Nora Castañeda (12 June 1942 – 16 May 2015) was a

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

n economist and activist who was President of the Women's Development Bank from 2001 to 2015.

Biography

She was born and raised by her mother as one of six children; her father placed them in the care of a relative after her mother had first become pregnant. Castañeda joined the Socialist League in the 1970s. After marrying Jesus Rivero, she moved to

Nicaragua Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America aft ...

and joined the

Sandinista National Liberation Front The Sandinista National Liberation Front (, FSLN) is a socialist political party in Nicaragua. Its members are called Sandinistas () in both English and Spanish. The party is named after Augusto César Sandino, who led the Nicaraguan resistan ...

during the later stages of the

Nicaraguan Revolution The Nicaraguan Revolution () began with rising opposition to the Somoza dictatorship in the 1960s and 1970s, the ouster of the dictatorship in 1978–79, and fighting between the government and the Contras from 1981 to 1990. The revolution r ...

. After the Sandinistas came to power in the early 1980s, she returned to Venezuela, joining the working class women’s movement. Throughout the 1990s, Castañeda became an advisor to and ally of

Hugo Chávez Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías (; ; 28 July 1954 – 5 March 2013) was a Venezuelan politician, Bolivarian Revolution, revolutionary, and Officer (armed forces), military officer who served as the 52nd president of Venezuela from 1999 until De ...

. Her contributions to the policies during the 1999 Constituent National Assembly included women homemakers' rights to social security, as well as female pronouns being included in the

Constitution of Venezuela The Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( (CRBV)) is the current and twenty-sixth constitution of Venezuela. It was drafted in mid-1999 by a constituent assembly that had been created by popular referendum. Adopted in December ...

. After her death in 2015, she was awarded an Order of the Liberator by Vice President

Jorge Arreaza Jorge Alberto Arreaza Montserrat (Venezuelan ; born 6 June 1973) is a Venezuelan politician who has held several important positions in the administration of President Hugo Chávez and his successor Nicolás Maduro. From August 2017 to August ...

References

External links

Interview with Nora Castañeda
{{DEFAULTSORT:Castaneda, Nora 1942 births 2015 deaths 20th-century Venezuelan economists Venezuelan women economists Venezuelan economists Venezuelan women in business 21st-century Venezuelan economists