Javier Diez Canseco

Javier Diez Canseco
Javier Diez Canseco in 2001.
Member of Congress
In office 28 July 2011 – 4 May 2013
Constituency	Lima
In office 28 July 2001 – 26 July 2006
Constituency	Lima
In office 26 July 1995 – 26 July 2000
Member of the Senate
In office 26 July 1985 – 5 April 1992
Member of the Chamber of Deputies
In office 26 July 1980 – 26 July 1985
Constituency	Lima
Member of the Constituent Assembly
In office 28 July 1978 – 13 July 1979
Personal details
Born	(1948-03-24)24 March 1948 Lima, Peru
Died	4 May 2013(2013-05-04) (aged 65) Lima, Peru
Political party	Peruvian Socialist Party previously of Mariateguist Unified Party, and Revolutionary Vanguard
Residence	Lima, Perú
Alma mater	Pontifical Catholic University of Peru National University of San Marcos, Lima
Occupation	sociologist, politician, member of Peruvian Congress
Website	javierdiezcanseco.pe

Javier Diez Canseco Cisneros (24 March 1948 - 4 May 2013) was a Peruvian politician and member of the Peruvian Congress representing the party Socialist Party of Peru (PDD), of which he was a founding President.

Javier Diez Canseco was born to a well-to-do Lima family. His parents were Santiago Luis Diez Canseco Magill and Maria del Carmen Cisneros Sanchez. He is a descendant of 19th Century military hero, General Manuel Diez Canseco y Corbacho, and is related to President Fernando Belaúnde Terry. His father, a banker, was general manager of the Banco Popular del Perú, which afforded the family a high level of material comfort.

In his first year of life, Diez Canseco was afflicted with poliomyelitis, which left him with a permanent limp in his left leg. He has credited his experiences with his disability as having helped him to come to understand inequality and injustice.

He received his schooling in Lima's Colegio Inmaculado Corazón de Jesús and did his secondary schooling at the Colegio Santa María Marianistas, both religious schools. He studied law at the National University of San Marcos from 1967 to 1968, and sociology at the Catholic University (PUCP) in Lima from 1965 to 1971. Although raised a Catholic, Diez Canseco abandoned the religion while at university.

Diez Canseco was elected chairman of the PUCP's Social Science Student Federation in 1970, and as head of the university's Student Federation the following year. During his time at university he became a member of the left-wing party Vanguardia Revolucionaria, and soon moved out of Lima to work with mine workers in the central highlands. His militancy earned him exile to Argentina and, later, to France by the military governments of Generals Juan Velasco Alvarado and Francisco Morales Bermúdez. Later, when Vanguardia Revolucionaria merged with other groups to form the Partido Unificado Mariateguista, Diez Canseco emerged as a leader in the new party.