Pedro Bastidas (17 January 1976 – 19 April 2021) was a Venezuelan politician. A member of the

United Socialist Party of Venezuela The United Socialist Party of Venezuela ( es, Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela, PSUV) is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left Socialism, socialist political party which has been the ruling party of Venezuela since ...

, he served as Mayor of the Girardot Municipality from 2008 to 2021 and was on the from 2004 to 2008. He also worked as an agricultural technician and held a degree in

market research Market research is an organized effort to gather information about target markets and customers: know about them, starting with who they are. It is an important component of business strategy and a major factor in maintaining competitiveness. Mark ...

. He died of

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

on 19 April 2021, at the age of 45.

Career

In the

2008 Venezuelan regional elections The 2008 regional elections of Venezuela were held on 23 November 2008 to choose 22 governors and 2 metropolitan mayors. The candidates were selected for a term beginning in 2008 and ending in 2012, when the next regional electio ...

, he was elected Mayor of the Girardot Municipality over

Justice First The Justice First ( es, Primero Justicia) is a centre-right political party in Venezuela. Founded in 1992 as a civil association, it became a political party in 2000. Henrique Capriles was the candidate of the party in 2013 general election. ...

candidate

Richard Mardo Richard Miguel Mardo Mardo (born 11 July 1970, Maracay) is a Venezuelan politician. He is the leader of the Justice First party in Aragua, as well as one of its deputy leaders, along with Carlos Ocariz. He was a member of the National Assembly o ...

by just 151 votes. He took office on 1 December 2008. In 2009, he created the state-owned enterprise "Fábrica de Sueños", which provided toys for poor children in the region. In 2010, he provided universal

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to the municipality at eight different locations across

Maracay ) , image_skyline = , image_caption =Top:Maracay Municipal Garden and Las Delicias area, Second:Sindoni Tower, Los Tamarindo residential area and overview to Maracay, Third:Maestranza Cesar Giron Bullring Stadium, Girardot Square and Maracay ...

. That same year, he founded Radio Girardot 96.1 FM, on which he hosted his personal radio show, ''Conversando y Construyendo con Pedro Bastidas''. He also created a recording studio to feature local and national talent in Venezuela. In 2011, Bastidas' office helped form the union Plástico-Productiva Socialista, which produced water tanks, traffic cones, garbage cans, and several other plastic products. As part of his policy for renewal and urban planning, he approved the construction of markets for informal traders in Maracay. He also helped ease traffic in areas of high congestion with squares, walkways, and courtyards. An asphalt plant was also created in Girardot, built to ease the difficulty of obtaining asphalt through the private sector. The Girardot Municipality's Mayoral Office has overseen the plant since December 2013. In the 2013 elections, Bastidas was re-elected as Mayor of Girardot Municipality with 51.53% of the votes, aided by support from the

Great Patriotic Pole The Simón Bolívar Great Patriotic Pole ( es, Gran Polo Patriótico Simón Bolívar, GPPSB) is a left-wing socialist and chavist electoral alliance/popular front of Venezuelan political parties created in 2012 to support the re-election of Hu ...

. He was sworn in on 13 December 2013. In his second term, he was heavily focused on urban development and planning.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bastidas, Pedro 1976 births 2021 deaths Venezuelan politicians United Socialist Party of Venezuela politicians Mayors of places in Venezuela People from Maracay Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Venezuela