Javier Diez Canseco

Javier Diez Canseco Cisneros (24 March 1948 – 4 May 2013) was a Peruvian politician and member of the Peruvian Congress representing the Socialist Party of Peru (PS), of which he was a founding member and also served as its Party President.

Javier Diez Canseco was born to a well-to-do Lima family.

His parents were Santiago Luis Diez Canseco Magill and Maria del Carmen Cisneros Sanchez.

He studied law at the National University of San Marcos from 1967 to 1968, and sociology at the Catholic University (PUCP) in Lima from 1965 to 1971.

Although raised a Catholic, Diez Canseco abandoned the religion while at university.

Diez Canseco was elected chairman of the PUCP's Social Science Student Federation in 1970, and as head of the university's Student Federation the following year.

During his time at university he became a member of the left-wing party Vanguardia Revolucionaria, and soon moved out of Lima to work with mine workers in the central highlands.

His militancy earned him exile to Argentina and, later, to France by the military governments of Generals Juan Velasco Alvarado and Francisco Morales-Bermúdez.

Later, when Vanguardia Revolucionaria merged with other groups to form the Partido Unificado Mariateguista, Diez Canseco emerged as a leader in the new party.

Diez Canseco was elected chairman of the PUCP's Social Science Student Federation in 1970, and as head of the university's Student Federation the following year.

During his time at university he became a member of the left-wing party Vanguardia Revolucionaria, and soon moved out of Lima to work with mine workers in the central highlands.

His militancy earned him exile to Argentina and, later, to France by the military governments of Generals Juan Velasco Alvarado and Francisco Morales-Bermúdez.

Later, when Vanguardia Revolucionaria merged with other groups to form the Partido Unificado Mariateguista, Diez Canseco emerged as a leader in the new party.

He served in both chambers of Congress from 1978 until 1992 (when Congress was dissolved following the "self-coup" of President Alberto Fujimori), from 2001 to 2006, and, as part of President Ollanta Humala's Gana Peru coalition, from 2011 to 2013.

Diez Canseco served in the Constituent Assembly which drafted the 1979 Constitution, ending twelve years of military rule.

He was also involved in investigations of human rights violations committed by both the Shining Path and the Peruvian Armed Forces during Peru's 1980-1992 internal armed conflict -including the 1985 Accomarca massacre -, and was repeatedly subjected to death threats by both sides involved in the violence.

He was critical of what he saw as the caudillismo of American Popular Revolutionary Alliance (APRA), and during the 1990s, was a vigorous opponent of the dictatorship of President Alberto Fujimori.

In 1990 Diez Canseco participated in an inquiry into a government campaign of illegal wiretapping and interception of cellphone communications.

Javier Diez Canseco was elected with 94,703 votes in Lima, ranking 7th on the national scale of votes for congressmen.

In December 1996, he was one those taken captive by Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA) guerrillas in the Japanese embassy hostage crisis in Lima, but was released after several days.

He subsequently called for a negotiated peace settlement between the government and the MRTA insurgents.

From 2002 to 2006, he was chairperson of the National Congress Special Studies Commission on Disabilities in Peru, which developed legislative initiatives, public policies, and advocacy for increased state attention to the issues of people with disabilities.

In 2002, he led a congressional inquiry into the privatization program undertaken in the 1990s by Fujimori.

The committee calculated that of the USD9 billion raised during the privatization process, only a small fraction ended up benefiting the state.

He also denounced the US-led 2003 invasion of Iraq as "neocolonialism".

During the government of Alejandro Toledo, between 2003 and 2006, he was president of the Special Study Commission on Disability of the Congress of the Republic, where he promoted the Law on Persons with Disabilities and its subsequent enactment.

He was also a candidate for President of Peru as the head of the Socialist Party of Peru in the 2006 elections.

He received 0.5% of the vote, coming in 9th place.

An avowed socialist, Diez Canseco contributed regular OpEds to the center-left daily La República.

In the 2011 general elections, Diez Canseco supported Ollanta Humala's presidential candidacy and based on a political agreement between the Socialist Party, the Nationalist Party and other left-wing political organizations.

He ran as a guest candidate on his Peru Wins parliamentary list.

Peru with the number 12 for Metropolitan Lima and Peruvians residing abroad.

After the elections, he managed to be the third candidate for Congress with the highest vote of his party, and one of the most voted in the country.

In that sense, he returned to Congress for the period 2011–2016.

One of the most significant Peruvian laws addressing disability -the General Law on People with Disabibilites, enacted in December 2012- was drafted with his aid.

He is a descendant of 19th Century military hero, General Manuel Diez Canseco y Corbacho, and is related to President Fernando Belaúnde Terry.

His father, a banker, was general manager of the Banco Popular del Perú, which afforded the family a high level of material comfort.

During his first year of life, Diez Canseco contracted poliomyelitis, resulting in a permanent limp in his left leg.

He credits these experiences with his disability as instrumental in helping him comprehend inequality and injustice.

He received his schooling in Lima's Colegio Inmaculado Corazón de Jesús and did his secondary schooling at the Colegio Santa María Marianistas, both religious schools.