Gloria Estela La Riva (born August 13, 1954) is an American perennial political candidate, and communist activist with the

Party for Socialism and Liberation The Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) is a communist party in the United States, established in 2004. Its members are active in a wide range of movements including the labor, anti-war, immigrants' rights, women's rights, and anti-police ...

(PSL) and the

Peace and Freedom Party The Peace and Freedom Party (PFP) is a left-wing political party with affiliates and former members in more than a dozen American states, including California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Indiana and Utah, but none now have ballot status besides C ...

. She was the PSL's nominee and the Peace and Freedom's nominee in the

2020 presidential election This national electoral calendar for 2020 lists the national/ federal elections held in 2020 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included. January *5 January: ** ...

, her tenth consecutive candidacy as either a presidential or vice presidential candidate. She was previously a member of the

Workers World Party The Workers World Party (WWP) is a revolutionary Marxist–Leninist communist party founded in 1959 by a group led by Sam Marcy of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP). Marcy and his followers split from the SWP in 1958 over a series of long-stan ...

. She ran as the PSL's and the Peace and Freedom Party's presidential candidate in the 2016 presidential election, with

Eugene Puryear Eugene Puryear (born February 28, 1986, in Charlottesville, Virginia) is an American journalist, author, activist, politician, and host on Breakthrough News. In 2014, he was a candidate for the at-large seat in the DC Council with the D.C. Stateh ...

and Dennis J. Banks as her running mates respectively. She was the PSL's presidential nominee in the 2008 presidential election. For the 2020 election, Sunil Freeman was her running mate.

Life and career

La Riva was born in

Albuquerque Albuquerque ( ; ), ; kee, Arawageeki; tow, Vakêêke; zun, Alo:ke:k'ya; apj, Gołgéeki'yé. abbreviated ABQ, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Its nicknames, The Duke City and Burque, both reference its founding i ...

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe, New Mexico, Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque, New Mexico, Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Albuquerque metropolitan area, Tiguex , Offi ...

, on August 13, 1954. She graduated from high school and began attending

Brandeis University , mottoeng = "Truth even unto its innermost parts" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = NECHE , president = Ronald D. Liebowitz , p ...

in 1972. She was a third-party candidate for

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal gove ...

in the 1992 presidential election, representing the

. She had also been the Workers World Party vice-presidential candidate in the elections of

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 800, causing the plane to crash and killing everyone o ...

, and

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

. La Riva is a founding member of the

. La Riva was also the

candidate for

Governor of California The governor of California is the head of government of the U.S. state of California. The governor is the commander-in-chief of the California National Guard and the California State Guard. Established in the Constitution of California, t ...

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nels ...

, receiving 72,774 votes (0.9%). She ran again in the 1998 gubernatorial election, capturing 59,218 votes (0.71%). She also ran for

San Francisco Mayor The mayor of the City and County of San Francisco is the head of the executive branch of the San Francisco city and county government. The officeholder has the duty to enforce city laws, and the power to either approve or veto bills passed by ...

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning ...

(7,328 votes – 5.4%), coming in third overall, and second in the working class wards of the city, and 1991 (2,552 votes – 1.4%), and for Congress in 2010 (3rd place – 3%). In the 2008 Presidential election, La Riva received 6,821 votes, the 10th highest vote total. La Riva has also been the director of the National Committee to Free the

Cuban Five The Cuban Five, also known as the Miami Five, are five Cuban intelligence officers (Gerardo Hernández, Antonio Guerrero, Ramón Labañino, Fernando González, and René González) who were arrested in September 1998 and later convicted in Mia ...

, and president of the typographical sector of the Northern California Media Workers Union. In

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

, La Riva was the Peace and Freedom Party's candidate for U.S. Congress in California's 8th Congressional District. Running against Democratic House Speaker

Nancy Pelosi Nancy Patricia Pelosi (; ; born March 26, 1940) is an American politician who has served as Speaker of the United States House of Representatives since 2019 and previously from 2007 to 2011. She has represented in the United States House of ...

, she came in third, receiving 5,161 votes, 3% of the overall vote. Also in 2010, La Riva was awarded the Friendship Medal by the

Cuban Council of State The Council of State () of Cuba is a 31-member body of the government of Cuba, elected by the National Assembly of People's Power. It has the authority to exercise most legislative power between sessions of the National Assembly of People's Power ...

. In the 2012 presidential election, La Riva was a presidential stand-in for Peta Lindsay, the PSL nominee for president who was not allowed on the ballot in some states due to her age. La Riva was on the ballot in Colorado, Iowa, Utah, and Wisconsin, and she received 1,608 votes, or less than 0.01% of the total votes. In July 2015, she was announced as the PSL's

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

presidential nominee, with

as her running mate. She attained ballot access in eight states: Vermont, New Mexico, Iowa, Louisiana, Colorado, Washington, New Jersey, and California. She received 74,401 votes in the election, or 0.05% of the total votes. La Riva was a candidate for the Peace and Freedom Party nomination for Governor of California in

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

. She received 19,075 votes in the

nonpartisan blanket primary A nonpartisan blanket primary is a primary election in which all candidates for the same elected office run against each other at once, regardless of the political party. Partisan elections are, on the other hand, segregated by political party. ...

, or 0.3% of the total votes. She received the Party of Socialism and Liberation nomination for the

, with

Leonard Peltier Leonard Peltier (born September 12, 1944) is a Native American activist and militant member of the American Indian Movement (AIM) who, following a controversial trial, was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of two Fe ...

as her running mate. Peltier later stepped down from the ticket due to his deteriorating health and was replaced by Sunil Freeman. Additionally, she won the Peace & Freedom Party primary in California for the

2020 United States presidential election The 2020 United States presidential election was the 59th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 3, 2020. The Democratic ticket of former vice president Joe Biden and the junior U.S. senator from California Kamala H ...

, beating

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation f ...

candidate

Howie Hawkins } Howard Gresham Hawkins III (born December 8, 1952) is an American trade unionist, environmental activist, and perennial candidate from New York. A co-founder of the Green Party of the United States, Hawkins was the party's presidential nomin ...

. She won the nomination of the Liberty Union Party in Vermont. She obtained no electoral votes in the election, and a total of 85,623 nationally, or about 0.05% of the total, being sixth most voted candidate, after Rocky de la Fuente, and ahead of

Kanye West Ye ( ; born Kanye Omari West ; June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and fashion designer. Born in Atlanta and raised in Chicago, West gained recognition as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records in the ea ...

Other activities

La Riva has translated

Fidel Castro Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (; ; 13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban revolutionary and politician who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and president from 1976 to 20 ...

's book ''Cuba at the Crossroads'' (1997) , and produced the documentary videos ''NATO Targets'', ''Workers' Democracy in Cuba'' (1996), ''Genocide by Sanctions: The Case of Iraq'' (1998) and ''Let Iraq Live!''

Personal

She is married to Richard Becker, whose brother is PSL co-founder Brian Becker.

References

External links

2020 campaign website2020 campaign Twitter profile2016 campaign website"Standing for Castro at the US election"
a brief report on Gloria La Riva by

France 24 France 24 ( in French) is a French state-owned international news television network based in Paris. Its channels broadcast in French, English, Arabic, and Spanish and are aimed at the overseas market. Based in the Paris suburb of Issy-les-Mo ...

, October 29, 2008
"Meet Gloria"
profile on Votepsl.org * {{DEFAULTSORT:La Riva, Gloria 1954 births Living people 1984 United States vice-presidential candidates 1988 United States vice-presidential candidates 1996 United States vice-presidential candidates 2000 United States vice-presidential candidates 20th-century American politicians 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women politicians American anti-poverty advocates American anti–Iraq War activists American communists American documentary filmmakers Brandeis University alumni Candidates in the 1992 United States presidential election Candidates in the 2008 United States presidential election Candidates in the 2012 United States presidential election Candidates in the 2016 United States presidential election Candidates in the 2018 United States elections Candidates in the 2020 United States presidential election Female candidates for President of the United States Female candidates for Vice President of the United States Hispanic and Latino American candidates for President of the United States Hispanic and Latino American women in politics Mexican-American people in California politics Party for Socialism and Liberation politicians Peace and Freedom Party presidential nominees Politicians from Albuquerque, New Mexico American women documentary filmmakers Women in California politics Workers World Party presidential nominees Workers World Party vice presidential nominees