Teodoro Petkoff Politician

Teodoro Petkoff Malec (born in Bobures, Zulia State, January 3, 1932) is a Venezuelan politician, ex-guerrilla, journalist and economist. One of the most prominent politicians on the left in Venezuela, Petkoff began as a communist but gravitated towards liberalism in the 1990s. As Minister of Planning he oversaw President Rafael Caldera's adoption of neoliberal economic policies in the mid-1990s. He has been a prominent critic of President Hugo Chávez, and was a candidate to run against him in the December 2006 presidential elections, but dropped out of the race in August to support Manuel Rosales. He launched the newspaper Tal Cual in 2000, and remains its editor.