User:Cyfraw/Rafael Lacava

Rafael Alejandro Lacava Evangelista (born 3 September 1968) is a Venezuelan politician and economist who currently serves as the governor of Carabobo. He is a member of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV).

Personal life
Lacava is married to Nancy González with whom he has 4 children: Matías, who is a Sport Lisboa e Benfica player; Adriana; Isabella and Alessandro.

He graduated as an economist from the Andrés Bello Catholic University and a specialist in tax management from the National School of Public Finance. He was a deputy to the National Assembly for the state of Carabobo and was a member of the Permanent Commission of Energy and Mines and the Subcommission of the Petrochemical Sector of the Parliament.

He promoted and led the Carabobo F.C. soccer team from January 2013 to 24 February 2014. On 28 July 2015, Lacava announced his candidacy to preside over the Venezuelan Soccer Federation, whose president Rafael Esquivel was arrested in Zurich in May of that same year.

Political career
He was a deputy to the National Assembly for Carabobo state, elected in 2005 with 40,631 votes (92%), and was a member of the Permanent Energy and Mines Commission and the Petrochemical Sector Subcommittee of the Parliament.

In 2007, he assumed the Venezuelan embassy in Italy and the presidency of the Venezuela-Italy Parliamentary Friendship Group, as well as the representation of the World Parliamentary Union. In 2008, he was elected mayor of the Puerto Cabello municipality by the PSUV with 58.13% of the votes, and later, in 2013, he was reelected for the same position with 50.63%. On 20 August 2016, he announced his resignation as mayor of Puerto Cabello for health reasons.

Governor of Carabobo
On 12 August 2017, he was proclaimed by the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), as a candidate for governor of Carabobo, with “Carabobo I Love You”, his campaign slogan, and he also had the support of all the mayoral candidates for the PSUV in the municipality. In the regional elections, carried out on 15 October 2017, Lacava obtained 486,654 votes (52.75%), against the candidate of Popular Will, Alejandro Feo La Cruz.

During the 2018 student elections of the University of Carabobo, on 14 November at approximately 10:00 am, in the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Carabobo, a group of at least 40 hooded armed followers of the governor broke into one of the classrooms where the voting machines were located in order to rob them and detonated two tear gas canisters. Lacava, announced that he did not know the results that gave the opposition plate, Alliance 23, as the winner, and celebrated the triumph of the ruling party.

2020 coronavirus pandemic
On 14 March 2020, Lacava declared a state of alert in Carabobo, due to the global coronavirus pandemic, despite not having confirmed any case in the entity. Another measure announced by the governor in the midst of the pandemic, announced on March 24, was to require merchants to provide antibacterial gel to their customers at the time of entering the supply premises, which is mandatory. A month after the alert was declared in the entity, Lacava announced a measure to radicalize the quarantine, similar to the curfew, in which it was ordered that people should remain unrestricted at home from 2:00 pm, so that food and medicine outlets, the only ones with the possibility of working legally, would work until that time.

Accusations of corruption
According to documents from the Banca Privada d'Andorra (BPA) published by Spanish newspaper El País, Lacava would have hidden funds in Switzerland and Andorra. The governor rejected the accusations, assuring that they are false and that there is no evidence.

Eccentricities
Lacava is known for his eccentricity. During the 2017 regional elections, when he was a candidate for the governor of Carabobo, on October 9 Lacava appeared in the studio on the Globovisión channel mounted on a donkey to attend an interview that he had scheduled. Lacava withdrew because security personnel did not allow the animal to enter. Later he wrote on his Twitter account: "We arrived at Globovisión with part of our new transport fleet brought from Germany and they did not let us enter because they did not see it appropriate."

Lacava has been known as "Dracula", and in the same way he has used his nickname in various state programs: the public transport "TransDracula"; operating against hoarding and reselling items regulated, or bachaqueo, "The Chariot of Dracula";  and the program of communal gas supply "Gas Dracula." On 14 September 2018, the government of Carabobo announced the remodeling of the Plaza Cristóbal Mendoza located in Valencia, to rename it as "Plaza Transilvania", a name that was rejected by the Academy of History of Carabobo calling it a lack of respect, however, Lacava inaugurated the plaza on 23 December at an event that was well attended. On 15 October 2018, was broadcast on social networks the "Challenge Dracula" (Dracula Challenge in Spanish), which was to upload a video on Instagram with the hashtag Dracula Challenge, and would pick the top 10 who would have a chance to win tickets to baseball games at theJosé Bernardo Pérez Stadium.

Sanctions
On 25 February 2019, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the United States Department of the Treasury placed sanctions in effect against Lacava and governors of 3 other Venezuelan states for alleged involvement in corruption and in blocking the delivery of humanitarian aid. The Carabobo State maintains the Port of Puerto Cabello, which is the largest port complex in Venezuela and also one of the most important in the country. The sanctions were imposed a day after a Puerto Rican humanitarian aid ship bound for the port was turned back after the Bolivarian Navy of Venezuela threatened to "open fire" on it.

Lacava was sanctioned by the Canadian government on 15 April 2019 under the Special Economic Measures Act. The government statement said "the sanctions hit high ranking officials of the Maduro regime, regional governors, and people directly implicated in activities undermining democratic institutions." Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland stated, "The Maduro dictatorship must be held accountable for this crisis and depriving Venezuelans of their most basic rights and needs. Canada is committed to supporting the peaceful restoration of constitutional democracy in Venezuela."