Blanca Rodríguez
This article needs additional citations for verification. (April 2011) |
Blanca Rodríguez | |
---|---|
Alicia Pietri de Caldera | |
Succeeded by | Betty Urdaneta de Herrera |
In role 2 February 1989 – 20 May 1993 | |
Preceded by | Gladys Castillo (1988) |
Succeeded by | Ligia Betancourt Mariño |
Personal details | |
Born | Blanca María Rodríguez de Pérez 1 January 1926 Caracas, Venezuela |
Signature | |
Blanca María Rodríguez de Pérez (January 1, 1926 – August 5, 2020) was the First Lady of Venezuela from 1974 to 1979 and again from 1989 to 1993.[1]
Biography
Early life and education
Blanca María Rodríguez was born in
At the age of four, her mother died of
Marriage and exile
Carlos Andrés Pérez began courting his cousin Blanca in 1944. He was then working and living in Caracas and would travel to Rubio as he could to visit her. They were wed on 8 June 1948. For the first months, they lived in the provincial city of San Cristóbal, Táchira, but, moved to the Venezuelan capital to share a rented house with Julia Pérez, Blanca's mother-in-law.
A few months later, in November 1948, the military launched a coup against the democratically elected government of President
The couple had six children, five daughters, Sonia, Thais, Martha, María de los Ángeles and María Carolina, and a son, Carlos Manuel.
When the dictatorship of Marcos Pérez Jiménez was overthrown in 1958, Blanca and Carlos Andrés Pérez returned to Venezuela with the children. Her husband's ascendant political career resulted in Blanca's increasingly prominent role as a politician's wife, one who would be actively involved in supporting his career, campaigning and developing her own charitable activities.
First Lady
With Carlos Andrés Pérez's election to the Presidency in December 1973, Blanca Rodríguez assumed the role of
In addition, Blanca Rodríguez accompanied her husband on his frequent trips abroad to meet world leaders, including memorable visits to
After the presidency
After Carlos Andrés Pérez left the presidency in 1979, Blanca Rodríguez devoted her energies to supporting a charitable foundation, Bandesir, focused on providing wheelchairs and crutches to the disabled poor. She became Bandesir's chairwoman and pursued an active schedule of visits around the country to attend the frequent ceremonies the foundation organized to hand over wheelchairs to people who could not afford them. She also fundraised for Bandesir and extended its remit so that it could also provide cheap or free medical attention to the needy who came to its headquarters. She was also a patron of the Leper Hospice in La Guaira.
Second term as First Lady
Blanca Rodríguez again became First Lady upon her husband's second election to the Presidency in 1988. She resumed her position at the Children's Foundation. Under her leadership, the foundation supported the government's initiative to roll out the daycare centre programme all over the country as part of its welfare provision.
During the military coup organized by Hugo Chávez on 4 February 1992, Blanca, her daughters and granddaughters were in residence at the Presidential palace of La Casona whilst it was besieged by rebel forces. While her husband managed to escape and quell the coup attempt, Blanca remained at La Casona during the particularly heavy attack. She later made sure to assist in the tending of wounded soldiers, regardless of their allegiance, and was crucial in keeping morale up during the few hours when it seemed the residence was going to be taken.
Later life
After leaving office, Blanca Rodríguez retired to her home in the outskirts of Caracas, a house she designed to resemble one of her father's haciendas. She continued to devote time to charitable work, mainly in relation to the Bandesir foundation. Whilst Carlos Andrés Pérez had been self-exiled since 1998, Blanca Rodríguez remained in the country.
In 2004, government security forces raided Blanca Rodríguez's house with the excuse of finding weapons and documents related to an anti-Chávez conspiracy, a charge that was clearly seen as baseless given that she had not seen or spoken to her estranged husband since he left the country.[citation needed] In keeping with her deep Catholic faith, attempts by Pérez to divorce her were rebuffed by her lawyers and the couple was still legally married at the time of Perez's death in late 2010.[citation needed]
Death
Blanca Rodriguez died on August 5, 2020, at the age of 94.[3]
See also
- List of first ladies of Venezuela
- Presidents of Venezuela
- 1992 Venezuelan coup d'état attempts
References
- ^ "Fallece en Caracas Blanca de Pérez, exprimera dama de Venezuela".
- ^ "MRS. Trudeau Replies on Radio to Critics of Tour". The New York Times. 4 February 1976.
- ^ "Blanca Rodríguez de Pérez died in Caracas". 6 August 2020.