Lidia Gueiler

President of Bolivia (1921-2011)

Lidia Gueiler Tejada (28 August 1921 – 9 May 2011) was a Bolivian politician. She was the 56th president of Bolivia from 1979 to 1980. She was Bolivia's first female Head of State, and the second female head of state in a republic in the history of the Americas.

Lidia Gueiler
Gueiler in January 2009
56th President of Bolivia
In office
16 November 1979 – 17 July 1980
Vice PresidentVacant
Preceded byAlberto Natusch
Succeeded byLuis García Meza
President of the Chamber of Deputies
In office
4 August 1979 – 16 November 1979
Preceded byJorge Ríos Gamarra
Succeeded byJosé Zegarra Cerruto
Personal details
Born(1921-08-28)28 August 1921
Cochabamba, Bolivia
Died9 May 2011(2011-05-09) (aged 89)
La Paz, Bolivia
Political partyRevolutionary 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
ChildrenMaría Teresa
ParentsMoisés Gueiler
Raquel Tejada
RelativesJosé Luis Tejada Sorzano (uncle)
Raquel Welch (cousin)
Luis García Meza (cousin)
Awards Order of the Condor of the Andes
Signature

Gueiler was born in Cochabamba, to Moisés Gueiler Grunewelt, an immigrant from Germany and a Bolivian mother, Raquel Tejada Albornoz.[1] She received a BA degree from Instituto Americano in Cochabamba.[2] In the 1940s, she joined the Movimiento Nacionalista Revolucionario (MNR).

In 1979, Gueiler again ran for Congress and was elected president of the Chamber of Deputies of Bolivia.

She also became the vice-president of the Revolutionary Left Front.[3]

Gueiler became interim President of Bolivia when the 1979 election results were annulled.

She was the cousin of American actress Raquel Welch and former President Luis García Meza, who removed her from power in 1980.[4][5]

On 9 May 2011, Gueiler died in La Paz from a long illness. She was 89 years old.[6][4]

References

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  1. 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 December 31, 2019.
  2. Kinnear, Karen (2011). Women in Developing Countries: A Reference Handbook. ABC-CLIO. p. 155. ISBN 978-1598844252.
  3. Crespo Rodas, Alfonso. Lydia: una mujer en la historia. La Paz: Plural Ed, 1999. p. 121
  4. 4.0 4.1 "Adiós a la expresidenta". La Opinión (Bolivia). 2011-05-10. Archived from the original on 2020-10-03. Retrieved 2020-10-03.
  5. "Lidia Gueiler, Bolivian president between coups, dies at 89". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 15 January 2024.
  6. Lidia Gueiler Tejada: Politician who became only the West's second female president

Other websites

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