18 Facts About Manuel Rosales

Manuel Rosales was the most prominent Venezuelan opposition candidate in the 2006 presidential election, losing to incumbent Hugo Chavez.

Manuel Rosales served as a congressman, mayor, and governor, but in April 2009, stepped down as Mayor of Maracaibo when he was charged with corruption in Venezuela and fled to Peru.

Manuel Rosales was the presidential candidate for Un Nuevo Tiempo in the 2024 Venezuelan presidential election.

Manuel Rosales began his political career as a youth leader of the political party, Accion Democratica, described by the BBC as "one of the two parties that dominated Venezuelan politics for most of the second half of the 20th Century".

Manuel Rosales declared that he signed during a "moment of confusion" after "Chavez's resignation, although [Chavez] later denied [the resignation]", and that he signed his attendance at a meeting he was urgently requested to attend.

Manuel Rosales was defeated by Chavez in the December 2006 Venezuelan election to choose a president for the six-year term beginning in January 2007.

Manuel Rosales stated that Chavez was vulnerable on his "massive foreign aid programs, government-approved takeovers of land and buildings, and the perception that crime is increasing".

Manuel Rosales went into hiding in March 2009 when charges were filed, and failed to appear in court in April.

Peruvian officials said the decision was part of their "long-standing commitment to international law"; Venezuelan officials called it a "mockery of international law, a strong blow to the fight against corruption and an offence to the people of Venezuela", saying that Manuel Rosales should have been detained and extradited.

The newspaper El Nuevo Herald reported in 2009 about allegations by Geovanny Velasquez Zambrano, a member of the Colombian paramilitary group Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia serving a 40-year prison term for paramilitary massacres, that Manuel Rosales met with Colombian paramilitaries in 1999 to plot the assassination of Chavez.

Manuel Rosales denies these allegations, saying they are a lie and that his passport documents that he was in Aruba during the time of the alleged meetings, saying "The only plan in which I have been involved to 'do away with' Chavez has been the electoral plan".

In October 2015, Manuel Rosales announced that he would be returning to Venezuela.

On 15 October 2015, Manuel Rosales was arrested in Maracaibo after arriving from Aruba and was sentenced to 13 years and 9 months in prison soon after.

In October 2016, Manuel Rosales' sentence was commuted to house arrest and he was released 2 months later on 31 December.

Manuel Rosales launched a surprise bid for president in 2024, though he indicated he would willingly cede his position to a unity opposition candidate.

Manuel Rosales has been recognized as a more moderate opposition candidate and has been negotiable with the Nicolas Maduro government; he recognized Maduro's contested 2018 election and condemned sanctions on Venezuela enacted by the United States.

Manuel Rosales was a co-founder of Universidad Nacional Experimental Sur del Lago, and received numerous distinctions and honors for his public service.

Manuel Rosales is married to Eveling Trejo de Rosales; they have ten children.