Lidia Gueiler
Lidia Gueiler Tejada (28 August 1921 – 9 May 2011) was a Bolivian politician who served as the 56th president of Bolivia on an interim basis from 1979 to 1980. She was Bolivia's first female Head of State, and the second female republican Head of State in the history of the Americas (the first was Isabel Perón in Argentina between 1974 and 1976).
Lidia Gueiler | |
|---|---|
 Gueiler in January 2009 | |
| 56th President of Bolivia | |
| In office 16 November 1979 – 17 July 1980 | |
| Vice President | Vacant |
| Preceded by | Alberto Natusch |
| Succeeded by | Luis García Meza |
| President of the Chamber of Deputies | |
| In office 4 August 1979 – 16 November 1979 | |
| Preceded by | Jorge Ríos Gamarra |
| Succeeded by | José Zegarra Cerruto |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 28 August 1921 Cochabamba, Bolivia |
| Died | 9 May 2011 (aged 89) La Paz, Bolivia |
| Political party | Revolutionary Party of the Nationalist Left (1963–1979) |
| Other political affiliations | Revolutionary Nationalist Movement (1948–1963) Revolutionary Party of the National Left – Gueiler (1979–1980) Revolutionary Left Front (1978–1979) Revolutionary Left Movement (1989–1993) |
| Spouse(s) | Mareiriam Pérez Ramírez Edwin Möller Pacieri |
| Children | María Teresa |
| Parent(s) | Moisés Gueiler Raquel Tejada |
| Relatives | José Luis Tejada Sorzano (uncle) Raquel Welch (cousin) Luis García Meza (cousin) |
| Awards |  Order of the Condor of the Andes |
| Signature | .svg.png.webp){kind=small} |
She was the cousin of American actress Raquel Welch.[1]
Background and earlier career
Gueiler was born in Cochabamba, to Moisés Gueiler Grunewelt, an immigrant from Germany and a Bolivian mother, Raquel Tejada Albornoz.[2] She received a BA degree from Instituto Americano in Cochabamba.[3] In the 1940s, she joined the Movimiento Nacionalista Revolucionario (MNR). When that party came to power as a result of the 1952 National Revolution, Gueiler became a member of the Congress of Bolivia, serving in that capacity from 1956 until 1964. In 1964, she went into exile abroad after the MNR was toppled from power by generals Barrientos and Ovando. She spent the next fifteen years out of the country, and joined Juan Lechín's Revolutionary Party of the Nationalist Left (PRIN).
She also became the vice-president of the Revolutionary Left Front.[4]
Upon returning to Bolivia in 1979, Gueiler again ran for Congress and was elected President of the Chamber of Deputies of Bolivia (the lower house of the Bolivian Congress) as part of the MNR alliance of former president Víctor Paz Estenssoro.
As no presidential candidate in the 1979 elections had received the necessary 50% of the vote, it fell to Congress to decide who should be president. Surprisingly, no agreement could be reached, no matter how many votes were taken. An alternative was offered in the form of the President of the Senate of Bolivia, Dr. Wálter Guevara, who was named temporary Bolivian President in August 1979 pending the calling of new elections in 1980. Guevara was shortly afterwards overthrown in a military coup led by General Alberto Natusch. The population resisted, however, led by a nationwide labor strike called by the powerful Central Obrera Boliviana ("COB") of Juan Lechín. In the end, Natusch was able to occupy the Palacio Quemado for only sixteen days, after which he was forced to give up power. The only face-saving concession he extracted from Congress was the promise that Guevara not be allowed to resume his duties as president.
Interim President of Bolivia
The above condition was accepted and a new provisional president was found in Lidia Gueiler, then leader of the lower congressional house.
As interim President, Gueiler was entrusted with the task of conducting new elections, which were held on 29 June 1980.
Overthrown in bloody coup
Before the winners could take their parliamentary seats, however, Gueiler herself was overthrown in a bloody right-wing military coup by her cousin, General Luis García Meza Tejada. Gueiler then left the country, and lived in France until the fall of the dictatorship in 1982.
Later diplomatic and other activities
Later, she served her country mostly in the diplomatic sphere, having been appointed Bolivia's ambassador to first Colombia, then West Germany, and finally—after joining Jaime Paz's "Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionaria"—to Venezuela (1989). She retired from public life in the mid-1990s.
Gueiler was involved in various Bolivian feminist organizations throughout her life. She opposed the United States-backed war on drugs in Latin America, particularly the so-called Plan Colombia. In addition, she authored two books, publishing La mujer y la revolución ("The woman and the revolution") in 1960 and her autobiography, Mi pasión de lideresa ("My passion as a leader"), in 2000. She supported the candidacy of Evo Morales in the 2005 election.
In June 2009, Gueiler accepted the role of honorary president of the Human Rights Foundation in Bolivia.
She is the recipient of several awards, including the Order of the Condor of the Andes Grand Cross and the 1979 United Nations Woman of the Year award.[3]
See also
References
- "Adiós a la expresidenta". La Opinión (Bolivia). 10 May 2011. Archived from the original on 3 October 2020. Retrieved 3 October 2020.
- Crespo, Alfonso (1999). Lydia - "Lydia Gueiler Tejada, hija legítima de Moisés Gueiler, nacido en Alemania, y de doña Raquel Tejada Albornoz, dama cochabambina". ISBN 9788489891449. Retrieved 31 December 2019.
- Kinnear, Karen (2011). Women in Developing Countries: A Reference Handbook. ABC-CLIO. p. 155. ISBN 978-1598844252.
- Crespo Rodas, Alfonso. Lydia: una mujer en la historia. La Paz: Plural Ed, 1999. p. 121
- Lidia Gueiler Tejada: Politician who became only the West's second female president
External links
- Newspaper clippings about Lidia Gueiler
- "Photo". Archived from the original on 29 September 2007. Retrieved 1 August 2006.
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