Maracaibo - Notable Natives

Notable Natives

• Teo Acosta - Baseball Player
• Ricardo Aguirre - Composer and singer.
• Wilson Álvarez - former Major League Baseball left-handed pitcher.
• Luis Aparicio - former shortstop in Major League Baseball and a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame.
• José Domingo de las Nieves Rus y Ortega Azarraulia - Statesman of high caliber who abrogated for the secession of Zulia as a separate and independent state. Born in 1768, he went on to become sole representative (deputy) of his native city, Maracaibo, at the famous Cortes de Cádiz (Law Courts), in Spain, where he labored tenaciously on behalf of the city's Charter. In the early years of the 19th century, he achieved the highest rank attainable in Spanish-colonial America: that of Juris-Consultant to the Royal Audience of Guadalajara (Mexico) - the highest Court of Appeals in the lands belonging to the Viceroyalty of New Spain (today's Central America, Mexico, and the southern United States). After the War of Independence, he became Supreme Court Justice of the recently constituted country of Mexico; serving in that capacity until 1830, dying five years later in 1835.
• Rafael Maria Baralt - Illustrious Venezuelan diplomat and one of the country's most famed writers, philologists, and historians. He was the first Latin American to occupy a chair at the 'Real Academia Española'. Born on 3 July 1810, he suffered an untimely death due to the stresses and aggravations suffered during services rendered to his beloved country of birth. He died on 4 January 1860, and is buried in the National Pantheon of Venezuela..
• Gustavo Chacín - MLB starting pitcher for the Toronto Blue Jays.
• Gilberto Correa - TV host.
• David Cubillan - Basketball player, Marquette University.
• Chiquinquirá Delgado - actress & TV host.
• Lupita Ferrer - Actress.
• Juan Bautista Fuenmayor - Historian, politician, lawyer, teacher, and founder of the first petroleum trade unions.
• Betulio González - former boxer.
• Carlos González - MLB outfielder for the Colorado Rockies.
• Geremi González - MLB player for the Chicago Cubs, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Boston Red Sox, New York Mets, and the Milwaukee Brewers.
• Jonathan Herrera - second baseman for the Colorado Rockies.
• Ninibeth Leal - Miss World 1991.
• Jesús Enrique Lossada - Journalist, lawyer, parliamentary, President of the Universidad del Zulia, teacher, writer.
• Carlos Meyer - Fighter pilot. The only Latin American member (though ethnic German) of the Red Baron's flying circus, awarded the Iron Cross during World War I.
• Armando Molero - Songwriter.
• Carlos Caridad-Montero - film producer
• Humberto Fernández Morán - A research scientist. He developed the diamond scalpel and founded "IVIC", the Venezuelan scientific research institute ("Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Cientificas")http://www.ivic.gob.ve
• Luis Montiel - Wayuu tapistry artist. "...Era conocido nacional e internacionalmente como el artista del tapiz guajiro. A los 74 años y en su lar nativo de Alistasia, murio en pleno corazón del territorio Wayuu"
• Lila Morillo - Actress & singer.
• Francisco Ochoa - First President of the Universidad del Zulia.
• Udon Perez - Author of the Zulia State Anthem.
• Francisco Javier Pirela - Conspirator against the Spanish Crown.
• Venancio Pulgar - Zulian caudillo, partisan for the independence of the region.
• Nick Pocock - former cricketer, ex-captain of Hampshire.
• Daniel Sarcos - TV host.
• Monica Spear - Miss Universe 2005 4th runner up.
• Orlando Urdaneta - Actor.
• Rafael Urdaneta - Hero of the Latin American war for independence.
• Vivian Urdaneta - Miss International 2000.
• Patricia Velásquez - Actress and fashion model.
• Nidal Nouaihed - Fashion Designer