Blanca Alida Ibáñez Piña (born August 17, 1947) is a

Venezuelan Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

private secretary and widow of former President Jaime Lusinchi. She is the daughter of María del Rosario Piña and Carlos Julio Ibáñez.

Biography

At a very young age, Ibáñez moved with her mother to Caracas, where she performed different jobs and prepared to be a

secretary A secretary, administrative professional, administrative assistant, executive assistant, administrative officer, administrative support specialist, clerk, military assistant, management assistant, office secretary, or personal assistant is a w ...

, which eventually allowed her to get a job in the Chamber of Deputies of the National Congress. She worked for the parliamentary faction of the

Acción Democrática Democratic Action ( es, Acción Democrática, AD) is a Venezuelan social democratic and centre-left political party established in 1941. The party played an important role in the early years of Venezuelan democracy, leading the government durin ...

party, whose parliamentary leader at the time was deputy Jaime Lusinchi, who was later elected President of the Republic for the 1984-89 period. When the government of Jaime Lusinchi started in February 1984, she was appointed "private secretary" of the Presidency. This designation sparked many reactions in public opinion. Many of her critics said that Ibáñez had a high degree of discretional power inside the government. After the end of the Lusinchi presidency, she moved to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and married him in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

on September 11, 1991. There, she founded and directed the magazine ''Mujeres en Acción'' (English: "Women in Action") for the denouncement of sexual abuse against women, and also ran the CELAC Foundation, created by former president Lusinchi. In 1998, she was tried for a corruption case in the Lusinchi era. The Supreme Court of Justice of Venezuela later acquitted her. Other politicians involved in the case included José Ángel Ciliberto and Jorge Mogna Salazar. As of 2017 she lived in

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

, where she obtained Costa Rican citizenship. Ibáñez has represented the International Society for Human Rights, which is based in

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

, Germany.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ibanez, Blanca Venezuelan women lawyers 1947 births People from San Cristóbal, Táchira Living people 21st-century Venezuelan women politicians 21st-century Venezuelan politicians