Beatriz Merino

Beatriz Merino
Public Defender of the Republic of Peru
In office 29 September 2005 – 30 March 2011
President	Alejandro Toledo Alan García
Preceded by	Walter Albán (Acting)
Succeeded by	Eduardo Vega Luna (Acting)
Prime Minister of Peru
In office 23 June 2003 – 15 December 2003
President	Alejandro Toledo
Preceded by	Luis Solari de la Fuente
Succeeded by	Carlos Ferrero
Member of the Congress of the Republic of Peru
In office 26 July 1995 – 26 July 2000
Senator of the Republic of Peru
In office 26 July 1990 – 5 April 1992
Personal details
Born	15 November 1947 Lima, Peru
Political party	FREDEMO (1990-1992) Independent (1992-1995) Independent Moralizing Front (1995-2000) Independent (2000-Present)
Alma mater	National University of San Marcos Harvard Law School London School of Economics

Martha Beatriz Merino Lucero (born November 15, 1947, Peru) was the first female Prime Minister of Peru. Merino served as Prime Minister from 23 June 2003 to 15 December 2003. Merino served as the national ombudsman for Peru from 29 September 2005 to 30 March 2011, a position also known as the defender of the people. She was the third person to hold the position (the first title holder was Jorge Santistevan and his successor, in an interim position, was Walter Albán). Following the expiry of her five-year term in March 2011, Lucerno was succeeded by Eduardo Vega Luna.

Beatriz Merino Lucero became the prime minister of Peru in 2003, the highest political rank ever held by a woman in the history of Peru.^[1] Merino held office between June 23, 2003 and December 12, 2003. In Peru, she studied Law at National University of San Marcos. She graduated from Harvard University with a master's degree in law, becoming the first Peruvian woman to graduate from Harvard Law School. She also obtained an LLM degree from the London School of Economics in 1974. Merino was director of the Women’s Leadership Program at the Inter-American Development Bank to support and finance projects to enhance women’s leadership in Latin America. She also worked as a lawyer at the law firm Estudio Merino and Reano, where she worked extensively in commercial, labor, corporate and environmental legislation.^[2]

Merino served Peru as a Senator from 1990 to 1992, and then served in Peru's Congress from 1995 to 2000. She was also the first Peruvian woman to serve on the Commission of Andean Jurists. At the University of Lima, she was the director of foreign cooperation and of the master’s program on tax revenues and fiscal policies.

Merino is a member of the Council of Women World Leaders, an international network of current and former women presidents and prime ministers whose mission is to mobilize the highest-level women leaders globally, for collective action on issues of critical importance to women and equitable development.

References

1. Initial Signatories to the Global Action Plan
2. Initial Signatories to the Global Action Plan

• Wildman, Sarah. "Prime Minister's Peril." Advocate 907 (2004): 15. Academic Search Premier. EBSCOhost. Hugh Stephens Library, Columbia. 5 Apr. 2008. Keyword: Beatriz Merino.
• "Initial Signataries to the Global Action Plan." Win with Women Global Initiative. NDI Women's Programs. 5 Apr. 2008 >.
• Skard, Torild (2014) "Beatriz Merino" in Women of power - half a century of female presidents and prime ministers worldwide, Bristol: Policy Press, ISBN 978-1-44731-578-0