Ancelma Perlacios
{{good article}}
{{Short description|Bolivian politician (born 1964)}}
{{Family name hatnote|Perlacios|Peralta|lang=Spanish}}
{{Use American English|date=December 2022}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2023}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Ancelma Perlacios
| image = Ancelma Perlacios Peralta (Official Photo, 2018) Alejandra Vaca, Chamber of Senators of Bolivia.jpg
| caption = Official portrait, 2018
| alt = Headshot of Ancelma Perlacios
| 1blankname = {{Nowrap|Substitute}}
| 1namedata = Giovani Carlo
| term_start = 18 January 2015
| term_end = 3 November 2020
| predecessor = Fidel Surco
| successor = Cecilia Requena
| birth_name = Ancelma Perlacios Peralta
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1964|07|26|df=y}}
| birth_place = Chicaloma, La Paz, Bolivia
| death_date =
| death_place =
| party = Movement for Socialism
| occupation = {{Hlist|Politician|trade unionist}}
| signature = (Signature) Ancelma Perlacios.svg
| signature_alt = Cursive signature in ink
}}
Ancelma Perlacios Peralta (born 26 July 1964) is a Bolivian cocalera activist, politician, and trade unionist who served as senator for La Paz from 2015 to 2020.
Born in the rural community of Chicaloma, Perlacios ascended the ranks of women's union leadership throughout the mid-2000s and early 2010s, starting at the local and later municipal levels before reaching the national level as part of the Bartolina Sisa Confederation. Her membership there facilitated her inclusion on the Movement for Socialism's 2014 electoral list, through which she was elected to the Senate.
Perlacios was the first-ever Afro-Bolivian to serve in the Senate. She shares, together with Andrea Bonilla, the distinction of being one of the first two Afro-Bolivian women in parliament, and is one of just three overall, after Jorge Medina. Perlacios's tenure coincided with rising conflict between her party and the Yungas-based cocaleros she represented, in which she ultimately sided with the former. She was not nominated for reelection.
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Early life and career
Ancelma Perlacios was born on 26 July 1964 in Chicaloma, a rural community situated in the tropical foothills of La Paz's Sud Yungas Province. She completed portions of her primary schooling in her hometown up to the seventh grade but dropped out before advancing further.{{sfn|La Cámara|2016|p=13}} Her situation reflected a common fact of life for many women in rural agrarian areas of the country, where high school attendance, much less graduation, was often infrequent, even into the second half of the twentieth century.{{sfn|Romero Ballivián|2018|p=455}}
Perlacios became active in community organizing relatively late in life, not participating in grassroots movements until the mid-2000s, when she was already in her early forties.{{sfn|Romero Ballivián|2018|p=455}} Her first roles were in the La Joya Community, where she served as secretary of finance from 2004 to 2006. She later held the same post in the Chicaloma Women's Center from 2006 to 2008. Perlacios's rise through the ranks of women's union leadership culminated in her 2008 election as executive of the Unified Regional Federation of Peasant Women of Irupana. Reelected to a second two-year term in 2010, Perlacios acceded to a national-level position in 2012 when she joined the directorate of the Bartolina Sisa Confederation as the organization's secretary of defense of the coca leaf.{{sfn|La Cámara|2016|p=13}}
Chamber of Senators
= Election =
{{Further|2014 Bolivian general election}}
Perlacios's membership within the Bartolina Sisas opened the door to her 2014 nomination to the Senate on behalf of the Movement for Socialism (MAS-IPSP).{{sfn|Romero Ballivián|2018|p=456}} Despite her bottom-of-the-list placement on the party's electoral list, she won the seat, reflecting the high level of MAS support in the La Paz Department—a fact that, since 2009, had allowed the party to consistently take home all four of the region's available Senate seats.{{sfn|Romero Ballivián|2018|pp=602–603}}{{Cite news |last=Barriga |first=Daymira |date=13 October 2014 |title=El partido del gobierno se queda con los 4 escaños en el Senado |language=es |trans-title=The Ruling Party Retains La Paz’s 4 Senate Seats |work=La Razón |publication-place=La Paz |url=https://www.la-razon.com/nacional/2014/10/13/el-partido-del-gobierno-se-queda-con-los-4-escanos-en-el-senado/ |url-status=live |access-date=27 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221228045844/https://www.la-razon.com/nacional/2014/10/13/el-partido-del-gobierno-se-queda-con-los-4-escanos-en-el-senado/ |archive-date=28 December 2022}} Perlacios's election also attested to the openness of the MAS towards including women of rural backgrounds on its roster of candidates, especially in 2014, an action that produced the largest caucus of peasant women elected to parliament in Bolivian history, both in the Senate and Chamber of Deputies.{{sfn|Romero Ballivián|2018|pp=373; 456}} In a legislature composed of roughly fifty percent women, Perlacios was among the quarter who entered as members of the Bartolina Sisa Confederation.{{sfn|Coordinadora de la Mujer|2020|pp=8; 10}}
= Tenure =
Sworn in at the beginning of 2015,{{Cite news |last=Condori |first=Betty |date=18 January 2015 |title=Parlamentarios electos juran a sus cargos para la nueva legislatura |language=es |trans-title=Parliamentarians-Elect Are Sworn into the New Legislature |work=Opinión |publication-place=Cochabamba |url=https://www.opinion.com.bo/articulo/el-pais/parlamentarios-electos-juran-cargos-nueva-legislatura/20150118143200510834.html |url-status=live |access-date=13 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220116024959/https://www.opinion.com.bo/articulo/el-pais/parlamentarios-electos-juran-cargos-nueva-legislatura/20150118143200510834.html |archive-date=16 January 2022}} Perlacios became the only-ever member of the Afro-Bolivian community to serve in the Senate and is the most recent individual to do so as of {{year}}. Together with Andrea Bonilla—who took office in the Chamber of Deputies at the same time—Perlacios is one of the first two black women to have served in parliament.{{sfn|Romero Ballivián|2018|pp=105; 455}} They are the second and third Afro-Bolivian individuals to have held seats in the Legislative Assembly, after Jorge Medina, who represented La Paz in the previous legislature.{{Cite news |last=Bustillos Zamorano |first=Iván |date=21 December 2015 |title=Jorge Medina: Militante contra el 'apartakuy' |language=es |trans-title=Jorge Medina: Militant Against the "Apartakuy" |work=La Razón |publication-place=La Paz |url=https://www.la-razon.com/politico/2015/12/21/jorge-medina-militante-contra-el-apartakuy/ |url-status=live |access-date=24 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221125012541/https://www.la-razon.com/politico/2015/12/21/jorge-medina-militante-contra-el-apartakuy/ |archive-date=25 November 2022}} Regarding advances in Afro recognition in the country, Perlacios expressed optimism, stating that "much progress has been made. We Afros are being taken into account and are in places where important decisions are made."{{Cite news |last=Rodríguez |first=Andrés |date=11 November 2016 |title=El último rey de América |language=es |trans-title=The Last King of America |work=El País |location=La Paz |publication-place=Madrid |url=https://elpais.com/internacional/2016/11/10/actualidad/1478814462_310202.html |url-status=live |url-access=registration |access-date=27 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161112070144/http://internacional.elpais.com/internacional/2016/11/10/actualidad/1478814462_310202.html |archive-date=12 November 2016}}
Perlacios spent much of her senatorial term focused on matters related to coca, its cultivation, regulation, and decriminalization. Her strident promotion of the plant's usage predated even her membership in the Bartolina Sisas. As early as 2010, she had represented the Council of Peasant Federations of the Yungas at meetings in Lima regarding the usage of coca in Peru and Bolivia, and in 2012, she was a delegate to Vienna on behalf of the Departmental Association of Coca Producers (ADEPCOCA), where she promoted the decriminalization of acullico.{{sfn|La Cámara|2016|p=13}}
As a senator, the subject of coca policy promoted mixed loyalties, as Perlacios contended with her party's attempts to regulate the crop even as her own sector opposed such efforts.{{Cite news |date=11 May 2017 |title=Legisladores del MAS por los Yungas dan la espalda a ADEPCOCA |language=es |trans-title=MAS Legislators from the Yungas Turn Their Backs on ADEPCOCA |agency=Agencia de Noticias Fides |publication-place=La Paz |url=https://www.noticiasfides.com/nacional/politica/legisladores-del-mas-por-los-yungas-dan-la-espalda-a-adepcoca-377996 |url-status=live |access-date=27 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171022011339/http://noticiasfides.com/nacional/politica/legisladores-del-mas-por-los-yungas-dan-la-espalda-a-adepcoca-377996 |archive-date=22 October 2017}} Cocaleros of the traditional coca-growing Yungas region had long enjoyed privileged status in regard to cultivation, a situation that the MAS-sponsored General Law of Coca threatened to upend by expanding the government's regulatory oversight over their crop and extending the rival zone of legal production in Cochabamba's Chapare Province.{{sfn|Brewer-Osorio|2021|pp=574; 595}} Ultimately, Perlacios held the party line on the matter, rejecting calls from ADEPCOCA that she file a motion of unconstitutionality against the legislation on their behalf, a fact that led the organization to declare her persona non grata. The final passage of the General Law of Coca ruptured the government's fragile relationship with Yungas cocaleros, and though Perlacios continually called for dialogue to resolve the conflict, organizations like ADEPCOCA remained steadfast in their mobilized opposition to the new regulations.{{Cite web |date=23 March 2018 |title=Senadora Ancelma Perlacios llama al diálogo a productores de ADEPCOCA |trans-title=Senator Ancelma Perlacios Calls for Dialogue with ADEPCOCA Producers |url=https://web.senado.gob.bo/prensa/noticias/senadora-ancelma-perlacios-llama-al-di%C3%A1logo-productores-de-adepcoca |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201019094947/https://web.senado.gob.bo/prensa/noticias/senadora-ancelma-perlacios-llama-al-di%C3%A1logo-productores-de-adepcoca |archive-date=19 October 2020 |access-date=27 December 2022 |website=web.senado.gob.bo |publisher=Chamber of Senators |language=es |publication-place=La Paz}}{{Cite news |date=1 April 2018 |title=Cocaleros de los Yungas dejarán de apoyar al MAS y exigen renuncia de funcionarios |language=es |trans-title=Yungas Cocaleros Will Stop Supporting the MAS and Demand the Resignation of Officials |work=EABolivia |publication-place=La Paz |url=https://www.eabolivia.com/regiones/25250-cocaleros-de-los-yungas-dejaran-de-apoyar-al-mas-y-exigen-renuncia-de-funcionarios.html |url-status=live |access-date=27 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180403043610/https://www.eabolivia.com/regiones/25250-cocaleros-de-los-yungas-dejaran-de-apoyar-al-mas-y-exigen-renuncia-de-funcionarios.html |archive-date=3 April 2018}}
= Commission assignments =
- Plural Justice, Prosecutor's Office, and Legal Defense of the State Commission (President: {{tooltip|2=29 January 2020 – 3 November 2020|2020|dotted=no}}){{Cite tweet|number=1222548585637666818|user=SenadoBolivia|title=La Cámara de Senadores conformó sus 10 Comisiones y 20 Comités: Gestión Legislativa 2020|author=Chamber of Senators|date=29 January 2020|access-date=26 December 2022|language=es|location=La Paz|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201019033346/https://twitter.com/SenadoBolivia/status/1222548585637666818|archive-date=19 October 2020|url-status=live}}
- {{Cite tweet|number=1270910819002441728|user=SenadoBolivia|title=La Cámara de Senadores modificó sus 10 Comisiones y 20 Comités: Gestión Legislativa 2020|author=Chamber of Senators|date=10 June 2020|access-date=20 February 2023|language=es|location=La Paz|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200611025242/https://twitter.com/SenadoBolivia/status/1270910819002441728|archive-date=11 June 2020|url-status=live}}
- State Security, Armed Forces, and Bolivian Police Commission (President: {{tooltip|2=31 January 2017|2017|dotted=no}}–{{tooltip|2=19 January 2018|2018|dotted=no}}){{Cite web |date=31 January 2017 |title=La Cámara de Senadores conformó sus 10 Comisiones y 20 Comités: Gestión Legislativa 2017–2018 |url=https://web.senado.gob.bo/prensa/noticias/senado-conforma-comisiones-y-comit%C3%A9s-por-la-legislatura-2017-%E2%80%93-2018 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201019091109/https://web.senado.gob.bo/prensa/noticias/senado-conforma-comisiones-y-comit%C3%A9s-por-la-legislatura-2017-%E2%80%93-2018 |archive-date=19 October 2020 |access-date=26 December 2022 |website=web.senado.gob.bo |publisher=Chamber of Senators |language=es |publication-place=La Paz}}
- Armed Forces and Bolivian Police Commission (Secretary: {{tooltip|2=24 January 2019|2019|dotted=no}}–{{tooltip|2=29 January 2020|2020|dotted=no}}){{Cite web |date=24 January 2019 |title=La Cámara de Senadores conformó sus 10 Comisiones y 20 Comités: Gestión Legislativa 2019–2020 |url=https://web.senado.gob.bo/prensa/noticias/senado-conforma-comisiones-y-comit%C3%A9s-para-la-legislatura-2019-2020 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191117030346/https://web.senado.gob.bo/prensa/noticias/senado-conforma-comisiones-y-comit%C3%A9s-para-la-legislatura-2019-2020 |archive-date=17 November 2019 |access-date=26 December 2022 |website=web.senado.gob.bo |publisher=Chamber of Senators |language=es |publication-place=La Paz}}
- {{Cite tweet|number=1197228256988221441|user=SenadoBolivia|title=La Cámara de Senadores modificó sus 10 Comisiones y 20 Comités: Gestión Legislativa 2019–2020|author=Chamber of Senators|date=20 November 2019|access-date=26 December 2022|language=es|location=La Paz|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191120190346/https://twitter.com/SenadoBolivia/status/1197228256988221441|archive-date=20 November 2019|url-status=live}}
- Planning, Economic Policy, and Finance Commission
- Planning, Budget, Public Investment, and Comptroller's Office Committee (Secretary: {{tooltip|2=28 January 2015|2015|dotted=no}}–{{tooltip|2=2 February 2016|2016|dotted=no}}){{Cite web |date=28 January 2015 |title=La Cámara de Senadores conformó sus 10 Comisiones y 20 Comités: Gestión Legislativa 2015–2016 |url=http://www.senado.bo/noticia/senado_conforma_comisiones_y_comites_legislatura_2015__2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150726212311/http://www.senado.bo/noticia/senado_conforma_comisiones_y_comites_legislatura_2015__2016 |archive-date=26 July 2015 |access-date=26 December 2022 |website=senado.bo |publisher=Chamber of Senators |language=es |publication-place=La Paz}}
- Rural Native Indigenous Peoples and Nations and Interculturality Commission
- Cultures, Interculturality, and Cultural Heritage Committee (Secretary: {{tooltip|2=19 January 2018|2018|dotted=no}}–{{tooltip|2=24 January 2019|2019|dotted=no}}){{Cite web |date=19 January 2018 |title=La Cámara de Senadores conformó sus 10 Comisiones y 20 Comités: Gestión Legislativa 2018–2019 |url=http://senado.gob.bo/prensa/noticias/senado-posesiona-su-directiva-camaral-para-la-gesti%C3%B3n-2018-2019-y-conforma |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180120044358/http://senado.gob.bo/prensa/noticias/senado-posesiona-su-directiva-camaral-para-la-gesti%C3%B3n-2018-2019-y-conforma |archive-date=20 January 2018 |access-date=26 December 2022 |website=senado.bo |publisher=Chamber of Senators |language=es |publication-place=La Paz}}
- Land and Territory, Natural Resources, and the Environment Commission
- Land and Territory, Natural Resources, and Coca Leaf Committee (Secretary: {{tooltip|2=2 February 2016|2016|dotted=no}}–{{tooltip|2=31 January 2017|2017|dotted=no}}){{Cite web |date=2 February 2016 |title=La Cámara de Senadores conformó sus 10 Comisiones y 20 Comités: Gestión Legislativa 2016–2017 |url=https://web.senado.gob.bo/prensa/noticias/senado-conforma-comisiones-y-comit%C3%A9s-para-la-legislatura-2016-2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191117013558/https://web.senado.gob.bo/prensa/noticias/senado-conforma-comisiones-y-comit%C3%A9s-para-la-legislatura-2016-2017 |archive-date=17 November 2019 |access-date=26 December 2022 |website=web.senado.gob.bo |publisher=Chamber of Senators |language=es |publication-place=La Paz}}
- Ethics and Transparency Commission ({{tooltip|2=11 June 2015|2015|dotted=no}}–{{tooltip|2=8 March 2017|2017|dotted=no}}){{Cite web |date=12 June 2015 |title=La Cámara de Senadores conformó su Comisión de Ética y Transparencia: Gestión Legislativa 2015–2016 |url=http://www.senado.bo/noticia/posesionan_comision_de_etica_y_transparencia_en_senado |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150720175147/http://www.senado.bo/noticia/posesionan_comision_de_etica_y_transparencia_en_senado |archive-date=20 July 2015 |access-date=16 February 2023 |website=senado.bo |publisher=Chamber of Senators |language=es |publication-place=La Paz}}
- {{Cite web |date=10 March 2016 |title=La Cámara de Senadores conformó su Comisión de Ética y Transparencia: Gestión Legislativa 2016–2017 |url=https://web.senado.gob.bo/prensa/noticias/senado-posesiona-miembros-de-la-comisi%C3%B3n-de-%C3%A9tica-y-transparencia-del-bloque-mayor%C3%ADa |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191117021731/https://web.senado.gob.bo/prensa/noticias/senado-posesiona-miembros-de-la-comisi%C3%B3n-de-%C3%A9tica-y-transparencia-del-bloque-mayor%C3%ADa |archive-date=17 November 2019 |access-date=16 February 2023 |website=web.senado.gob.bo |publisher=Chamber of Senators |language=es |publication-place=La Paz}}
Electoral history
| class="wikitable" style="font-size:90%; text-align:center;"
|+ {{sronly|Electoral history of Ancelma Perlacios}} ! style="background-color:#EAECF0;" rowspan=2 | Year ! style="background-color:#EAECF0;" rowspan=2 | Office ! style="background-color:#EAECF0;" colspan=2 rowspan=2 | Party ! style="background-color:#EAECF0;" colspan=3 | Votes ! style="background-color:#EAECF0;" rowspan=2 | Result ! style="background-color:#EAECF0;" rowspan=2 | {{abbr|2=Reference|Ref}}. |
| style="background-color:#EAECF0;" | Total
! style="background-color:#EAECF0;" | % ! style="background-color:#EAECF0;" | {{abbr|2=Position|P}}. |
|---|
| style="background-color:#EAECF0;" | 2014
| Senator | style="background-color:{{party color|Movement for Socialism (Bolivia)}};"| | 1,006,433 | 68.92% | 1st | {{yes2|Won}} | {{Cite web |title=Elecciones Generales 2014 {{!}} Atlas Electoral |url=https://atlaselectoral.oep.org.bo/#/sub_proceso/17/36/3 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/8auag |archive-date=30 December 2022 |access-date=5 June 2022 |website=atlaselectoral.oep.org.bo |publisher=Plurinational Electoral Organ |language=es |location=La Paz}}{{efn-lg|name=fn1|Presented on an electoral list. The data shown represents the share of the vote the entire party/alliance received in that constituency.}} |
| style="background-color:#EAECF0;" colspan=9 | Source: Plurinational Electoral Organ {{!}} [https://atlaselectoral.oep.org.bo/#/ Electoral Atlas] |
References
= Notes =
{{Notelist-lg}}
= Footnotes =
{{Reflist}}
= Bibliography =
{{Refbegin|30em|indent=yes}}
- {{Cite journal|last=Brewer-Osorio|first=Susan|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-latin-american-studies/article/abs/turning-over-a-new-leaf-a-subnational-analysis-of-coca-yes-cocaine-no-in-bolivia/C8B6C224DE890A7957F2DD3765FCF8F1|title=Turning Over a New Leaf: A Subnational Analysis of 'Coca Yes, Cocaine No' in Bolivia|journal=Journal of Latin American Studies|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2021|volume=53|pages=573–600|language=en|doi=10.1017/S0022216X21000456|oclc=9234637100|issue=3|s2cid=236265690}}
- {{Cite magazine |ref={{harvid|La Cámara|2016}} |author=Cámara de Senadores |date=2016 |title=La Cámara: Revista Informativa del Senado Plurinacional |url=https://docplayer.es/48980647-Camara-de-senadores-directorio.html |url-status=live |magazine= |language=es |publication-place=La Paz |issue=4 |page=13 |archive-url=https://archive.org/details/la-camara-revista-informativa-del-senado-plurinacional |archive-date=27 December 2022 |access-date=27 December 2022 |via=DocPlayer}}
- {{Cite magazine |author=Coordinadora de la Mujer |title=Mujeres en el Parlamento, el Agridulce Sabor de la Primera Experiencia: Desafíos de la Participación Política de las Mujeres desde las Vivencias de 7 Legisladoras |year=2020 |location=La Paz |language=es |url=http://www.coordinadoradelamujer.org.bo/observatorio/archivos/destacados/Anexo48vo.Inf.Boletn_120.pdf}}
- {{Cite book|last=Romero Ballivián|first=Salvador|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/324569555|title=Diccionario Biográfico de Parlamentarios 1979–2019|publisher=Fundación de Apoyo al Parlamento y la Participación Ciudadana; Fundación Konrad Adenauer|year=2018|isbn=978-99974-0-021-5|oclc=1050945993|editor-last=Quiroga Velasco|editor-first=Camilo Sergio|edition=2nd|location=La Paz|pages=455–456|language=es|author-link=Salvador Romero|via=ResearchGate}}
{{Refend}}
External links
{{Commons category}}
- [https://www.vicepresidencia.gob.bo/spip.php?page=parlamentario&id_parlamentario=358 Parliamentary profile] Vice Presidency {{inlang|es}}.
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20191116230125/https://web.senado.gob.bo/senadoras-es/ancelma-perlacios-peralta Parliamentary profile] Chamber of Senators {{inlang|es}}. Archived from [https://web.senado.gob.bo/senadoras-es/ancelma-perlacios-peralta the original] on 16 November 2019.
{{s-start}}
{{s-par|bo-sen}}
{{s-break}}
{{s-bef|before=Fidel Surco}}
{{s-ttl|title=Senator for La Paz|alongside={{Br list|José Alberto Gonzales,|Jorge Choque, Eva Copa}}|years=2015–2020}}
{{s-aft|after=Cecilia Requena}}
{{s-end}}
{{Bolivian senators from La Paz}}
{{BolALPRep/LPZ/2}}
{{Portal bar|Biography|Bolivia|Organized labor|Politics}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Perlacios, Ancelma}}
Category:21st-century Bolivian politicians
Category:21st-century Bolivian women politicians
Category:Bolivian senators from La Paz
Category:Bolivian trade union leaders
Category:Bolivian women trade unionists
Category:Movimiento al Socialismo politicians