Lidia Gueiler

Lidia Gueiler Tejada (28 August 1921 – 9 May 2011) was a Bolivian politician. She was the 56th president of Bolivia from 1979 to 1980. She was Bolivia's first female Head of State, and the second female head of state in a republic in the history of the Americas.

Gueiler was born in Cochabamba, to Moisés Gueiler Grunewelt, an immigrant from Germany and a Bolivian mother, Raquel Tejada Albornoz. She received a BA degree from Instituto Americano in Cochabamba. In the 1940s, she joined the Movimiento Nacionalista Revolucionario (MNR).

In 1979, Gueiler again ran for Congress and was elected president of the Chamber of Deputies of Bolivia.

She also became the vice-president of the Revolutionary Left Front.Crespo Rodas, Alfonso. Lydia: una mujer en la historia. La Paz: Plural Ed, 1999. p. 121

Gueiler became interim President of Bolivia when the 1979 election results were annulled.

She was the cousin of American actress Raquel Welch and former President Luis García Meza, who removed her from power in 1980.

On 9 May 2011, Gueiler died in La Paz from a long illness. She was 89 years old.Lidia Gueiler Tejada: Politician who became only the West's second female president

References

Other websites
Newspaper clippings about Lidia Gueiler 

Category:1921 births
Category:2011 deaths
Category:Presidents of Bolivia