Henrique Capriles | |
|---|---|
 Capriles in 2022 | |
| Deputy of theNational Assembly | |
| Assumed office 5 January 2026 | |
| Governor ofMiranda | |
| In office 15 January 2013 – 17 October 2017 | |
| Preceded by | Adriana D'Elia |
| Succeeded by | Héctor Rodríguez |
| In office 29 November 2008 – 6 June 2012 | |
| Preceded by | Diosdado Cabello |
| Succeeded by | Adriana D'Elia |
| 4th Mayor ofBaruta | |
| In office 30 July 2000 – 26 November 2008 | |
| Preceded by | Ivonne Attas |
| Succeeded by | Gerardo Blyde |
| Vice President of Congress | |
| In office 23 January 1999 – 22 December 1999 | |
| Preceded by | Ixora Rojas |
| Succeeded by | Position abolished |
| President of theChamber of Deputies | |
| In office 23 January 1999 – 22 December 1999 | |
| Preceded by | Ixora Rojas |
| Succeeded by | Position abolished |
| Member of theChamber of Deputies forZulia State | |
| In office 23 January 1999 – 22 December 1999 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Henrique Capriles Radonski (1972-07-11)11 July 1972 (age 53) Caracas, Venezuela |
| Party | Copei(Before 2000) Justice First(2000–2025) Union and Change (2025–) |
| Other political affiliations | Democratic Unity Roundtable(2008–2021) |
| Domestic partner | Valeria Valle (2019) |
| Children | 3 |
| Alma mater | Andrés Bello Catholic University Central University of Venezuela |
| Signature |  |
Henrique Capriles Radonski (Spanish pronunciation:[enˈrikekaˈpɾilesraˈðonski]; born 11 July 1972) is aVenezuelan politician and lawyer, who served as the 36th Governor ofMiranda from 2008 to 2017.
Born in Caracas, he received a degree in law from theUniversidad Católica Andrés Bello, and later in tax law from theCentral University of Venezuela. He first ventured into politics at age 26, when he became the youngest member ever elected to the Venezuelan parliament. He secured a seat in theChamber of Deputies in the1998 parliamentary elections, under the Christian Democratic Party (Copei). He served as vice president of the Congress and president of the Chamber of Deputies until their dissolution by theConstituent Assembly in August 1999.
In 2000, he co-founded the political partyPrimero Justicia, alongside politiciansJulio Borges andLeopoldo Lopez, and ran successfully for the mayorship of theBaruta municipality in theregional elections held in July 2000, and later for the governorship of the Miranda statein 2008. Capriles became the opposition candidate at the2012 and2013 presidential elections, and faced then-PresidentHugo Chávez and Vice PresidentNicolás Maduro respectively.
His defeat in 2012 marked the first loss of his political career. Maduro narrowly defeated Capriles in the 2013 elections, a result that sparked controversy and debate amid the opposition's claims of electoral fraud.[1] Between both presidential campaigns, Capriles successfully secured his re-election as Governor of Miranda during the2012 regional elections. He has repeatedly been the target ofsmear campaigns by political opponents who seek to capitalize onhomophobic andantisemitic currents in Venezuelan society.[2]
Capriles Radonski is ofSephardi Jewish andAshkenazi Jewish descent – his grandparents emigrated from German and Russian occupied Poland duringWorld War II; however, he self-describes as Catholic, revealing that his greatest hero in history wasJesus Christ. He dated Venezuelan actress Erika de la Vega between his first and second tenure as Mayor. Prior to his political career, he worked in the public and private sectors at several tax and law firms of Venezuela. Capriles is a member of theInternational Fiscal Association.
On 5 April 2017, Capriles was formally banned for 15 years from political activity accused by the Venezuelan government of alleged "administrative irregularities" which had occurred under his governorship.[3] He ceased to be the Governor ofMiranda in October after the2017 regional elections, and subsequently declared his intent to leave theDemocratic Unity Roundtable in protest against what he considered its legitimizing the Maduro government.[4]
Henrique Capriles Radonski was born in Caracas on 11 July 1972. His parents are Henrique Capriles García, a successful businessman, descendant of Juan Agustín Bolívar, who was half-brother ofSimón Bolívar[5] and Mónica Cristina Radonski-Bochenek.[5][6] His maternal grandparents wereAshkenazi Jews who emigrated from German and Russian occupied Poland followingWorld War II. His great-grand parents were murdered at theTreblinka extermination camp during theHolocaust. His maternal grandmother, Lili Bochenek, lived for 20 months in theWarsaw Ghetto.[5] His paternal grandfather, Armando Capriles-Myerston, was aSephardi Jew.[5]
In the 1950s, Henrique Capriles García helped launchKraft Foods' entry into Venezuela by inviting the vice-president of itsNabisco subsidiary and persuading him to invest in the country.[7] His maternal grandparents, Andrés Radonski and Lili Bochenek, emigrated to Venezuela in 1947 fromPoland. Andrés Radonski was an engineer active in the cinema business in Poland; he opened his first cinema several years later, in the eastern city ofPuerto La Cruz.[8]
The company operated under the name Circuito Radonski. It was merged in 1998 alongside Venefilms and Grupo Blanco to create the country's largest cinema chain,Cinex.[9] He is also the descendant of relatives who operated the media conglomerate,Cadena Capriles.[10][11][12]
Capriles enrolled at theAndrés Bello Catholic University to study commerce law. He received his degree in 1994, and then continued studies at theCentral University of Venezuela. He received a degree in tax law several years later.[13] He took additional studies at the IBFD International Tax Academy inAmsterdam, the Pan American Center of Tax Managers inViterbo, andColumbia University. He is a sitting member of theInternational Fiscal Association and the World Association of Young Jurors.[13]
Capriles first ventured into politics between 1995 and 1998, when he aided his cousin, deputy Armando Capriles, in the writing of laws for the Bicameral Commission of Energy of the then-existing Congress of the Republic.[14] Armando, who was a partisan of the Christian democratic partyCopei, later offered Henrique the possibility of being a candidate for a seat at theChamber of Deputies at the1998 parliamentary elections, affiliating withCopei (Social Christian Party). Capriles accepted, and successfully secured a seat at the Congress in representation of theZulia state.[14] He became the youngest member ever elected to the Venezuelan parliament,[15] and later held the positions of Vice President of the Congress and President of the Chamber of Deputies.[14]
In August 1999, theConstituent Assembly abolished Capriles' seat, and dissolved the Congress. Capriles criticized Chávez's new constitution, stating at the time, "This is a corrupt constitution that will leave Venezuela backward and poor", while further denouncing the centralized power that it granted the president.[16]
The Congress was replaced by the National Assembly, and new deputies were elected in ageneral election held, in 2000. That year, Capriles founded the political partyPrimero Justicia, alongside politiciansJulio Borges andLeopoldo Lopez,[14] although the entity had already existed as a civil association since 1992.[17][18] He did not run for a seat at the newly created Assembly; however, he and Leopoldo Lopez pursued themayoralties of theBaruta andChacao municipalities, respectively, at theregional elections held in July 2000. Lopez won with 51,5% of the vote, whereas Capriles received 62,9%.[14] Borgessecured a seat in the National Assembly. As mayor, Capriles focused on the reduction of crime within his municipality, as well as on improving the overall infrastructure of the area.[14]
In 2002, PresidentHugo Chávez was the target of afailed coup d'état that removed him from office on 11 April 2002, after several days of violent protests in Caracas. The coup, triggered by major political discontent in a sector of the Venezuelan population, was initially staged by members of the military and theVenezuelan Federation of Chambers of Commerce (Fedecámaras), represented by its presidentPedro Carmona, who was declared the interim president. The following day, the Cuban embassy, located in Baruta, received severe damage, caused by opposition protesters who cut off the water and electricity supply, smashed windows, damaged six staff vehicles, and blocked the Cuban ambassador, German Sanchez Otero, from leaving. The same day, Interior MinisterRamon Rodriguez Chacin was detained by the municipal police.[19][20]
Chávez returned to the presidency on 13 April 2002. Capriles then faced charges as a result of the attacks on the embassy. In March 2004,Danilo Anderson publicly declared that Capriles would be arrested; the warrant was annulled in early April. In May 2004, Capriles was arrested on the orders of Anderson, on the grounds that Capriles might flee the country; he was released on probation in September, pending his trial.[19][20] In December 2006, Capriles was acquitted of the charge of fomenting violence in the siege of the Cuban embassy during the coup attempt, but five months later, his acquittal was annulled by the court of appeal, and the case was re-opened in October 2008.[19][20] TheU.S. Department of State mentioned Capriles' case in its 2008Human Rights report as a denial of a fair public trial.[21][needs update]
In the2008 Venezuelan regional elections, Capriles was elected Governor ofMiranda state, defeatingDiosdado Cabello. During his tenure, Capriles invested in education, opening 39 schools by 2011, compared to 7 under the previous governor.[14] Capriles passed on the governorship of the state of Miranda to the Secretary General of Miranda, Adriana D'Elia, on 6 June 2012, in compliance with Venezuelan law which states an incumbent governor cannot run for the presidency of the nation. He was elected again on 16 December 2012, beating former Vice PresidentElías Jaua.[22]
On 5 April 2017, the Comptroller General of Venezuela notified Capriles that for 15 years, he would be prevented from participating in public office, due to his misuse of public funds, a charge that Capriles denied.[23]
Capriles stated that he would not step down and that "I am and will continue being your governor until the people elects another governor".[24] On 8 April 2017, the campaign headquarters for Capriles was attacked with tear gas and fires ignited inside of the building, destroying it.[25]
On 11 April, Capriles used his decree powers to order a referendum to determine whether or not he should remain governor of Miranda state, challenging President Maduro to do the same with Venezuelans nationwide and promising he would resign if individuals voted for him to be removed from office.[26] The order by the Comptroller General of Venezuela, if valid, would also prevent Capriles from running in the 2018 presidential election.[23]
Capriles was selected in primaries held in February 2012 as the opposition candidate against Hugo Chávez in the presidential elections to be held in October 2012; he won the opposition primaries with 1,900,528 (64.2%) votes of the 3,059,024 votes cast (votes from abroad not included).[27]
Capriles named former Brazilian presidentLuiz Inácio Lula da Silva as his political inspiration.[28]
In February 2012, Capriles was subjected to attacks by state-run media sources.[29][30]
The Wall Street Journal reported that Capriles "was exposed in [sic] a campaign in Venezuela's state-run media, which insinuated he was, among other things, a homosexual and aZionist".[31][32] An opinion article of 13 February 2012 on the website of the state-ownedRadio Nacional de Venezuela, titled "The Enemy is Zionism",[33] mentioned Capriles's Jewish ancestry and a meeting he had held with local Jewish leaders,[29][32][34] saying,"This is our enemy, the Zionism that Capriles today represents ... Zionism, along with capitalism, are responsible for 90% of world poverty and imperialist wars." Chávez repeatedly denied allegations of tolerating or promoting anti-Semitism.[32]
In early September 2012,David De Lima, a former governor of Anzoategui, published a document he said showed secret MUD plans to implement much moreneoliberal policy, if elected, than their public statements showed. De Lima claimed the document was a form of policy pact between some of the candidates in the MUD primary, including Capriles.[35]
On 6 September 2012, opposition legislatorWilliam Ojeda denounced these plans and the "neoliberal obsessions" of his colleagues in the MUD;[36] he was suspended by hisA New Era party the following day.[37] Capriles said his purported signature on the document was a forgery, while the MUD's economic advisor said that the MUD had "no hidden agenda", and that its plans included the "institutionalisation" of the government'sBolivarian Missions so that they would no longer be "subject to the whims of government".[38] One small coalition party claimed De Lima had offered them money to withdraw from the MUD;[39] De Lima denied the claim.[40]
On 7 October 2012, Capriles lost the election to then-PresidentHugo Chávez.[41]
Capriles faced interim presidentNicolás Maduro in apresidential election on 14 April 2013. Voters gave Maduro—who had assumed the role ofacting president since Chávez's death—a narrow victory over Capriles. Capriles rejected the results of the election, claiming election irregularities and calling for a full audit of the election results. Maduro said he would accept an audit of the election results; the election board did not agree to opposition demands for a total recount.[citation needed]
TheSupreme Court of Justice denied Capriles' appeal on 7 August 2013.[42]
On April 2, 2025, the political disqualification was lifted, which had prevented Capriles from running for public office.[43] Breaking with the abstentionist line followed by other parties, includingPrimero Justicia, Capriles registered as a candidate of theNational Assembly.[44] Capriles was elected as a deputy on theUNT–UNICA list.[45]
According to theAssociated Press in 2017:[46]
Capriles is a scion of one of Venezuela's wealthiest families, but his sometimes vulgar talk and mannerisms echo the late Chavez's populist style and he has tried to reach out to Chavez supporters. He prides himself on staying close to home when others in the opposition have been quick to fly off to Washington and other capitals to seek help.
Capriles was raised a Catholic. His parents agreed to educate their children in theCatholic faith "until they were old enough to decide for themselves" as a "compromise".[47] Capriles has continued as a "fervent Catholic" through his adulthood, commenting that his greatest hero in history wasJesus Christ.[48] He is a cousin of Miguel Ángel Capriles López, son of the founder ofCadena Capriles.[10][11][12]
In November 2019, he announced that he was expecting his first child with psychologist Valeria Valle. Sofía Del Valle Capriles Valle was born on April 6, 2020. In March 2021, they announced they were expecting their second child. Lili Margarita Capriles Valle was born on August 5. In March 2023, they announced they were expecting their third child. Henrique José Capriles Valle was born on September 10.
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| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Mayor ofBaruta 2000–2008 | Succeeded by Gerardo Blyde |
| Preceded by | Governor ofMiranda 2008–2017 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |