The Inter-American Dialogue mourns the loss of Dialogue member Teodoro Petkoff, who passed away on October 31, 2018 at the age of 86 after a long illness. Petkoff joined the Inter-American Dialogue as a member in 2005.

Petkoff was a Venezuelan politician, journalist, and economist. As a student leader, Petkoff twice escaped from a high-security while fighting the dictatorship of Marcos Perez Jimenez and later became a guerilla fighter. Petkoff entered government in the 1980s upon his election to Venezuela’s National Assembly. From 1996 to 1999, he served as minister of coordination and planning under President Rafael Caldera. In 2000, Petkoff launched the newspaper Tal Cual.

In 2007, Petkoff authored the working paper titled “A Watershed Moment in Venezuela” for the Dialogue’s work on Colombia and the Andean region. A copy of that paper can be found here.

Michael Shifter writes this piece in honor of Teodoro Petkoff.