Adina Bastidas
Adina Bastidas Castillo (born in 1943) is a
Venezuelan
economist active in politics. She was appointed Vice President of Venezuela on
December 24,
2000 by
Hugo Chávez, and served in the post until
January 13,
2002, the first woman to hold the job in the country's history. Less than two weeks after she was fired as vice-president, she was appointed Production and Commerce Minister.
[Bamrud, Joachim. Investors in Venezuela: Waiting for Change. Latin Business Chronicle (April 4, 2002).] According to the
BBC, Bastidas is considered a controversial
left winger;
[Venezuelan church rejects Chavez talks. BBC (January 29, 2002).] she is also considered a prominent critic of Venezuela's private sector.
[ Her appointment as Commerce Minister, coming after weeks of protests against President Chávez's economic policies,][ was seen as a further radicalization of Chávez's government, according to the BBC.][ A professor at Instituto de Estudios Superiores de Administración (IESA - Venezuela's Graduate Institute for Business Administration Studies) referred to her and other Chávez appointments as, "politicians and government ministers who individually and collectively lack the competence, vision, talent, skill, savvy and the proper political and economic orientation to produce the necessary changes to move the country forward."]
*Latin Business Chronicle.
*Executive Intelligence Review.
* BBC.
