1. One of Venezuela's most prominent politicians on the left, Petkoff began as a communist but founded the democratic socialist Movement Toward Socialism party after the 1968 Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia.
15 Facts About Teodoro Petkoff
1. 2.
Teodoro Petkoff was elected as senator and ran for the presidency twice in the 1980s, being defeated both times.
3.
Teodoro Petkoff was a prominent critic of President Hugo Chavez and was a candidate to run against him in the 2006 presidential election until he dropped out four months before the vote to support Manuel Rosales.
4.
Teodoro Petkoff launched the newspaper Tal Cual in 2000 and remained its editor until his death in 2018.
5.
Teodoro Petkoff's father was a Bulgarian emigrant and his mother was a Pole of Jewish origin.
6.
Teodoro Petkoff received a Bachelor degree in Economics from the Central University of Venezuela where he served as a professor for 14 years.
7.
In 1971, Teodoro Petkoff left the PCV to found, along with other dissidents, the Movement Towards Socialism, after the 1968 Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia.
8.
Teodoro Petkoff served as Minister of the Central Office of Coordination and Planning, directing the government's economic policies.
9.
From Cordiplan, Teodoro Petkoff managed the Venezuela Agenda, a neo-liberal government program for reducing the size of the public administration, controlling inflation and stopping the currency devaluation, while administering social programs aimed at improving the population's nutritional health and providing "children-mother" services for the poorest.
10.
In 1998, Teodoro Petkoff left the MAS because he was against its support of Hugo Chavez's candidacy in the 1998 Presidential election.
11.
Teodoro Petkoff left the political world and became a journalist, working as a director of El Mundo.
12.
Teodoro Petkoff argued that there was a sharp difference between the governments of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Nestor Kirchner, and Ricardo Lagos, compared to the governments of Chavez and Castro, which he characterises as similar.
13.
On 21 April 2006, after rumours indicating that a number of intellectuals and middle-class liberal activists had asked him to run in the 2006 Presidential election, Teodoro Petkoff launched his campaign to be the next president of Venezuela.
14.
On 4 August 2006, Teodoro Petkoff dropped out of the presidential race.
15.
In December 2012, while on the island of Margarita, Teodoro Petkoff suffered a fall and sustained injuries that required surgery.