Archbishop of Maracaibo
Archbishop José Luis Azuaje Ayala, Archbishop of Maracaibo, Venezuela, was born in Valera, in the diocese of Trujillo, on 6 December 1957. He completed ecclesiastical studies in the seminaries of Trujillo and Caracas. He obtained a licentiate in Fundamental Theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. Ordained a priest for the diocese of Trujillo on 5 May 1984, he held various offices: pastor of Mendoza Fría, pastor of San José, director of the diocesan secretariat for social pastoral ministry, and episcopal vicar for diocesan pastoral ministry. On 18 March 1999 he was appointed titular bishop of Italica and auxiliary of Barquisimeto. He received episcopal consecration on 29 May 1999. On 15 July 2006 he was appointed bishop of El Vigía-San Carlos del Zulia.