Violeta Menjívar

Who is Violeta Menjívar?

Violeta Menjívar is a Salvadoran politician affiliated with the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front. She is the former mayor of San Salvador.

Born Elvia Violeta Menjívar in Arcatao, Chalatenango, she studied medicine at the University of El Salvador. In 1979 she became a member of the Fuerzas Populares de Liberación "Farabundo Martí" or FPL, one of five leftist organizations that united to form the current Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front. During the civil war she provided medical aid to combatants and civilians in the Chalatenango Department.

In 1992 she was elected deputy to the Legislative Assembly of El Salvador, representing the FMLN, a position for which she was re-elected in 2000 and 2003. She was designated by her party as the candidate for the Mayor of San Salvador elections in 2005, defeating the ultra-conservative candidate of the ARENA Rodrigo Samayoa. She is the first woman to serve as mayor of San Salvador. She lost in the election of January 18, 2009 to Norman Quijano of the ARENA party.