Silvia Beatriz Elías de Pérez (born 10 May 1964) is an

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 ...

politician who was a National Senator for

Tucumán Province Tucumán () is the most densely populated, and the second-smallest by land area, of the provinces of Argentina. Located in the northwest of the country, the province has the capital of San Miguel de Tucumán, often shortened to Tucumán. Neighb ...

from 2013 to 2021. A member of the

Radical Civic Union The Radical Civic Union (, UCR) is a major political party in Argentina. It has reached the national government on ten occasions, making it one of the most historically important parties in the country. Ideologically, the party has stood for r ...

(UCR), Elías de Pérez first took office on 18 December 2013 in replacement of

José Manuel Cano José Manuel Cano (born 15 July 1965) is an Argentine dentist and politician of the Radical Civic Union (UCR). He was a National Deputy from 2013 to 2015, and later from 2017 to 2021. He also served as a National Senator for his home province o ...

, and completed the remainder of his term until 2015. She was then elected in her own right in that year's election. Elías de Pérez was the

Juntos por el Cambio (JxC, ) was a political coalition in Argentina. A liberal coalition, it was created in 2015 as Cambiemos (), and renamed in 2019. It was composed of Republican Proposal, Radical Civic Union, Civic Coalition ARI and United Republicans. These ...

candidate to the

governorship A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the type of political region or polity, a ''governor'' may ...

of Tucumán in

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

, but lost against the

Justicialist Party The Justicialist Party (, ; abbr. PJ) is a major political party in Argentina, and the largest branch within Peronism. Following the 2023 presidential election, it has been the largest party in the opposition against President Javier Milei. Fo ...

incumbent,

Juan Luis Manzur Juan Luis Manzur (born 8 January 1969) is an Argentine surgeon and politician currently serving as a National Senator for Tucumán Province. A member of the Justicialist Party, he previously served as Chief of the Cabinet of Ministers from 202 ...

. During her time as senator, Elías de Pérez was known for her socially conservative positions on

LGBT rights Rights affecting lesbian, Gay men, gay, Bisexuality, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction—encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the Capital punishmen ...

and

abortion Abortion is the early termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. Abortions that occur without intervention are known as miscarriages or "spontaneous abortions", and occur in roughly 30–40% of all pregnan ...

Early life and career

Silvia Beatriz Elías was born on 10 May 1964 in

Juan Bautista Alberdi Juan Bautista Alberdi (August 29, 1810 – June 19, 1884) was an Argentine political theorist and diplomat. Although he lived most of his life in exile in Montevideo, Uruguay and in Chile, he influenced the content of the Constitution of Argen ...

, a small town in southern

. She finished high school at Escuela Normal Florentino. She has a public accounting degree and a master's degree in

business administration Business administration is the administration of a commercial enterprise. It includes all aspects of overseeing and supervising the business operations of an organization. Overview The administration of a business includes the performance o ...

from the

Saint Thomas Aquinas University of the North The Universidad del Norte de Santo Tomás de Aquino (''Saint Thomas Aquinas North University'', UNSTA) is a Catholic university located in San Miguel de Tucumán, Tucumán province, Argentina. External links * Official website Catholic uni ...

, having graduated in 1985. She has worked as a teacher and as a federal attorney. She is married to Luis Pérez and has three children. Elías de Pérez is known for her devout

Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

Political career

In the 2009 legislative election, Elías de Pérez was the second candidate to the National Senate in Tucumán for the

Social and Civic Agreement The Social and Civic Agreement (, ACyS) was a center-left congressional alliance in Argentina, integrated by the Radical Civic Union (UCR) the Socialist Party (PS) and the Civic Coalition ARI (CC-ARI), which acted as an umbrella national electora ...

list, behind

. The list received 15.92% of the vote, and was the second-most voted in the province, meaning only Cano was elected for the minority seat. In 2010 she was elected president of the UCR Committee of

San Miguel de Tucumán San Miguel de Tucumán (), usually called simply Tucumán, is the capital and largest city of Tucumán Province, located in northern Argentina from Buenos Aires. It is the fifth-largest city of Argentina after Buenos Aires, Córdoba, Argentin ...

, and in the 2011 elections, she was elected to the Provincial Legislature. On 18 December 2013, she was sworn in as senator in replacement of Cano, who had been elected to the National Chamber of Deputies. Elías de Pérez then completed the remainder of his 2009–2015 term. She sought re-election in the

2015 elections Africa * 2015 Beninese parliamentary election 26 April 2015 * 2015 Burkinabé general election 29 November 2015 * 2015 Burundian legislative election 29 June 2015 * 2015 Burundian presidential election 21 July 2015 * 2015-16 Central African gene ...

, and ran as the first candidate in the

Cambiemos (JxC, ) was a political coalition in Argentina. A liberal coalition, it was created in 2015 as Cambiemos (), and renamed in 2019. It was composed of Republican Proposal, Radical Civic Union, Civic Coalition ARI and United Republicans. These ...

list in Tucumán. The Cambiemos list received 35.35%, and, as the second-most voted list, received the seat for the minority. That year, she was elected vice-president of the National Committee of the UCR. As senator, Elías de Pérez formed part of the parliamentary commissions on Justice and Criminal Affairs, Budget and Finances, Health, Women's Affairs, Media and Freedom of Expression, and National Economy and Investment. She was president of the health commission from 2014 to 2018, and later served as chair of the national economy commission from 2018 to 2021. In

, Elías de Pérez was the

–Frente Vamos Tucumán candidate to the

of Tucumán, facing against

– FDT incumbent,

. She lost with 20% of the vote against Manzur's 50%. Pérez did not run for re-election in the Senate in

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

, and her term expired on 10 December 2021.

Views and positions

Elías de Pérez is known for her staunch

social conservative Social conservatism is a political philosophy and a variety of conservatism which places emphasis on traditional social structures over social pluralism. Social conservatives organize in favor of duty, traditional values and social institu ...

views. During the 2010 debate on the legalisation of same-sex marriage in Argentina, Elías de Pérez called same-sex unions a "legal disaster" (). In 2018, during the first debate on the legalisation of abortion in Argentina, Elías de Pérez had a widely publicised argument with molecular biologist Alberto Kornblihtt during the latter's exposition in the Senate health commission. At the end of Kornblihtt's presentation, Elías de Pérez asked him if he advocated for the use of abortion for

eugenic Eugenics is a set of largely discredited beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetic quality of a human population. Historically, eugenicists have attempted to alter the frequency of various human phenotypes by inhibiting the ferti ...

purposes, such as to avoid the birth of children with Down's syndrome. Kornblihtt replied that

genetic counseling Genetic counseling is the process of investigating individuals and families affected by or at risk of genetic disorders to help them understand and adapt to the medical, psychological and familial implications of genetic contributions to disease. ...

contemplated the detection of serious illnesses in fetuses, and that Down's syndrome does not constitute a serious illness. The exchange, and Kornblihtt's reply to Elías de Pérez ("''no está bien, está mal''"), became popular on social media. Elías de Pérez voted against the Voluntary Interruption of Pregnancy Bill again when it was debated by the Senate in 2020. In May 2020, Elías de Pérez had another widely publicised exchange with Vice President (and Senate president)

Cristina Fernández de Kirchner Cristina Elisabet Fernández de Kirchner (; born 19 February 1953), often referred to by her initials CFK, is an Argentine lawyer and former politician who served as the 56th president of Argentina from 2007 to 2015, and later as the 37th Vice ...

. When Elías de Pérez referred to Fernández de Kirchner as "''presidente''", Fernández de Kirchner (who famously prefers to be referred by the less common, but still grammatically correct female form, '' presidenta'') referred to Elías de Pérez by the unambiguously male term ''senador'', instead of the female ''senadora''.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Elias De Perez, Silvia 1964 births Living people People from Tucumán Province Members of the Argentine Senate for Tucumán Women members of the Argentine Senate Members of the Legislature of Tucumán Radical Civic Union politicians 21st-century Argentine politicians 21st-century Argentine women politicians