Adina Bastidas

Adina Mercedes Bastidas Castillo (born 11 June 1943)[2] is a Venezuelan economist, formerly active in politics. She was appointed Vice President of Venezuela on 24 December 2000 by President Hugo Chávez, and served in the post until 13 January 2002, the first woman to hold the job in the country's history. She was later appointed Production and Commerce Minister.[3]

Adina Bastidas
Vice President of Venezuela
In office 24 December 2000 – 13 January 2002
President	Hugo Chavez
Preceded by	Isaías Rodríguez
Succeeded by	Diosdado Cabello
Personal details
Born	11 June 1943 Caracas, Venezuela
Nationality	Venezuelan
Political party	Independent[1]
Profession	Economist

Bastidas was also the Director for the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela at the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington, DC.

Views

According to the BBC, Bastidas is considered a controversial left winger;[4] she is also considered a prominent critic of Venezuela's private sector.[3] Her appointment as Commerce Minister, coming after weeks of protests against President Chávez's economic policies,[4] was seen as a further radicalization of Chávez's government, according to the BBC.[4] Chávez called her "a first class revolutionary,"[5] and deemed her work "exceptional."[6]

At the Latin American and Caribbean Encounter on the Dialogue of Civilizations, held in Caracas on November 8, 2001, Bastidas said:

"The terrorism of the oppressed is a perverse and lamentable byproduct of a WASP dominance that has become unbearable for the most radical and violent of the subjugated peoples ... Supplications and reason will not suffice to impose dialogue on countries of the North. The South must achieve a capacity to unite, resist, and persevere until it attains a new world order that is truly an order, not an immense disorder, under the heavens."[7]

Personal life

On 13 January 2015, Bastidas was subject to burglary and robbery at her penthouse in Caracas, as stated by her son on his Twitter account.[8] She refused to make any public statements regarding the event.

Notes

1. "Adina Bastidas: "Yo asumo mi responsabilidad en el tema del control de cambio"". Aporrea.org (in Spanish). 13 June 2015. Retrieved 10 January 2016.
2. Vicepresidencia de la Republica Bolivariana de Venezuela.
3. Bamrud, Joachim. Investors in Venezuela: Waiting for Change. Archived May 13, 2006, at the Wayback Machine Latin Business Chronicle (April 4, 2002).
4. Venezuelan church rejects Chavez talks. BBC (January 29, 2002).
5. "'Revolutionary' appointed as new Venezuelan vice president," Telegraph, June 19, 2001.
6. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2007-11-20. Retrieved 2009-01-08.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)"Chavez Dismisses Vice President ," Associated Press, Jan 13, 2002.
7. The WASPs Did It. Foreign Policy, 0015-7228, Jan-Feb 2002 p14.
8. "Asaltan residencia de la exvicepresidenta de la República, Adina Bastidas". El Universal (in Spanish). Caracas. 14 January 2015. Retrieved 10 January 2016.

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