Javier Velásquez
Ángel Javier Velásquez Quesquén is a Peruvian lawyer and politician. A prominent member of the Peruvian Aprista Party, he has served in Congress between 2001 and 2019, previously serving from 1995 to 2000.
Raised in Lambayeque, Velásquez started his political career from a young age, attaining positions among the party’s regional cadres as a build-up to his first election to Congress in 1995. Following two consecutive reelections, he was elected President of Congress for the 2008–2009 legislature, and was subsequently appointed as Alan García's third Prime Minister of Peru of the administration, serving in the position until late 2010.
Velásquez is currently a candidate for the APRA's presidential nomination at the upcoming 2026 presidential election.
Law career
In 1987, Velásquez graduated with a law degree from the National University Pedro Ruiz Gallo. Since that year, he has been a designate lecturer at the Higher Institute of Technology "República Federal de Alemania" in Chiclayo. From 1991 to 1992, he was head of the public register of the North Eastern region of Marañón. From 1997 to 2003 he additionally studied for a Master of Laws, focusing on Constitutional law at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru. Velásquez was a lecturer at the Private University Chiclayo in 2000/2001 and at the University of San Martín de Porres in 2006 and in 2007/2008, teaching constitutional law.Currently he is studying to obtain a doctorate in law from National University of San Marcos in Lima.
Political career
Early political career
Javier Velásquez started his career in the social-democratic Peruvian Aprista Party, serving as Secretary General of the Party's base in Lambayeque from 1992 to 1994.Congressional career
In the 1995 elections, he was elected to the Congress for his first five-year term, but failed to attain reelection in the 2000 elections. In the 2001 elections, after a brief one-year absence, he returned to Congress and was re-elected in the 2006 and 2011 elections. From 1999 to 2004 he was vice-chair of the Political Commission on the Party. In June 2004 he presided the organizing committee for the XXII National Congress of the Party, at which he was elected to the national Political Steering Committee. He served as the President of the Congress from 2008 to 2009. From March 2010 to July 2017, he served as chairman of the party's Political Commission. He was reelected for a fifth term in Congress at the 2016 elections under the Popular Alliance.His final tenure in office ended with the dissolution of Congress by Martín Vizcarra. He served a total of 23 years in Congress.
President of Congress
Thanks to his outstanding parliamentary work, Congressman Velásquez was entrusted by his party to run for the presidency of Congress for the annual period of sessions 2008 - 2009, competing with the opposition Víctor Andrés García Belaúnde of the Parliamentary Alliance, whom he won with a vote of 66 votes to 46 for Belaunde, electing him head of the National Congress.The board of directors chaired by Velásquez was made up of Alejandro Aguinaga —First Vice President - Álvaro Gutiérrez —Second Vice President - and Fabiola Morales, this was a purely provincial list, after so many years directed by Lima parliamentarians and that many of the objectives proposed by this parliamentary conformation was to achieve a reinforcement of the decentralization process in Peru so many times put in the background by centralism.
As President of Parliament, Velásquez held decentralized sessions in different cities of the country in order to consolidate the decentralization process, taking the seat of parliament to the interior of the country.