Mercedes Cabanillas Bustamante (born May 22, 1947) is a Peruvian educator and politician. A prominent member of the

Peruvian Aprista Party The Peruvian Aprista Party ( es, Partido Aprista Peruano, PAP) () is a Peruvian political party and a member of the Socialist International. The party was founded as the American Popular Revolutionary Alliance (APRA) by Víctor Raúl Haya de l ...

, she served as Minister of Education in the

first presidency of Alan García The first presidency of Alan García governing Peru was from 1985 to 1990. He regained the presidency in 2006 . Election On 14 April 1985, Alan García was elected President of Peru after winning the 1985 Peruvian general election securing 53. ...

, making her the first woman to assume a cabinet position in the history of Peru. Most recently, she briefly served as

Minister of Interior An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a Cabinet (government), cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and iden ...

in Alan García's second presidency, a position subject to scrutiny as she was signaled as responsible of the repression of natives in the 2009 Amazon crisis, in

Bagua The bagua or pakua (八卦) are a set of eight symbols that originated in China, used in Taoist cosmology to represent the fundamental principles of reality, seen as a range of eight interrelated concepts. Each consists of three lines, each li ...

, which forced her to resign, and effectively ended her political career. Throughout most of her political career, Cabanillas served as a congresswoman in a variety of non-consecutive terms between 1985 and 2011. In the 1995 elections, she became the first woman to be selected as a major party presidential nominee with the

, placing third in the

general election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

. She would go on to be elected as the third woman (after

Martha Chávez Martha Gladys Chávez Cossío de Ocampo (born 12 January 1953) is a Peruvian 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 ...

and

Martha Hildebrandt Martha Luz Hildebrandt Pérez-Treviño (13 January 1925 – 8 December 2022) was a Peruvian linguist and Fujimorist politician. She was first elected to Congress in 1995 and, in 1999, she became the second woman to serve as President of the Co ...

) to be President of Congress in 2006. Cabanillas retired from politics after she was defeated in her congressional reelection bid in the 2011 general election.

Early life and education

Her parents were Armando Cabanillas Olaechea and Emma Bustamante, both members of the

. She entered the Party in 1961, exercising various offices such as member of the National Command of the Youth Wing

Juventud Aprista Peruana Juventud Aprista Peruana is the youth organization of Partido Aprista Peruano in Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State ...

, National Secretary of Women Affairs, and in 1982, the Women Political Action Committee. She majored in Education and Human Science at the Federico Villarreal National University, earning a Bachelor's degree. She would pursue an M.A. and Ph.D. in Education Administration from the Inca Garcilaso de la Vega University.

Career

First presidency of Alan García (1985-1990)

She was elected to Congress as a Member of the Chamber of Deputies for the term 1985-1990. She entered the Government when President

Alan García Alan Gabriel Ludwig García Pérez (; 23 May 1949 – 17 April 2019) was a Peruvian politician who served as President of Peru The president of Peru ( es, link=no, presidente del Perú), officially called the president of the Republic of ...

appointed her Minister of Education in 1987, after the resignation of the Cabinet led by Prime Minister

Luis Alva Castro Luis Juan Alva Castro (born 17 February 1942) is a Peruvian economist and politician. In his political career, he achieved the government positions of Second Vice President of Peru, Prime Minister of Peru, President of the Congress and amo ...

. At the helm, she promised to attend the demands of the teachers syndicate, SUTEP. She began with a raise of 35% for the public teachers. She visited schools in

Lima Lima ( ; ), originally founded as Ciudad de Los Reyes (City of The Kings) is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rivers, in the desert zone of t ...

and Provinces. Surprisingly, in 1988, the Electoral Committee of the Party elected her as Candidate for

Mayor of Lima The following is a list of Lima's mayors through the 20th and 21st centuries. '' Alcaldes ordinarios'' of the first and the second vote Mayors of Lima See also * Timeline of Lima {{Peru lists Lima Lima ( ; ), originally founded ...

. She resigned from office in August 1988 to run for the 1989 Lima mayorship elections, placing fourth.

Senate and presidential nominee

After placing fourth in the mayorship race, she ran for a seat in the Senate, gaining the highest number of votes (328,714), thus elected Senator for the term 1990–1995. Her term as Senator was cut short when President

Alberto Fujimori Alberto Kenya Fujimori Inomoto ( or ; born 28 July 1938) is a Peruvian politician, professor and former engineer who was President of Peru from 28 July 1990 until 22 November 2000. Frequently described as a dictator, * * * * * * he remains a ...

dissolved Congress with his self-coup in 1992. In 1995 Cabanillas ran for the presidency as the

nominee, attaining only 4.11% of the popular vote. Her running mates were former senator Jorge Lozada Stanbury and Alejandro Santa María Silva.

Return to Congress (2000) and second presidency of Alan García (2006-2011)

In 2000, she was elected to Congress under the

. She was reelected in 2001 and 2006. When

was elected President for the term 2006-2011, Congress elected her President of the Congress for the annual term of 2006-2007. On February 19, 2009, President

appointed her Minister of the Interior. As such she was in charge of the Police forces that were sent to the amazon region of

to repress Natives who were protesting against the government that was giving away their ancestral lands to foreign corporations for oil drilling, mining and logging. As a result of the violent intervention of the heavily armed police and military forces over 50 Natives were killed and nearly 200 wounded. As Minister of the Interior she gave the order to attack the Natives. She resigned alongside the Prime Minister

Yehude Simon Yehude Simon Munaro (born 18 July 1947) is a Peruvian politician, who served as Governor of the Lambayeque Region between 2003 and 2008, Prime Minister between 2008 and 2009 and as a Congressman from Lambayeque between 2011 and 2016, elected un ...

on July 11. She served in Congress until her term expired in 2011, as she failed to win a fourth consecutive election, receiving a minority of votes, prompting her to retire from politics. She remains a very influential leader in the

, serving as Chair of the party's Electoral Tribunal since 2017. She was reelected to the same position in 2019.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cabanillas, Mercedes 1947 births Living people Peruvian Ministers of Education Peruvian Ministers of Interior American Popular Revolutionary Alliance politicians Presidents of the Congress of the Republic of Peru Members of the Congress of the Republic of Peru Women government ministers of Peru Female interior ministers Federico Villarreal National University alumni Members of the Chamber of Deputies of Peru Members of the Senate of Peru 20th-century Peruvian politicians 20th-century Peruvian women politicians 21st-century Peruvian politicians 21st-century Peruvian women politicians Women members of the Congress of the Republic of Peru