Adina Bastidas
Adina Mercedes Bastidas Castillo is a Venezuelan economist, formerly active in politics. She was appointed the vice president of Venezuela on 24 December 2000 by President Hugo Chávez, and served in the post until 13 January 2002, the first woman to hold the job in the country's history. She was later appointed Production and Commerce Minister.
Bastidas was also the Director for the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela at the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington, D.C..
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According to the BBC, Bastidas is considered a controversial left winger; 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. Chávez called her "a first class revolutionary", and deemed her work "exceptional".At the Latin American and Caribbean Encounter on the Dialogue of Civilizations, held in Caracas on November 8, 2001, Bastidas said: