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Juan Oropeza Riera[1] (24 April 1906 – 29 November 1971) was aVenezuelan lawyer, diplomat, writer, educator and political scientist. He was born inCarora in the state ofLara, and was the younger brother of pediatrics pioneer,Pastor Oropeza Riera.
In his youth, he opposed the dictatorial regime ofPresidentJuan Vicente Gómez and became a member of the student-led movement called "Generation of 1928". He was imprisoned and eventually sent into exile with some of the other group members. In 1931, he worked as a correspondent forÉlite Magazine in Madrid, Spain. Upon his return to Venezuela he became a founding member ofAcción Democrática, one of the two most prominent political parties in the nation's republican history, alongside such important figures asLuis Beltrán Prieto Figueroa,Mariano Picón Salas and later Venezuelan PresidentRómulo Betancourt.
In 1944, he married Venezuelan Alicia Sosa in the state of Sonora, Mexico, in 1944. After the coup d'état that oustedIsaias Medina Angarita, he became therector of theUniversidad Central de Venezuela (Central University of Venezuela) and was subsequently appointed Venezuela'sambassador to the United Kingdom under PresidentRómulo Gallegos's term.
He took up Paris as his permanent residence during the dictatorship ofMarcos Pérez Jiménez, where he befriended such personalities as poetPaul Éluard, writersJorge Luis Borges,Nicolás Guillén,Miguel Ángel Asturias and paintersSalvador Dalí,Marie Laurencin andPablo Picasso.
In the 1960s, he continued his duties as the Venezuelanambassador in Paris forRómulo Betancourt's administration. During that time, he was also chosen to represent Venezuela as itsambassador beforeUNESCO and, duringRaúl Leoni's presidency, was assigned to the position of Venezuelan ambassador inBogotá, Colombia, the highest honor any Venezuelan diplomatic official can achieve. He received theOrden del Libertador (first class) and theOrden Francisco de Miranda, as well as theOrden del Águila Azteca (Mexico) in recognition for his outstanding academic skills. He was an arts and literature professor at theUniversity of Minnesota. Some of his literary works include:Sucre,Cuatro siglos de historia venezolana,En perpetua fuga,Sobre Inglaterra y los ingleses,Imparidad del destino americano,Breve Historia de Venezuela,Fronteras andDel tiempo en que vivimos.
Juan Oropeza died ofcancer inCaracas on 29 November 1971, at the age of 65.