Inés Imelda Blas (born 21 April 1959) is an Argentine social worker and politician, who was a National Senator for

Catamarca Province Catamarca () is a province of Argentina, located in the northwest of the country. The province had a population of 429,556 as per the , and covers an area of 102,602 km2. Its literacy rate is 95.5%. Neighbouring provinces are (clockwise, f ...

from 2011 to 2021. She belongs to 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 ...

Early life and career

Blas was born on 22 April 1959 in Belén, a small town in

. She finished high school at the Colegio del Carmen y San José, in

San Fernando del Valle de Catamarca San Fernando del Valle de Catamarca () is the capital and largest city in Catamarca Province in northwestern Argentina, on the Río Valle River, at the feet of the Cerro Ambato. The city name is normally shortened as Catamarca and is also kno ...

. Later, she went on to study social work at the National University of Catamarca. In 1979, she became an administrative employee at the Ministry of Labour and Social Security of Catamarca. From 1987 to 1993, she was a technical worker at the State Secretariat of Science and Technology of Catamarca, and from 1993 to 1996 she was a field technical worker for a promotional programme for

PAMI Usermaatre-setepenre Pami-meryamun ( Egyptian ''wsr-mȝʿt-rʿ stp-n-rʿ pȝ-my mrj-jmn'') was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh of the 22nd Dynasty who ruled for 7 years. "Pami" in Egyptian, means "the Cat" or "He who belongs to the Cat astet. Id ...

. From 1996 to 2011, she was a delegate of the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security of Argentina in Catamarca, serving in the same position 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 2008 to 2011.

Political career

In the 2009 legislative election, Blas was the first alternate candidate in the

Front for Victory The Front for Victory (, FPV) was a centre-left Peronist electoral alliance in Argentina, and is formally a faction of the Justicialist Party. Former presidents Néstor Kirchner and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner were elected as representatives ...

list to the

National Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the eld ...

in Catamarca. When Senator

Lucía Corpacci Lucía Benigna Corpacci (born 4 December 1959) is an Argentine physician and politician. A member of the Justicialist Party, she was governor of Catamarca Province from 2011 to 2019, the first female governor in Catamarca and the fourth femal ...

, who had been elected in the FPV list, resigned from her seat in 2011 to take office as governor of Catamarca, Blas was sworn in as senator to fill in the vacancy. She was elected in her own right in the 2015 legislative election, as the second candidate in the Front for Victory list, behind

Dalmacio Mera Dalmacio Enrique Mera Figueroa (born 13 November 1970) is an Argentine lawyer and politician. Among other posts, he served as a National Senator for Catamarca Province from 2015 to 2021, as a National Deputy from 2009 to 2011, and as Vice Gover ...

. With 50.65% of the vote, the FPV was the most voted alliance in the province, and both Mera and Blas were elected for the majority as per the

limited voting Limited voting (also known as partial block voting) is a voting system in which electors have fewer votes than there are positions available. The positions are awarded to the candidates who receive the most votes. In the special case in which th ...

system used for the Argentine upper house. Blas originally formed part of the Front for Victory

bloc Bloc may refer to: Government and politics * Political bloc, a coalition of political parties * Trade bloc, a type of intergovernmental agreement * Voting bloc, a group of voters voting together * Black bloc, a tactic used by protesters who wear ...

, but joined most other FPV senators in breaking away and forming the Argentina Federal bloc following the 2017 legislative election. Following the 2019 general election, Blas formed part of the

Frente de Todos The Frente de Todos (translated as "Everyone's Front") was a centre-left political coalition of political parties in Argentina formed to support President Alberto Fernández and Vice President Cristina Kirchner. Fernández won the 2019 gen ...

bloc alongside most other peronist senators. As senator, Blas formed part of the parliamentary commissions on Women's Affairs, Education and Culture, Foreign Affairs and Worship, Labour and Social Prevision, Population and Human Development, Mining, Energy and Fuels, and National Defense, and presided the commission on Administrative and Municipal Affairs. She presided the commission on Women's Affairs from March to September 2018. She was an opponent of the legalisation of abortion in Argentina, voting against the two Voluntary Interruption of Pregnancy bill debated by the Argentine Congress in 2018 and 2020. Blas did not stand for re-election 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.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Blas, Ines 1959 births Living people People from Catamarca Province Justicialist Party politicians Members of the Argentine Senate for Catamarca Women members of the Argentine Senate 21st-century Argentine politicians 21st-century Argentine women politicians