukuri falls upon those who have tried to do us evil, I assure you that you won’t die without torment. I assure you that before you die you will begin to suffer and that your soul will wander through the darkest and most pestilent places before you can, somehow, close your eyes». The curse was executed on May 17, 2017, at the end of the March Of The Shamans in

Puerto Ayacucho Puerto Ayacucho () is the capital and largest city of Amazonas State in Venezuela. Puerto Ayacucho is located across the Orinoco River from the Colombian village of Casuarito. The city was founded to facilitate the transport of goods past the ...

, the capital of Amazonas.

Personal life

Guarulla is married to Judith Campos and has two children, Pumeyawa Guarulla and Liborio Guarulla Umawaly. His sister, , is also a politician. She headed the Legislative council of Amazonas and represented the state in the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

. Liborio's nephew, Eric Guarulla Payua, was the head of the General Archive of Amazonas Governor’s Office. In 2017, he was murdered while in office.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Guarulla, Liborio Living people 1954 births Governors of Amazonas (Venezuelan state) Venezuelan politicians Radical Cause politicians Movement for Socialism (Venezuela) politicians Fatherland for All politicians Un Nuevo Tiempo politicians Central University of Venezuela alumni Members of the Venezuelan Constituent Assembly of 1999