1. Lidia Gueiler Tejada was a Bolivian politician who served as the 56th president of Bolivia on an interim basis from 1979 to 1980.
14 Facts About Lidia Gueiler
1. 2.
Lidia Gueiler was Bolivia's first female Head of State, and the second female head of state in a republic in the history of the Americas.
3.
Lidia Gueiler was the cousin of American actress Raquel Welch.
4.
Lidia Gueiler received a BA degree from Instituto Americano in Cochabamba.
5.
When that party came to power as a result of the 1952 National Revolution, Lidia Gueiler became a member of the Congress of Bolivia, serving in that capacity from 1956 until 1964.
6.
Lidia Gueiler spent the next fifteen years out of the country, and joined Juan Lechin's Revolutionary Party of the Nationalist Left.
7.
Lidia Gueiler became the vice-president of the Revolutionary Left Front.
8.
Lidia Gueiler subsequently left the country, and lived in France until the fall of the dictatorship in 1982.
9.
Lidia Gueiler was involved in various Bolivian feminist organizations throughout her life.
10.
Lidia Gueiler opposed the United States-backed war on drugs in Latin America, particularly the so-called Plan Colombia.
11.
Lidia Gueiler supported the candidacy of Evo Morales in the 2005 election.
12.
In June 2009, Lidia Gueiler accepted the role of honorary president of the Human Rights Foundation in Bolivia.
13.
Lidia Gueiler is the recipient of several awards, including the Order of the Condor of the Andes Grand Cross and the 1979 United Nations Woman of the Year award.
14.
On 9 May 2011, Lidia Gueiler died in La Paz following a long illness.