Blanca Rodriguez
| Blanca María Rodríguez de Pérez | |
|---|---|
Blanca Rodríguez during the burial of Carlos Andrés Pérez in Caracas (6 October 2011)
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| First Lady of Venezuela | |
| President | Carlos Andrés Pérez |
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In role 12 March 1974 – 12 March 1979 |
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| Preceded by | Alicia Pietri de Caldera |
| Succeeded by | Betty Urdaneta de Herrera |
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In role 2 February 1989 – 20 May 1993 |
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| Preceded by | Gladys Castillo de Lusinchi |
| Succeeded by | Ligia Betancourt Mariño |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
1 January 1926 Rubio, Tachira State |
| Nationality | Venezuela |
| Spouse(s) | Carlos Andrés Pérez |
| Children | Sonia, Thais, Martha, Carlos Manuel, Maria de los Angeles, Maria Carolina |
| Residence | Caracas, Venezuela |
| Religion | Roman Catholicism |
| Signature |  |
Blanca María Rodríguez de Pérez (born January 1, 1926) is the former First Lady of Venezuela from 1974 to 1979 and again from 1989 to 1993.
Blanca María Rodríguez was born in Rubio, Táchira State, the youngest of eight children born to Manuel and Adela Rodríguez. Her grandfather, Eliodoro Rodríguez, was a prominent landowner in Rubio. Her father was also a coffee planter and a veteran of Colombia's Thousand Days War, in which he volunteered to fight on the side of the Liberal forces and acted as lieutenant to General Uribe. As a child, she was aware of her older cousin Carlos Andrés Pérez engaging in long political discussions with her father on topics as varied as the legacy of Simón Bolívar, the French Revolution and the dictatorship of Juan Vicente Gómez in Venezuela.
At the age of four, her mother died of cancer and Blanca's rearing was left in the hands of her older sister, Ana Isabel. Four years later, her father would also pass away. The family was financially ruined by the worldwide economic depression of the 1930s and all of the family haciendas had to be sold. She was educated by nuns at the Our Lady of the Rosary Convent School, where she graduated in 1944.
Carlos Andrés Pérez began courting his cousin Blanca in 1944. He was then working and living in Caracas and would travel to Rubio as he could to visit her. They were wed on 8 June 1948. For the first months, they lived in the provincial city of San Cristóbal but moved to the Venezuelan capital to share a rented house with Julia Pérez, Blanca's mother-in-law.
A few months later, in November 1948, the military launched a coup against the democratically elected government of President Rómulo Gallegos and installed a dictatorship. Carlos Andrés Pérez became the target of harassment and persecution as a member of the Acción Democrática party. Blanca had to endure frequent security police searches of their home as well as tend to her young children while her husband was often on the run or in prison. In 1952, she followed him into exile in San José, Costa Rica.
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Wikipedia