Lilly Gabriela Montaño Viaña (born 2 December 1975) is a Bolivian physician, politician, and former

senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...

. She was the 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

Plurinational Legislative Assembly The Plurinational Legislative Assembly () is the national legislature of Bolivia, placed in La Paz, the country's seat of government. The assembly is bicameral, consisting of a lower house (the Chamber of Deputies or ) and an upper house (the ...

, a position she accepted and would hold until 2020 while still the presidential representative of

Santa Cruz de la Sierra Santa Cruz de la Sierra (; ), commonly known as Santa Cruz, is the largest city in Bolivia and the capital of the Santa Cruz Department (Bolivia), Santa Cruz department. Situated on the Pirai River (Bolivia), Pirai River in the eastern Tropical ...

for the

Movement for Socialism Movement for Socialism – Political Instrument for the Sovereignty of the Peoples (; MAS or MAS-IPSP), is a socialist political party in Bolivia. Its followers are known as ''Masistas''. In the 2005 Bolivian general election, December 2005 el ...

(MAS) party. In 2012, Montaño was made the acting

President of Bolivia The president of Bolivia (), officially known as the president of the Plurinational State of Bolivia (), is head of state and head of government of Bolivia and the captain general of the Armed Forces of Bolivia. According to the Bolivian C ...

for a short time. Montaño is a

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

and vocal defender of the rights of the

LGBT LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The gro ...

community. She has been a regular guest and speaker at forums and conferences in different parts of the world. She married

Argentine Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...

citizen Fabián Restivo, with whom she has had two daughters.

Biography

Lilly Gabriela Montaño Viaña was born 2 December 1972 in the Bolivian city of

Cochabamba Cochabamba (; ) is a city and municipality in central Bolivia in a valley in the Andes mountain range. It is the capital (political), capital of the Cochabamba Department and the list of cities in Bolivia, fourth largest city in Bolivia, with ...

. She completed her basic studies in 1993 at the age of 18 and graduated with a degree in medicine five years later. She subsequently pursued and obtained a degree in

public health Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals". Analyzing the de ...

. During the first term of

Evo Morales Juan Evo Morales Ayma (; born 26 October 1959) is a Bolivian politician, trade union organizer, and former cocalero activist who served as the 65th president of Bolivia from 2006 to 2019. Widely regarded as the country's first president to come ...

Presidency A presidency is an administration or the executive, the collective administrative and governmental entity that exists around an office of president of a state or nation. Although often the executive branch of government, and often personified b ...

, Montaño was appointed the presidential representative to

, at that time the bastion of resistance to the Movement for Socialism (MAS) party to which she and Morales belonged. In the Bolivian General Election of 2009, she was elected

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...

for the Department of Santa Cruz for the 2010–2015 term. In the General Election of 2014, Montaño was elected Deputy for the Department of Santa Cruz and in 2015 elected as President of

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourb ...

for the 2015–2020 term. In this term, she has argued for the expansion of the legal causes for abortion. On 10 October 2017, Montaño and Alberto Gonzales, President of the Senate, met with various journalists' unions and concluded a rewrite of Article 200, a legislative action that would penalize professionals for poor performance, that guaranteed the safety of journalists from legal persecution via criminal prosecution. In January 2019, she was named at the Ministry of Health. On 14 November 2019, she fled to Mexico with

during the

crisis A crisis (: crises; : critical) is any event or period that will lead to an unstable and dangerous situation affecting an individual, group, or all of society. Crises are negative changes in the human or environmental affairs, especially when ...

that led to his

resignation Resignation is the formal act of relinquishing or vacating one's office or position. A resignation can occur when a person holding a position gained by election or appointment steps down, but leaving a position upon the expiration of a term, or ...

Biography

References

See also