Gabriela Cuevas Barron (born 3 April 1979) is a Mexican

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

. She was the President of the

Inter-Parliamentary Union The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU; , UIP) is an international organization of national parliaments. Its primary purpose is to promote democratic governance, accountability, and cooperation among its members; other initiatives include advancing g ...

from 2017 to 2020 and served as a plurinominal senator from 2012 to 2018.

Personal life and education

Cuevas, at the age of 15, became interested in public service as a result of undertaking scholarly Catholic missionary work in and around Mexico. After getting, by her own free self, a keen eye for what she strongly felt as corruption in and out of rural and urban Mexican towns that she visited doing her school missionary work; Being just 15 years, she decided to start and continue to devote and focus her life on the merely social aspect of such a Catholic missionary work; this, by becoming active in Mexican politics as well as in, as she grew up, in several

NGOs A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...

. Since being just a 15-year-old girl from the city, her inner focus and determination to serve others has propelled her to a career as a public servant of the highest standards and commitments, and in 2017, not just within the ins and outs of her country, but by managing to get the election and seal of approval of an unprecedented continental scale. Cuevas Barron majored in

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

at the Autonomous Technical Institute of Mexico (ITAM). She is a

second cousin A cousin is a relative who is the child of a parent's sibling; this is more specifically referred to as a first cousin. A parent of a first cousin is an aunt or uncle. More generally, in the kinship system used in the English-speaking world, ...

to the wives of

Alfredo del Mazo Maza Alfredo del Mazo Maza (born 5 December 1975) is a Mexican politician formerly affiliated to the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) who served as Governor of the State of Mexico from 2017 to 2023. Members of del Mazo's family have collectiv ...

governor of the State of Mexico The governor of the State of Mexico (Spanish: Gobernador Constitucional del Estado de México) wields executive power in the State of Mexico (a.k.a. Edomex). The Governor of the State of Mexico is directly elected by the citizens, using secret ...

, and

José Antonio Meade José Antonio Meade Kuribreña (; born 27 February 1969) is a Mexican politician, economist, lawyer, and diplomat. He served as a cabinet minister under President of Mexico, Presidents Felipe Calderón and Enrique Peña Nieto in a variety of port ...

, the Institutional Revolutionary Party's 2018 presidential candidate.

Political career

Cuevas has been an active and politically involved person and PAN member since 1994. She has occupied different positions inside her political party including head of the PAN in Mexico City's

Miguel Hidalgo Don Miguel Gregorio Antonio Ignacio Hidalgo y Costilla Gallaga Mandarte y Villaseñor (8 May 1753 – 30 July 1811), commonly known as Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla or simply Miguel Hidalgo (), was a Catholic priest, leader of the Mexican Wa ...

borough. From 2000 to 2003 she served as federal deputy during the LVIII Legislature; then from 2003 to 2006 she served in the

Legislative Assembly of the Federal District The Congress of Mexico City () is the legislative branch of the government of Mexico City. Between 1988 and 1997, it was known as the Assembly of Representatives of the Federal District (). Between 1997 and 2018, it was styled the Legislative ...

representing the PAN. In April 2005, she and another PAN deputy, Jorge Lara, paid 2,000 MXN in order to prevent

Andrés Manuel López Obrador Andrés Manuel López Obrador (; born 13 November 1953), also known by his initials AMLO, is a Mexican former politician, political scientist, public administrator and writer who served as the 65th president of Mexico from 2018 to 2024. He se ...

from being jailed as he would "become a martyr" had he gone to jail during his "'' desafuero''". In 2006 she was elected to serve as ''Jefe Delegacional'' of

. In 2009 she was elected as federal deputy to the

LXI Legislature of the Mexican Congress The LXI Legislature of the Congress of the Union, the 61st session of the Congress of Mexico, met from 1 September 2009 to 31 August 2012. Members of the upper house of the Congress were selected in the elections of July 2006 while members of ...

, representing the Federal District's tenth district. In 2012 she was elected as plurinominal senator to the

LXII Legislature of the Mexican Congress The LXII Legislature of the Congress of the Union, the 62nd session of the Congress of Mexico, met from September 1, 2012, to August 31, 2015. It consisted of Senators and Deputies in their respective chambers. All members of both the lower and ...

. On 18 October 2017, Cuevas Barron was elected as the President of the

, the first female from the Americas, after formally contending with

Uruguayan Uruguayans () are people identified with the country of Uruguay, through citizenship or descent. Uruguay is home to people of different ethnic origins. As a result, many Uruguayans do not equate their nationality with ethnicity, but with citizen ...

politician, Ivonne Passada. She was succeeded in 2020 by :pt:Duarte Pacheco (político) In January 2018, Cuevas Barron left the National Action Party to join the

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...

National Regeneration Movement The National Regeneration Movement (), commonly referred to by its syllabic abbreviation Morena (), is a major left-wing political party in Mexico, often described as oscillating between social democracy and populism. As of 2023, it is the la ...

(MORENA) citing that the objectives of inclusion, pluralism and development were not met. She will pose as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

for the rest of her term as a senator, until the inauguration of the LXIV Legislature of the Mexican Congress, where she will represent MORENA. The PAN claimed she left the party since she was not guaranteed a federal deputy spot through the

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to any electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to political divisions (Political party, political parties) amon ...

process. Since 2022, Cuevas Barron has been a member of the Commission for Universal Health convened by

Chatham House The Royal Institute of International Affairs, also known as Chatham House, is a British think tank based in London, England. Its stated mission is "to help governments and societies build a sustainably secure, prosperous, and just world". It ...

and co-chaired by

Helen Clark Helen Elizabeth Clark (born 26 February 1950) is a New Zealand politician who served as the 37th prime minister of New Zealand from 1999 to 2008 and was the administrator of the United Nations Development Programme from 2009 to 2017. She was ...

and

Jakaya Kikwete Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete (born 7 October 1950) is a Tanzanian politician who was the List of Presidents of Tanzania, fourth president of Tanzania, in office from 2005 to 2015. Prior to his election as president, he was the Ministry of Foreign Aff ...

Other activities

World Academy of Art and Science The World Academy of Art and Science (WAAS), founded in 1960, is an international non-governmental scientific organization and global network of more than 800 scientists, artists, and scholars in more than 90 countries. It serves as a forum for s ...

, Fellow

Notes

External links

Gabriela Cuevas Barron public servant to Mexico official website

Personal blog of Gabriela Cuevas

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cuevas Barron, Gabriela 1979 births Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México alumni Living people National Action Party (Mexico) politicians Politicians from Mexico City Women members of the Chamber of Deputies (Mexico) Members of the Congress of Mexico City 21st-century Mexican women politicians Members of the Constituent Assembly of Mexico City Morena (political party) politicians Deputies of the LVIII Legislature of Mexico Deputies of the LXI Legislature of Mexico Members of the Senate of the Republic (Mexico) Women members of the Senate of the Republic (Mexico)