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Martha Gladys Chávez Cossío de Ocampo (born 12 January 1953) is a
Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...
vian Fujimorist politician and lawyer. A historical and a prominent figure of Fujimorism, she has served in Congress for six non-consecutive terms from 1995 to 2006 and from 2011 to 2016, and since 2020 to finish the 2016–2021 term that was interrupted by the dissolution of Congress. In the 2006 elections, she ran for the presidency, running on the Fujimorist Alliance for the Future ticket, but she lost, placing fourth in the election.


Education and professional career

From 1970 to 1976, Martha Chávez studied law at the
Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú Pontifical Catholic University of Peru (, PUCP) is a private university in Lima, Peru. It was founded in 1917 with the support and approval of the Catholic church, being the oldest private institution of higher learning in the country. The Peru ...
. From 1986 to 1988 she studied additionally for a master's degree in international economic law. From 1984 to 1992, she worked as an associate lawyer for a Limean law firm. From 2006 to 2010 she lectured on a part-time base at the private University San Juan Bautista.


Political career


Writing the Peruvian Constitution

After
Alberto Fujimori Alberto Kenji Fujimori Fujimori (26 July 1938 – 11 September 2024) was a Peruvian politician, professor, and engineer who served as the 54th president of Peru from 1990 to 2000.* * * * * * * Born in Lima, Fujimori was the country's fir ...
's
self-coup A self-coup, also called an autocoup () or coup from the top, is a form of coup d'état in which a political leader, having come to power through legal means, stays in power illegally through the actions of themselves or their supporters. The le ...
on April 5, 1992, Martha Chávez was elected as a member of the Democratic Constitutional Congress in
1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...
, which wrote a new
constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...
in aftermath of the 1992 Peruvian Constitutional Crisis. Chávez personally introduced the clauses of the Peruvian Constitution that allowed Fujimori to run for a second term and suggested that she might attempt to abolish all term limits on the presidency. Chávez was the first woman to be elected
President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...
of the
Congress of Peru The Congress of the Republic of Peru () is the unicameral body that assumes legislative power in Peru. Due to broadly interpreted impeachment wording in the Constitution of Peru, the President of Peru can be removed by Congress without cause, ...
in 1995.


Congresswoman and party politics

Chávez was first elected to Congress in 1995. She was the first woman to be elected President of the Congress in 1995 for the 1995–1996 term. She was suspended from active duty as a congresswoman in June 2001 due to charges of
corruption Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense that is undertaken by a person or an organization that is entrusted in a position of authority to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's gain. Corruption may involve activities ...
.Schmidt, Gregory D. "All the President's Women" in ''The Fujimori Legacy: The Rise of Authoritarian Democracy in Peru'' (2006). University Park, PA: Penn State Press. From 1998 to 2004, she was secretary-general of the Fujimorist New Majority, and from 2004 to 2011 chairwoman of the Fujimorist New Majority party.


2000 Presidential elections

During the 2000 elections in Peru, Chávez suggested that Fujimori would dissolve Congress if
Peru 2000 Peru 2000 () was a Peruvian right-wing political alliance that fielded candidates for the 2000 general elections. Alberto Fujimori and his political allies ran on the Peru 2000 ticket in which, Fujimori was triumphant in his second re-election a ...
did not win a majority of seats. She also said that she could not rule out a fourth election of Fujimori, despite the fact that the
Constitution of Peru The Political Constitution of the Republic of Peru (; Southern Quechua: ''Perú Suyu Hatun Kamay Pirwa 1993'') is the supreme law of Peru. The current constitution, enacted on 31 December 1993, is Peru's fifth in the 20th century and replaced t ...
which was written in part by Chávez herself allows presidents to be elected no more than twice in a row. Indeed, Chávez had earlier promised that Fujimori would not run in the 2000 elections.


Presidential Candidate (2006)

In addition to Alliance for the Future, Chávez is also affiliated with Alberto Fujimori's
Sí Cumple Sí Cumple (approximate translation: "Keep Promises" or "He Delivers"), until 2005 called Let's Go Neighbor (, VV), was a political party of Peru founded by Alberto Fujimori in 1997 in order for the party to participate in that year's municipal e ...
party. While Chávez backed Fujimori's own bid for the presidency, she decided to run a separate campaign after the
National Jury of Elections The National Jury of Elections (, JNE) of is an autonomous constitutional organ, headquartered in Lima, which serves as Peru's electoral court. Its goal is to oversee the legality of electoral processes, guaranteeing the respect for the populatio ...
banned Fujimori's name from the ballot on 10 January 2006, citing a political and congressional ban on his participation in Peruvian politics until 2011. Her running mates in the election are
Santiago Fujimori Santiago Fujimori Inomoto (born 3 December 1946) is a Peruvian lawyer, politician and a former congressman, representing Lima for the 2006–2011 term. Of Japanese descent, Fujimori is the younger brother of former President Alberto Fujimori wh ...
, a lawyer and Alberto Fujimori's brother and Rolando Sousa, also a lawyer, without political experience. She placed fourth in the election after receiving 7.4% of the vote and failed to qualify in the June run-off.


Post-2006 political career

Chávez remains a visible spokeswoman for the Alliance for the Future ticket and for Fujimorismo in general. After a band of Fujimori sympathizers held a guard at gunpoint and heavily damaged the "Ojo Que Llora" ("Crying Eye"), a memorial to the victims of Peru's Internal War that included the names of victims of government death squads that operated under Fujimori such as Grupo Colina, Chávez said that she applauded the attack, and called the memorial "a garbage monument".


Return to Congress

In the 2011 general election she was elected to the
Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...
on the Fuerza 2011 party, representing
Lima Lima ( ; ), founded in 1535 as the Ciudad de los Reyes (, Spanish for "City of Biblical Magi, Kings"), is the capital and largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rive ...
for the 2011–2016 term. In July 2011, already back as Congresswoman, Chávez starred in an incident at the assumption of command of the then President
Ollanta Humala Ollanta Moisés Humala Tasso (; born 27 June 1962) is a Peruvian politician and former military officer who served as president of Peru from 2011 to 2016. Originally a socialist and left-wing nationalist, he is considered to have shifted towar ...
, where he accused the President of not respecting the constitutional norms for swearing in the name of the Constitution of Peru of 1979 (not in force), with which the presidential oath became null. A month later, with 72 votes in favor, 35 against and 10 abstentions, in the plenary session of the Peruvian parliament, the Humalist majority, approved the suspension for 120 days of Chávez for her behavior during the inauguration ceremony of former president Ollanta Humala. On December 1, 2011, she rejoined the Congress of the Republic after 120 days of suspension. During this congressional period, Chávez chaired the Labor and Social Security Commission (2014-2015) and was secretary of the Justice Commission (2013-2014). In addition, he was a member of the National Defense and Internal Order, Constitution and Regulation, Justice and Human Rights commissions, the Subcommittee on Constitutional Accusations. In this management, he is part of the Constitution and Regulation, Justice and Human Rights and Intelligence commissions. In the same way, it belongs to the Permanent Commission and to the Subcommittee of Constitutional Accusations; as well as the parliamentary leagues between Italy, Indonesia, Russia, China and Morocco. In the 2020 snap parliamentary election, she returned to Congress after a brief 4-year absence on the Fuerza Popular list, representing
Lima Lima ( ; ), founded in 1535 as the Ciudad de los Reyes (, Spanish for "City of Biblical Magi, Kings"), is the capital and largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rive ...
to complete the 2016–2021 term. She took office on 16 March 2020. In September 2020, Chávez voted to declare the vacancy due to moral incapacity of former president Martín Vizcarra in the first unsuccessful vacancy process. In November 2020, Chávez again voted in favor of the vacancy for moral incapacity of
Martín Vizcarra Martín Alberto Vizcarra Cornejo (; born 22 March 1963) is a Peruvian engineer and politician who served as President of Peru from 2018 to 2020. Vizcarra Martín Vizcarra's governorship of Moquegua, previously served as List of regional governor ...
in the second presidential vacancy process. The vacancy was approved by 105 parliamentarians on November 9, 2020. In the vote on the resignation of Manuel Merino, Chávez was the only one who voted against since he considered that Merino should continue to be President.


Controversies


"La Cantuta" Investigation

One of her most controversial actions as congresswoman happened while the La Cantuta massacre case was making headlines in Peru. During the investigations and legal procedures, it was revealed that at least 10 people were kidnapped and killed by the Peruvian military. Chávez responded by introducing a law that prohibited the judicial powers from calling low-level military officials to testify in court cases. The resolution passed after opposition lawmakers walked out of Congress in protest. The case was dismissed on the pretext that because the location of the bodies of the murdered students and professors was unknown, the courts had no way of knowing if they ever actually existed. Chávez stated that the students must have staged their own kidnapping. Soon afterwards, a journalist was anonymously sent a map of the locations of the bodies. After the unmarked graves were uncovered in the site provided on the map, Chávez responded by suggesting that the journalist be jailed because, by uncovering the graves, he had tampered with a crime scene.


"Ley Colán"

Chávez introduced the controversial "''Ley Colán''" (Colán's Law) which mandates that in the event of a tie in the Democratic Constitutional Congress, seniority would be used to determine the winner. The Constitutional Democratic Congress had recently come to a tie as to whether or not the Attorney General, Blanca Nelida Colán, could serve a second term despite a constitutional provision that explicitly mandated that the position be filled by the Prosecutor's Board. Because those who voted for Colán to fill the position had the most seniority, Chávez's bill effectively handed Colán the position. (The Democratic Constitutional Congress was working on a new Constitution at that time, and the Constitution of 1979 had been suspended by Fujimori).Conaghan, Catherine M. (2005). ''Fujimori's Peru: Deception in the Public Sphere''. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 80 Colán was later imprisoned for corruption.


Comments on the Inter-American Court of Human Rights

Chávez controversially characterized the judges on the
Inter-American Court of Human Rights The Inter-American Court of Human Rights (I/A Court H.R.) is an international court based in San José, Costa Rica. Together with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, it was formed by the American Convention on Human Rights, a human r ...
as
leftist Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social hierarchies. Left-wing politi ...
terrorist-sympathizers.


Notes


External links


Official SitePresidential Official Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chavez, Martha Living people Fujimorista politicians 1953 births Members of the Democratic Constituent Congress Candidates for President of Peru People from Callao Presidents of the Congress of the Republic of Peru Pontifical Catholic University of Peru alumni 20th-century Peruvian politicians 20th-century Peruvian women politicians 21st-century Peruvian politicians 21st-century Peruvian women politicians 20th-century Peruvian lawyers Women members of the Congress of the Republic of Peru 20th-century Peruvian women lawyers