María José Pizarro

María José Pizarro
Vice President of the Senate
In office
20 July 2023 – 20 July 2024
Serving with Didier Lobo
PresidentIván Name
Preceded byMiguel Ángel Pinto
Succeeded byJhon Jairo Roldán
Senator of Colombia
Incumbent
Assumed office
20 July 2022
Member of the Chamber of Representatives
In office
20 July 2018 – 20 July 2022
ConstituencyCapital District
Personal details
Born
María José Pizarro Rodríguez

(1978-03-30) 30 March 1978 (age 46)
Bogotá, Colombia
Political partyHistoric Pact
Children2
Parents
OccupationArtist, politician

María José Pizarro Rodríguez (born 30 March 1978) is a Colombian artist, activist, and politician. She was a member of the country's Chamber of Representatives from 2018 to 2022, and has been a senator for the Historic Pact since July 2022.

Biography

María José Pizarro was born in Bogotá on 30 March 1978, the daughter of Myriam Rodríguez and the former guerrilla and leader of the 19th of April Movement, Carlos Pizarro Leongómez and niece of Hernando Pizarro who carried out the Tacueyó Massacre in Cauca.[1]

During her childhood, she had to live in exile in Ecuador, Nicaragua, and France. She returned to Colombia when her father was a candidate in the 1990 presidential election, and went back into exile after he was assassinated.[2][3] In 2002, she settled in Spain, studied design in Barcelona, and returned definitively to her home country in 2010.[4][5]

A plastic artist who works in jewelry and audiovisual presentations,[6] she held an exhibition at the Colombian National Museum titled Ya vuelvo: Carlos Pizarro, una vida por la paz (I'm Back: Carlos Pizarro, A Life for Peace). It was presented in Bogotá, Cali, and Barcelona.[5]

She worked with the Secretariat of Culture, Recreation, and Sports of Bogotá from 2011 to 2013, and the National Center for Historical Memory from 2013 to 2017.[7] She has also been an activist for peace and historical memory, in homage to the victims of the armed conflict in Colombia. She has dedicated much of her work to reconstructing the memory of her father.[2] She compiled his letters and photographs in the 2015 book De su puño y letra.[1][8]

So that the wars we have experienced are not repeated, we must always keep them in mind. I learned the importance of memory when I began to rescue my father's story.[5]

Political career

Pizarro supporting Humane Colombia's list for the Bogotá City Council – Susana Muhamad, Aída Avella, and José Cuesta

Pizarro ran for a seat representing Bogotá in the Chamber of Representatives in the 2018 parliamentary election, for the Decency List [es]. She obtained the fourth highest number of votes, with 78,000. She was sworn in on 20 July of the same year.[9]

She ran for senator in the 2022 parliamentary election, for the Historic Pact coalition in a MAIS [es] party quota.[6][10] She was elected, and took office on 20 July.

On 7 August 2022, in her capacity as a senator, she placed the presidential sash on Gustavo Petro at his inauguration.[11]

Works

  • De su puño y letra (2015), Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial Colombia, ISBN 9789588806884
  • Pizarro documental (2015), with Simón Hernández, produced by Señal Colombia[12]

References

  1. ^ a b "La correspondencia secreta de Carlos Pizarro" [The Secret Correspondence of Carlos Pizarro]. El Espectador: El Magazín Cultural (in Spanish). 24 April 2015. Retrieved 25 October 2022.
  2. ^ a b Fredy Padilla, Nelson (19 May 2012). "El escritor y el guerrillero" [The Writer and the Guerrilla]. El Espectador: El Magazín Cultural (in Spanish). Retrieved 25 October 2022.
  3. ^ Atehortúa, Adrián (6 June 2019). "Carlos, mi papá. Memorias de María José Pizarro". Hacemos Memoria (in Spanish). University of Antioquia. Retrieved 25 October 2022.
  4. ^ Molano Jimeno, Alfredo (14 November 2010). "María José Pizarro: en el nombre del padre" [María José Pizarro: In the Name of the Father]. El Espectador (in Spanish). Retrieved 25 October 2022.
  5. ^ a b c "María José Pizarro. La revolución sin balas de la hija de un comandante guerrillero, desde el Congreso" [María José Pizarro: The Revolution Without Bullets of the Daughter of a Guerrilla Commander, from Congress] (in Spanish). Telesantander. 14 March 2018. Retrieved 25 October 2022.
  6. ^ a b Torrado, Santiago (26 February 2022). "María José Pizarro: 'Las mujeres vamos a ser el rostro de la política progresista latinoamericana'" [María José Pizarro: 'Women are Going to be the Face of Latin American Progressive Politics']. El País (in Spanish). Bogotá. Retrieved 25 October 2022.
  7. ^ "María José Pizarro, hija de Carlos Pizarro, es nueva congresista" [María José Pizarro, Daughter of Carlos Pizarro, is New Congresswoman] (in Spanish). La FM. 11 March 2018. Retrieved 25 October 2022.
  8. ^ Taborda Herrera, Ernesto (25 March 2019). "'Necesitamos sanar nuestra sociedad con la verdad': María Pizarro" ['We Need to Heal Our Society with the Truth': María Pizarro]. El Universal (in Spanish). Retrieved 25 October 2022.
  9. ^ "Entrevista con María J. Pizarro, elegida a la Cámara por Decentes" [Interview with María J. Pizarro, Elected to the Chamber for Decency]. El Tiempo (in Spanish). Bogotá. 13 March 2018. Retrieved 25 October 2022.
  10. ^ "Elecciones 2022: así quedaría conformado el Senado" [Elections 2022: This is How the Senate Would be Formed]. Portafolio (in Spanish). 14 March 2022. Retrieved 25 October 2022.
  11. ^ "María José Pizarro impuso la banda presidencial a Gustavo Petro, rompió en llanto y recordó a su papá, excomandante del M-19" [María José Pizarro Places the Presidential Sash on Gustavo Petro, Bursts into Tears and Remembers Her Father, Former Commander of the M-19]. Semana (in Spanish). 7 August 2022. Retrieved 25 October 2022.
  12. ^ "Pizarro". Retina Latina (in Spanish). Retrieved 25 October 2022.
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