Venezuelan politician and journalist Jose Vicente Rangel died this Friday at the age of 91. (Photo: Archive/RHC)

Caracas, December 18 (RHC)-- Prominent Venezuelan politician and journalist José Vicente Rangel died this Friday at the age of 91 as a result of a stroke, his family reported through the social network Twitter.

Born in Caracas on July 10, 1929, Rangel developed an intense political career during the second half of the 20th century from positions linked to the Left.  A fighter against the dictatorship of Marcos Pérez Jiménez (1952-1958), he had to escape into exile.  After his return to the country, he occupied a seat in the Chamber of Deputies between 1961 and 1986 for five consecutive legislatures.

Rangel gained fame as a keen researcher for getting involved in issues that could have been previously qualified as untouchable, such as those related to the purchase of military material, which is why his participation in parliament stood out.

One of his most renowned works, Expediente Negro (1972), emerged from his investigations, in which he captured and developed the violations of human rights in Venezuela that occurred in the 1960's and 1970's, as reported by the newspaper Últimas Noticias in its digital edition.

Likewise, in the 1970's and 1980's he presented his candidacy for the presidential elections on several occasions, representing the parties Movimiento al Socialismo and Movimiento Electoral del Pueblo.

After Hugo Chávez came to power, Rangel held high responsibilities in the government, occupying the Executive Vice Presidency of the Republic, the Foreign Affairs portfolio and the Ministry of Defense, the first civilian to assume this investiture in decades.

Awarded in 2015 with the Simon Bolivar National Journalism Prize, as a recognition to his journalistic work and his legacy as an incisive communicator and tenacious researcher, he conducted for many years the interview and political opinion program José Vicente Hoy, transmitted by Televen channel.