Blanca Alida Ibáñez Piña (born August 17, 1947) is a

Venezuelan Venezuelans (Spanish language, Spanish: ''venezolanos'') are the Citizenship, citizens identified with the country of Venezuela. This connection may be through citizenship, descent or cultural. For most Venezuelans, many or all of these connect ...

private secretary and widow of former President

Jaime Lusinchi Jaime Ramón Lusinchi (27 May 1924 – 21 May 2014) was the president of Venezuela from 1984 to 1989. His term was characterized by an economic crisis, growth of the external debt, populist policies, currency depreciation, inflation and corrupt ...

. She is the daughter of María del Rosario Piña and Carlos Julio Ibáñez.

Biography

At a very young age, Ibáñez moved with her mother to Caracas, where she performed different jobs and prepared to be a

secretary A secretary, administrative assistant, executive assistant, personal secretary, or other similar titles is an individual whose work consists of supporting management, including executives, using a variety of project management, program evalu ...

, which eventually allowed her to get a job in the Chamber of Deputies of the National Congress. She worked for the parliamentary faction of the

Acción Democrática Democratic Action (, AD) is a Venezuelan social democratic and centre-left political party established in 1941. The party played an important role in the early years of Venezuelan democracy, leading the government during Venezuela's first democ ...

party, whose parliamentary leader at the time was deputy Jaime Lusinchi, who was later elected President of the Republic for the 1984-89 period. When the government of Jaime Lusinchi started in February 1984, she was appointed "private secretary" of the Presidency. This designation sparked many reactions in public opinion. Many of her critics said that Ibáñez had a high degree of discretional power inside the government. After the end of the Lusinchi presidency, she moved to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and married him in

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on September 11, 1991. There, she founded and directed the magazine ''Mujeres en Acción'' (English: "Women in Action") for the denouncement of sexual abuse against women, and also ran the CELAC Foundation, created by former president Lusinchi. In 1998, she was tried for a corruption case in the Lusinchi era. The Supreme Court of Justice of Venezuela later acquitted her. Other politicians involved in the case included José Ángel Ciliberto and Jorge Mogna Salazar. As of 2017 she lived in

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

, where she obtained Costa Rican citizenship. Ibáñez has represented the International Society for Human Rights, which is based in

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ibanez, Blanca Venezuelan women lawyers 1947 births People from San Cristóbal, Táchira Living people 21st-century Venezuelan women politicians 21st-century Venezuelan politicians Jaime Lusinchi