Alexandria Sierra

Alexandria Constanza Sierra y Esparza (born 31 December 1987) is a Valenzuelan socialist politician who is currently the 25th president of Valenzuela, serving since 1 June 2022. Sierra studied in the University of Valenzuela, and graduated in 2012. As a student representative, she became one of the leading figures of the 2012–2013 Valenzuelan student protests. In 2017, Sierra was elected to the National Assembly representing the Federal Capital District electoral district as a Liberal Democratic candidate.

The 2020 corruption charges of president Luis Ángel Escamilla was one of the leading reasons of Sierra running for the presidency in 2022. On 31 December 2021, exactly on her 34th birthday, Sierra formally declared her candidacy for the upcoming presidential election and she filed her candidacy on 24 January 2022. On 7 May 2022, Sierra defeated Franco of the People's Democratic Alternative, Loyola of the Lucha de Valenzuelanos Democráticos, and Suero of the Christian Social Front, obtaining 60.17% of the votes. She is the youngest president, as well as the first female president of Valenzuela and the youngest state leader in the world, beating Gabriel Boric of Chile by just a year and ten months.

Sierra is often labelled a left-wing and progressive president, with cultural critic Ignacio Macías stating that Sierra is a "Valenzuelan social democrat: a centre-left Pavíanist", who had been elected on a "moderate-progressive" platform.

Early life
Alexandria Constanza Sierra y Esparza was born in Catalina on 31 December 1987. Her parents are Portuguese immigrants, and she is the third and middle child. She attended the Severiano Basurto Secondary School, and graduated in 2005.

Student politics and activism
While at university, she joined the political collective Force of the Left (Fuerza de la Izquierda). She was an advisor to the Students' Union of the Law Department in 2008 and became its president in 2009. She also represented students as a university senator from 2010 up until 2012, when she graduated from the University of Valenzuela. After graduating from university, she continued her left-wing activism while working as an attorney

Member of the National Assembly (2017-2022)
Sierra ran in the 2017 parliamentary elections as a Liberal Democratic candidate to represent the Federal Capital District. She was elected by a landslide with 5,134,566 votes (91.65%), the highest number received by any candidate in the district.

2022 presidential candidacy
During 2020, the corruption charges against Escamilla and the conflict with the government increased due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in Valenzuela. This situation helped to unite the left-wing and center-left opposition, especially the Luchadores Desafiantes del Futuro, an alliance led by the Communist Party. The 2020 corruption charges of Escamilla and the conflict led to Sierra running for the presidency, announcing her candidacy for the presidency on 31 December 2021.

According to the main opinion polls, Sierra was the frontrunner of the upcoming presidential election, with far-right candidate Prudencio Suero taking the second place. In the election, Sierra won the election by winning 60.17% of the votes. Her inauguration was held on 1 June 2022.

Presidency (2022-present)
Sierra was inaugurated as president on 1 June 2022. She was sworn in at the Estadio Amancio Arechavaleta in the capital city of Catalina, with thousands of individuals present. Among the attendees were King of Spain Felipe VI, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, President of Argentina Alberto Fernández, Vice President of Argentina Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, President of Cuba Miguel Díaz-Canel, President of Honduras Xiomara Castro, President of Costa Rica Carlos Alvarado Quesada, President of Bolivia Luis Arce, President of Chile Gabriel Boric, and Prime Minister of Finland Sanna Marin. Sierra is the first female, and also youngest, President of Valenzuela, and the youngest state leader in the world. During her inaugural address, Sierra said, "the disgraceful, corrupted act of my right-wing predecessor has hindered Valenzuela's unstoppable progress", referencing to her predecessor Escamilla's corruption charges.

Cabinet
Sierra announced the ministers of her cabinet on 20 May 2022. The ministers who took office are part of the Coalición del Progreso and Luchadores Desafiantes del Futuro coalitions, and there are also independents. Sierra's cabinet is considered to be the most ethnically diverse in Valenzuelan history: 4 of the cabinet members are from African descent, 6 are members of the Wapishana tribe, 7 are from European descent, 5 are from Asian descent (4 are from Japanese and Filipino descents, and 1 are from Cadasan descent), and 2 are from Jewish descent, and fourteen of the ministers being LGBT+ members.

Economic policy
In her inaugural speech, Sierra vowed to re-found the democratic socialist state that was found by Emigdio Pavia, stating she had a duty to restore a system that led Valenzuela to what it is now; a system based upon transparency, efficiency of production, social justice in the distribution of wealth and in national income, and that her vision of her world puts the human being before the rules of the market.

She banned open-pit mining in early-July 2022 due to the extensive damage to the environment. The government also promised to intervene "immediately" to conserve areas of "high environmental value" for the benefit of the population.

Fiscal policy
In her inaugural address, Sierra announced to the nation that the largest base of the budget she will present to parliament is dedicated to salaries and wages.

Social policy
Her first legislative initiative, the Equal Ability Bill, was unanimously passed by the National Assembly on 25 June. The bill was approved to support the social benefits initiative, and to amend the compensatory veterans and state employee’s disability benefits programme of 2018. Under the newly expanded program employees who fall sick gravely and/or become disabled which terminates their capacity to work, will be provided a steady income by the state that is at the value of 50% of their monthly salary.

A month after her first legislative initiative, Sierra lifted the ban of abortion and same-sex marriage, which both were last banned under Escamilla's term. Prior to her presidency, Sierra had shared her vocal opposition to former president Escamilla's ban to both abortion and same-sex marriage, describing it as a 'violation to human rights'.

On 1 August, she also announced a restructuring of the Federal Division of Investigation (DFI), including the publications of its accounts - which had been made secret by Escamilla in a 2019 decree. The DFI had been criticized for targeting public figures for political purposes.

Foreign relations
By the start of her term, Valenzuela's relationship with Peru has become somewhat strained since after Sierra's sanction on Peru's Pedro Castillo, months after Castillo's failed impeachment process in March 2022.

Approval ratings
Sierra entered into office with a 70 percent approval rating. After her first 100 days, her approval rating had risen to a whopping 92.1 percent, the largest rise in popularity during a Valenzuelan President's first 100 days since 1977. Her approval rating remained high at the end of 2022, hovering around 88%.

Political positions
Alexandria Sierra is a left-wing politician, who has been described along a wide range of positions, including socialism, democratic socialism, and libertarian socialism. The Economist has called Sierra "woke" and part of the millennial left "[w]ith a programme focused on social justice, human rights, the environment and feminism".

Foreign affairs
Sierra has a negative opinion on Venezuela under Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro. She has denounced Venezuela's human rights violations and she has described Maduro as a dictator several times. After her election victory on May 7th, Maduro lashed out Sierra, calling her a 'puppet of the United States'

Personal life
Sierra suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder after being raped by her own teacher at the age of 16, which actually led her on becoming pregnant to Neizan Baldomero Sierra (b. 2004). In a 2014 interview, Sierra stated that she has no desire to have a husband, and in the same interview, she stated that she is a huge fan of Valenzuelan professional wrestling.