Isaías Rodríguez

• Office — Vice President of Venezuela • Term Start — 29 January 2000 • Term End — 24 December 2000 • President — Hugo Chávez • Predecessor — Post reestablished (Title last held by José Vicente Gómez Bello) • Successor — Adina Bastidas • Office1 — Prosecutor General of Venezuela • Term Start1 — 26 December 2000 • Term End1 — 13 December 2007 • Predecessor1 — Javier Elechiguerra Naranjo • Successor1 — Luisa Ortega Díaz • Birth Name — Julián Isaías Rodríguez Díaz • Born — 16 December 1942 • Birthplace — Valle de la Pascua, Venezuela • Died — 12 January 2025 • Place of death — Caracas, Venezuela • Party — PSUV • Children — 3 • Occupation — Lawyer • Parents — Francisco Rodríguez Luisa Díaz Julián Isaías Rodríguez Díaz (16 December 1942 – 12 January 2025) was a Venezuelan politician, diplomat, and lawyer. He was appointed the vice president of Venezuela on 29 January 2000 by Hugo Chávez, and served in the post until 26 December 2000.

Rodríguez Díaz was born on 16 December 1942. He earned his law degree and specialized in labor law at the Universidad Central de Venezuela, where he began his political activities with the political party Democratic Action. He left Democratic Action in 1967 together with Luis Beltrán Prieto Figueroa to join the new Movimiento Electoral del Pueblo, which he participated in until 1981. In 1990 he served as Attorney Aragua. In the elections of November 1998 he was elected to the Venezuelan Senate, representing the state of Aragua. On 29 January 2000, he was appointed the first executive vice president of Venezuela. Eleven months later, on 26 December, with the majority vote of the National Assembly, he was appointed Attorney General of the Republic, a position he held until November 2007. He was appointed Second Vice-President of the 2017 Constituent National Assembly on 4 August 2017 but he was replaced by Elvis Amoroso a month later. Rodríguez died in Caracas on 12 January 2025, at the age of 82.

International sanctions during the Venezuelan crisis In November 2017, Isaías Rodríguez was sanctioned by the United States Office of Foreign Assets Control after the 2017 Venezuelan Constituent Assembly election. In March 2018, Panama sanctioned 55 public officials, including Isaías Rodríguez. During 2018 until 2019 he worked as the Venezuelan Ambassador in Italy. During the 2019 Venezuelan presidential crisis, Rodríguez expressed concern for US sanctions on Venezuela. According to him, these sanctions prevented him paying his workers and the Embassy debt had risen to about €9 million. Rodríguez resigned from his job as ambassador in May due to the tight budget of the embassy. In his resignation letter published on Twitter, he expressed support for "Maduro's battle". He wrote that he was left "without money" and that the Italian bank has "closed its doors" to him.