Lourdes Flores
Encyclopedia
| Political charges: | Congresswoman of the Republic Congress of Peru The Congress of the Republic of Peru or the National Congress of Peru is the unicameral body that assumes legislative power in Peru.Congress consists of 130 members of congress , who are elected for five year periods in office on a proportional representation basis... |
| Term in Office: | July 27, 1990 - July 26, 2000 |
| Date of Birth: | October 7, 1959 |
| Political party: | Partido Popular Cristiano Christian People's Party (Peru) The Christian People's Party is a center-right and conservative political party based on Christian Democracy. It was founded in 1966 by a group of Peruvian Christian Democracy dissidents, led by Luis Bedoya Reyes.... Unidad Nacional National Unity (Peru) National Unity was a Peruvian center-right, mainly Christian democratic electoral alliance.National Unity was founded in 2000 by Lourdes Flores Nano and was considered Peru's third largest party. The party participated in the 2001 presidential election, on 8 April 2001, when its candidate,... (Coalition) |
| Profession: | Lawyer Lawyer A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political... |
Lourdes Celmira Rosario Flores Nano is a Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
vian politician and law
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
yer. She currently leads the Unidad Nacional
National Unity (Peru)
National Unity was a Peruvian center-right, mainly Christian democratic electoral alliance.National Unity was founded in 2000 by Lourdes Flores Nano and was considered Peru's third largest party. The party participated in the 2001 presidential election, on 8 April 2001, when its candidate,...
(National Unity) alliance and the Partido Popular Cristiano
Christian People's Party (Peru)
The Christian People's Party is a center-right and conservative political party based on Christian Democracy. It was founded in 1966 by a group of Peruvian Christian Democracy dissidents, led by Luis Bedoya Reyes....
(Popular Christian Party or PPC) in Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
, which is the most well-known right-of-center party of the country.
Biography
Lourdes Flores was born in LimaLima
Lima is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín rivers, in the central part of the country, on a desert coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Together with the seaport of Callao, it forms a contiguous urban area known as the Lima...
on 7 October 1959. She studied at the Colegio Reyna de Los Ángeles and the law school of the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. She pursued graduate studies in Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
, received a masters from the Instituto de Empresa and a doctorate from the Universidad Complutense . As an independent lawyer, Flores specialized in civil and business law. In 1992, Flores attended the World Economic Forum
World Economic Forum
The World Economic Forum is a Swiss non-profit foundation, based in Cologny, Geneva, best known for its annual meeting in Davos, a mountain resort in Graubünden, in the eastern Alps region of Switzerland....
in Davos
Davos
Davos is a municipality in the district of Prättigau/Davos in the canton of Graubünden, Switzerland. It has a permanent population of 11,248 . Davos is located on the Landwasser River, in the Swiss Alps, between the Plessur and Albula Range...
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
. She later taught commercial law
Commercial law
Commercial law is the body of law that governs business and commercial transactions...
at the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú and the University of Lima
University of Lima
The University of Lima is a private university in Lima, the capital of Peru. It was founded in 1962. The decision to create the University of Lima was made in the early 1960s by a group of university professors, along with important commerce and industry representatives. It started with only 120...
.
Political life
At age 18, Flores joined the Popular Christian PartyChristian People's Party (Peru)
The Christian People's Party is a center-right and conservative political party based on Christian Democracy. It was founded in 1966 by a group of Peruvian Christian Democracy dissidents, led by Luis Bedoya Reyes....
, a conservative branch of the Christian Democracy movement founded in 1966. She was an assistant to Enrique Elías Larosa, who became Minister
Minister (government)
A minister is a politician who holds significant public office in a national or regional government. Senior ministers are members of the cabinet....
of Justice
Justice
Justice is a concept of moral rightness based on ethics, rationality, law, natural law, religion, or equity, along with the punishment of the breach of said ethics; justice is the act of being just and/or fair.-Concept of justice:...
.
Flores was elected National Deputy from Lima
Lima
Lima is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín rivers, in the central part of the country, on a desert coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Together with the seaport of Callao, it forms a contiguous urban area known as the Lima...
to the Congress of the Republic
Congress of Peru
The Congress of the Republic of Peru or the National Congress of Peru is the unicameral body that assumes legislative power in Peru.Congress consists of 130 members of congress , who are elected for five year periods in office on a proportional representation basis...
in 1990 with more than 250 000 votes. During that election, the PPC formed part of the FREDEMO front backing Mario Vargas Llosa
Mario Vargas Llosa
Jorge Mario Pedro Vargas Llosa, 1st Marquis of Vargas Llosa is a Peruvian-Spanish writer, politician, journalist, essayist, and Nobel Prize laureate. Vargas Llosa is one of Latin America's most significant novelists and essayists, and one of the leading authors of his generation...
for president.
She opposed the 1992 "auto-golpe
Self-coup
A self-coup or autocoup is a form of coup d'état that occurs when a country's leader, who has come to power through legal means, dissolves or renders powerless the national legislature and assumes extraordinary powers not granted under normal circumstances. Other measures taken may include...
" of President of the Republic Alberto Fujimori
Alberto Fujimori
Alberto Fujimori Fujimori served as President of Peru from 28 July 1990 to 17 November 2000. A controversial figure, Fujimori has been credited with the creation of Fujimorism, uprooting terrorism in Peru and restoring its macroeconomic stability, though his methods have drawn charges of...
, organizing congressional meetings in her home. She was elected to the constituent congress
Democratic Constitutional Congress
The Democratic Constituent Congress was a Constituent Assembly created in Peru after the dissolution of Congress by President Alberto Fujimori in 1992...
later that year and re-elected to congress in 1995.
She denounced Fujimori's holding of Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese citizenship in 1997 and opposed the activities of his security chief, Vladimiro Montesinos
Vladimiro Montesinos
Vladimiro Ilyich Montesinos Torres was the long-standing head of Peru's intelligence service, Servicio de Inteligencia Nacional , under President Alberto Fujimori. In 2000, secret videos, which he had recorded, were televised that showed his bribing an elected congressman to leave the opposition...
.
Candidate for President
Flores and Unidad Nacional stayed in opposition to the Toledo governmentAlejandro Toledo
Alejandro Celestino Toledo Manrique is a politician who was President of Peru from 2001 to 2006. He was elected in April 2001, defeating former President Alan García...
, while supporting some of his economic measures. She ran unsuccessfully in the 2006 presidential race
Peruvian national election, 2006
The first round of the 2006 Peruvian national election was held on April 9, 2006 to elect the President of the Republic, two Vice-Presidents, 120 Members of Congress, and five Peruvian members of the Andean Parliament , for the 2006-2011 period.No single presidential ticket obtained more than half...
which took place 9 April 2006. As in 2001, former President Alan Garcia (1985-1990) edged her out by a slim margin (0.5%) for the second run-off spot. Garcia was reelected in the 2006 general election.