Carmelita Canales

The Honourable Carmelita Canales
Official portrait of Canales in 1980
12th President of Aiyaca
In office August 15, 1973 – August 9, 1987
Vice President	Nazario Galdamez
Preceded by	Lalo Santillan
Succeeded by	Ermenegildo Fontán
President of the International Assembly
In office February 26, 1994 – February 20, 2004
Member of the Lacasine Congress
In office August 8, 1955 – August 15, 1973
Constituency	Huilca (Machamaca)
Personal details
Born	Carmelita de Ana Valdavinos Canales (1917-03-19)March 19, 1917 Tompampa, Aiyaca
Died	November 16, 2004(2004-11-16) (aged 87) Montigné, Blayk
Resting place	Catedral de Nuestra Santa Dama, Tompampa, Aiyaca
Nationality	Aiyacan
Political party	Estadistas
Height	160 cm (5 ft 3 in)
Spouse	Eduardo Zapatero (m. 1944)
Children	3
Parent(s)	Juan Canales (father) Raquel Canales (mother)
Education	Nicolas Chistau College, Tompampa

Carmelita Canales (born Carmelite de Ana Valdivinos Canales; March 19, 1917 – November 16, 2004; aged 87) was an Aiyacan politician, diplomat, economist and human rights activist who served as the 12th President of Aiyaca from 1973 to 1987 and as President of the International Assembly from 1994 to 2004. She was also a member of the Lacasine Congress for the constituency of Huilca in Machamaca from 1955 to 1973. With a distinguished political career lasting over 50 years, Canales was the longest standing female member of the Lacasine Congress, the world's first democratically elected female president, the longest serving elected female head of state, and the first female President of the International Assembly. She was repeatedly and consistently named one of the world's most influential women throughout the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s, and Aiyacan social and political magazine El Periódico named her "Female of the Century" in 2000.

Born in the city of Tompampa in 1917, Canales grew up during the military rule of General Pablo Pardo. She attended and graduated from Nicolas Chistau College in Tompampa with a degree in economics in 1937. She was a logistical member of the underground Liberación Hoy movement during Aiyaca's involvement in the Second Great War in the early 1940s, and participated in the Illescas Revolution that deposed Pardo three years after the war's conclusion. Canales joined the Estadistas as a minor member in 1950 and moved to Machamaca in 1951, where she assisted in campaigning material for Oscar Tarragona. Tarragona appointed her as his secretary in 1953, and Canales later went on to get elected to the district of Huilca in 1955, becoming the first woman to sit in the Lacasine Congress. She became a notorious orator in the Congress during the tenure of Lalo Santillan in the 1960s, with her fame earning her the nomination from her party to stand in the 1973 election, which she won with 65% of the popular vote.

As president, Canales promoted unionisation within the country, and encouraged workers to organise and unionise. By 1975, trade union membership had increased by 10%, and along with it formed some of the country's more influential modern trade unions. Canales tightened relations with Amandine in the late 1970s, particularly against the Rocian military junta. Canales was re-elected in 1980 with 65.3% of the vote, and made longer strides to undermine the military junta in Rocia during her second term. By now, Aiyaca was quickly becoming a regional power in Marceaunia Minor, due in part to record-breaking economic growth between 1977 and 1982, where Aiyaca was the world's fastest growing economy with an average of 5.4% annual GDP growth. Canales' stance towards the junta eventually contributed to its downfall and the democratisation of Rocia in 1985, and the two states fostered good relations, with Aiyaca assisting in supervising the country's first democratic elections. Canales stepped down from her second term as president in 1987, before taking up the role of President of the International Assembly in 1994. As president of the IA, she encouraged and promoted human rights organisations worldwide and remained committed to the values and principles of democracy.

Due to health reasons, Canales resigned as president in 2004, and died later that year in Blayk. Her remains were flown back to Aiyaca where she was given a national memorial service and a funeral attended by around 20,000 people. She was laid to rest at the Catedral de Nuestra Santa Dama in her home town of Tompampa. Throughout her life, Canales was a Morist, but was committed to secular governance in Aiyaca and the separation of church and state. Many political outlets, both in Aiyaca and abroad, regard Canales as one of the most influential and popular world leaders of the 20th century, and is seen as a gender icon across much of the world, particularly in Aiyaca.