Verónika Mendoza

Verónika Fanny Mendoza Frisch (born 9 December 1980), popularly known as Vero Mendoza, is a Peruvian-French psychologist, educator, and politician. She was a Member of Congress representing the Cusco region from July 2011 until July 2016.[1] She helped create the Broad Front coalition in the and was their candidate in the 2016 presidential election. She later helped found the New Peru party and is their current president. For the 2021 Peruvian general election, she is the presidential candidate of Together for Peru.

This article is about the Peruvian politician. For the El Salvadoran judoka athlete, see Verónica Mendoza.
In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Mendoza and the second or maternal family name is Frisch.

Verónika Mendoza
Member of Congress
For Cusco
In office
26 July 2011 – 26 July 2016
ConstituencyCusco
Personal details
Born (1980-12-09) 9 December 1980
San Sebastián, Peru
Political partyNew Peru (2017-present / Non-registered party)
Together for Peru (2020-present / Registered party)
Other political
affiliations		Nationalist Party (2008–2012)
Broad Front (2012–2017)
Alma materParis Diderot University (B.S.)
New Sorbonne University (M.Sc.)
National University of Distance
Education (M.Ed.)
WebsiteOfficial website

Early life

Verónika Mendoza was born on 9 December 1980 in the San Sebastián district of Cusco Province, in Peru’s southern Andean highlands. She is the daughter of Marcelino Mendoza and Gabrielle Marie Frisch D'Adhemar, a French citizen. Owing to her mother’s nationality, Mendoza holds a dual, both Peruvian and French, nationality.[2]

She studied at the Virgen del Carmen school in the city of Cusco and the Université Paris Diderot, in Paris, France, from which she graduated with a degree in Psychology in 2003.[1] Subsequently, she received a Master’s Degree in Social Sciences from the New Sorbonne University in 2006, and then a Master’s Degree in Education, with an emphasis on Spanish language, from Madrid’s Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia, in 2009.[1] Mendoza also speaks Quechua, an indigenous and official language of Peru.[3]

Mendoza worked as a Spanish-language instructor at the Centre Acadomia Prépa Paris. Later, she served as an instructor at the Asociación Pukllasunchis in Cusco, and as a professor at the Universidad Nacional del Altiplano in Puno.[1]

Political career

While studying in Europe, Mendoza became more involved in activism and politics, eventually joining the Peruvian Nationalist Party.[4] In Peru, she was appointed the party youth’s press secretary in 2009, and as spokesperson for the party’s women’s commission the following year.

Congress of Peru

In the 2011 Peruvian general elections she ran for Congress, in representation of Cusco, on the Gana Perú coalition’s ticket. She was elected to the office with 47,088 votes. Her term expired in July of 2016. She was later named Vice President of the Peruvian Congress’ Committee for Culture and Cultural Heritage. She was also a member of the Congressional Commission on Andean, Amazonian, and Afro-Peruvian Peoples, the Environment, and Ecology. Mendoza is a member of the Campaign in Defense of Water and Territory.

She has served the head of the Cusco Congressional delegation.[5] She resigned from the Gana Perú Congressional delegation on 4 June 2012, following violent repression of protesters and strikers in Espinar Province. Mendoza said she distanced herself from Humala's government, stating "I parted ways with the movement a year into Ollanta Humala’s term, when he quickly betrayed the ideals for which he had been elected. From that moment onward, myself and others set out to find a vehicle that could include the people and organizations making up the diverse Peruvian left." [4] Shortly thereafter, she helped create the Broad Front coalition of left-wing parties, trade unions and other organizations.[4]

2016 presidential candidacy

After winning the party's primary elections in October 2015, Mendoza became the Broad Front's (Frente Amplio) candidate in the 2016 presidential election. She finished third in that contest, with 2.8 million (18.8%) valid votes cast in her favor.[6]

She was later elected to be the president of the New Peru party on 11 December 2017 when the party was founded.[7]

2021 presidential candidacy

On 4 November 2020, the 240th anniversary of the Rebellion of Túpac Amaru II, Mendoza announced her pre-candidacy with the Together for Peru coalition for the 2021 Peruvian presidential election.[8] Leading up to her candidacy, Mendoza criticized the response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Peru, stating "COVID-19 is showing us many of the country's underlying problems: thousands of families and schools that do not have drinking water, thousands of workers who do not have health insurance, who cannot stop working for a single day because your family's food depends on that, an abandoned public health, of course, we only dedicate 2.3% of GDP to public health, below the average for Latin America which is 4% and well below 6% recommended by the WHO".[9]

Ideology and views
The left has to be in touch with reality, not abstracted by dogmatisms, ... It has to be connected to the people, ready to adapt to their needs.

—Verónika Mendoza[10]

Mendoza has called for a new left-wing movement in Latin America that promotes private investment in public life.[11] She has advocated for a new constitution in Peru, diversifying its economy away from what is primarily mining, strengthening rights for women, LGBT and indigenous groups, providing free access to water and establishing stronger environmental protections.[11][10] In an interview with Jacobin, she said that she wanted to strengthen Peru's sovereignty and move away from an informal economy, saying such an economy is where "individual concerns understandably trump relationships with neighbors, coworkers" and that it "is also fertile ground for neoliberals ... exploiting the legitimate fears that people experience in the midst of generalized uncertainty".[4]

Regarding her views on leftist movements in the region, she criticized them stating "the Left hasn’t been able to forge a viable political project that includes everyone equally, without discrimination".[12] When discussing the political processes of the left in Bolivia and Chile, Mendoza stated that Peru needed its "own path".[12] Her movement has also distanced itself from the policies of Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela, describing their administrations as "caudillismo" and anti-democratic.[11][10] She has called for the safeguard of human rights in Venezuela, condemning the actions of the Maduro government.[10]

She also supported the anti-corruption measures of President Martín Vizcarra, such as the 2018 Peruvian constitutional referendum.[13]

Recognition

Americas Quarterly recognized Mendoza in their Top 5 Politicians Under 40 article, with the publication saying that she was "stoking hopes that a modern, more electable left may be taking root in Peru".[10]

References
  1. Declaración Jurada de Vida del Candidato Archived 2016-03-09 at the Wayback Machine, curriculum vitae presented to the Peruvian national electoral authority, 2016 (accessed 19 March 2016).
  2. "Verónika Mendoza: 'De ninguna manera renunciaré a mi pasaporte francés'" ("Veronika Mendoza: 'In no way I give up my French passport'"), Peru 21, 13 October 2015
  3. Dosek, Tomas; Paredes, Maritza (3 June 2016). "Peru might elect an authoritarian president. These four maps tell you why". The Washington Post. Retrieved 7 June 2016.
  4. Allen, Nicolas; Castillo, Victor Miguel (26 January 2020). "Peru's Revolt Is About More Than Corruption". Jacobin. Retrieved 5 December 2020.
  5. "Verónika Fanny Mendoza Frisch", at the Peruvian Congress web portal
  6. Peru, Oficina Nacional de Procesos Electorales (ONPE), Presentaciòn de Resultados, Elecciones Generales 2016 Archived 2016-06-10 at the Wayback Machine, uploaded 17 April 2016 (Accessed 17 April 2016)
  7. "Verónika Mendoza es elegida presidenta del movimiento Nuevo Perú | POLITICA". El Comercio (in Spanish). 11 December 2017. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
  8. "Elecciones 2021: Verónika Mendoza lanzó precandidatura en Cusco". Andina (in Spanish). 4 November 2020. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
  9. "Coronavirus en Perú | Pandemia | Verónika Mendoza: COVID-19 está mostrando muchos de los problemas de fondo del país nndc | POLITICA". Peru21 (in Spanish). 13 March 2020. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
  10. Taj, Mitra; 30 September 2016. "AQ Top 5 Politicians Under 40: Verónika Mendoza". Americas Quarterly. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
  11. "Leftist Mendoza surges in Peru's presidential race". Reuters. 2 April 2016. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
  12. Allen, Nicolas (2 December 2020). ""This Impeachment Basically Amounts to a Coup"". Jacobin. Retrieved 5 December 2020.
  13. O’Boyle, Brendan; 4 December 2018. "As Her 2016 Rivals Face Investigations, Verónika Mendoza Sees a New Era for Peru". Americas Quarterly. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
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