Gloria Lizarraga de Capriles

Her life

One life, many lives

She was the first mayor of Baruta, but those who loved her remember her in every one of her roles at once.

Gloria as a little girl beside her older sister Magaly — Little Gloria with Magaly, her older sister.

Daughter and sister

Valencia, faith and a big family

1944 · 1962

She was born in Valencia, Venezuela, on May 2, 1944, the youngest of the six children of Carlos Lizarraga Zuloaga and Magdalena Calzadilla. She was baptized in Valencia Cathedral as Gloria María Auxiliadora. Her siblings were Carlos Eduardo, Manuel, Magaly, Jorge and Gustavo.

At twelve she went with two friends to join Copei, Venezuela’s Christian Democratic party. The minimum age was fourteen; she insisted until they let her in. By fifteen she was a certified catechist. She finished high school at San José de Tarbes in Caracas.

Gloria and Luis Felipe Capriles Ayala on their wedding day — With Luis Felipe Capriles Ayala on their wedding day, 1962.

Wife and mother

Seven children and a printing press

1962 · 1987

On July 21, 1962, just eighteen, she married Luis Felipe Capriles Ayala, from San Esteban near Puerto Cabello. Two years later she lost her mother, and nine months after that her father. She kept going.

They had seven children: Gloria Inés, Luis Felipe, Carlos Luis, Magdalena, Jorge Luis, Adelaida and Andrea. In 1977 they founded the Altolitho printing company together, which their children run today. They never missed one of their children’s soccer games: if she wasn’t there, he was.

Gloria Capriles walking through a low-income neighborhood of Baruta with residents — Walking the low-income neighborhoods of Baruta.

Friend and community leader

The “barrióloga”

1980 · 1989

She founded and led the Voluntariado Nacional de Barrios, a volunteer network for poor neighborhoods. She served in the Miranda State Legislative Assembly from 1982 to 1987 and led Copei in Baruta. She would walk into Santa Cruz del Este at ten at night, and the people there looked after her.

«Aquí en Baruta siempre me echaban broma y me decían que yo era una barrióloga…»
“Here in Baruta they always teased me and called me a barrióloga, a specialist in the barrios, because I have always said that mayors, governors and presidents must work above all for the people most in need.”

Gloria Capriles in red with her young daughter Andrea on the day she took office — With her daughter Andrea and her colleagues at Simón Bolívar University on the day she took office, January 1990.

Mayor

The first mayor of Baruta

1989 · 1999

On December 3, 1989, in Venezuela’s first direct elections for mayors, Baruta chose her. The new municipality, in eastern Caracas, began work in a shopping-mall office at Plaza Las Américas with rented chairs and cardboard boxes for files. Neither she nor her staff drew a salary until there was revenue to pay it.

On May 2, 1990, her 46th birthday, she created the country’s first municipal police force. She lost re-election in 1992. In 1995 she won a court case defending her good name, and in 1998 Baruta and El Hatillo elected her to the national Congress.

Lawyer

The degree that waited forty years

1980s · 2003

When her eldest daughter decided to study law, she said, “I’m coming with you.” They studied together for three years at Santa María University, until Andrea was born and she had to stop. After she was widowed she went back to class and graduated as a lawyer at 59. She always told her daughters that a woman needs a professional life that makes her feel whole.

Gloria Capriles surrounded by her grandchildren at a family celebration at night — With her grandchildren.

Grandmother

The Monday, Wednesday and Friday “spa”

1999 · 2021

She buried her son Jorge Luis in 1999 and her husband in 2002. From 2014 she was on dialysis three times a week; she told her grandchildren she was “at the spa.” There she prayed the rosary and found medicines and supplies for the ninety patients of her unit.

She left twenty-two grandchildren, to whom she lent Agatha Christie and recommended history books. She died on Holy Wednesday, March 31, 2021. Humble people from Baruta came to her farewell to return her affection.

Her work in Baruta

A municipality built from nothing

What she left when she handed over the mayor’s office on January 4, 1993, according to her 1990-1992 report.

1stMunicipal police force in Venezuela, created by Decree 004 of May 2, 1990.

12 daysAfter taking office, she created PARVECI, the office for neighborhood participation.

9Free municipal outpatient clinics, renovated and equipped with ambulances.

14Care centers for seniors, serving 5,000 older adults.

401Student scholarships, from preschool to university.

6,218Athletes from 61 associations in the Neighborhood Sports Games.

She brought water, lighting and sports courts to El Rosario, Las Minas, Santa Cruz del Este, Piedras Azules and the rural areas; she built the Municipal Market and the Ricaurte Boulevard, and backed open-air farmers’ markets. In 1998 she won again in the Baruta and El Hatillo district, with 37.94% of the vote.

Timeline

Seventy-six years

Valencia
May 2, 1944
Born in Valencia, Carabobo State.
1956
Honor diploma from Sagrada Familia school. Joins Copei at twelve.
Jun 30, 1959
Receives her catechist credential.
Family
Jul 21, 1962
Marries Luis Felipe Capriles Ayala.
1963 – 1987
Her seven children are born, from Gloria Inés to Andrea.
1964 – 1965
Her mother and father die, nine months apart.
1977
Founds the Altolitho printing company with her husband.
Public life
1982 – 1987
Member of the Miranda State Legislative Assembly.
Sep 22, 1987
Baruta declares its autonomy from the Sucre District.
Dec 3, 1989
Elected first mayor of Baruta.
Jan 4, 1990
Takes office at Simón Bolívar University.
May 2, 1990
Creates the country’s first municipal police force.
Feb 27, 1992
Annual report: “they elected me to govern, not to please.”
Dec 6, 1992
Loses re-election.
Aug 11, 1995
Wins her lawsuit for moral damages against the auditing firm that, at a press conference alongside Mayor Ángel Enrique Zambrano, had questioned her administration.
Oct 23, 1995
Resigns from Copei after 39 years of membership.
Dec 6, 1998
Elected to the national Congress.
Strength
Jan 18, 1999
Her son Jorge Luis dies, aged 22.
Feb 3, 2002
Her husband dies.
2003
Graduates as a lawyer.
2014
Begins dialysis.
Mar 31, 2021
Dies in Caracas, on Holy Wednesday.

In her own words

What she said

Her words appear in the original Spanish, with an English translation.

Ese pueblo que me llevó a la Alcaldía me eligió para gobernar, no para complacer. Se me eligió para administrar un municipio nuevo, no para disipar sus esperanzas.

“The people who brought me to office elected me to govern, not to please. I was elected to run a new municipality, not to squander its hopes.”

Annual report for her second year in office, February 27, 1992

Yo aspiro a ganar por mis méritos y no por destruir a ningún contendor.

“I hope to win on my own merits, not by tearing down any opponent.”

Interview with Sofía Ímber on “Buenos días con Sofía,” Venevisión, October 26, 1989

Cuando los ideales dejan de ser comunes lo mejor es separarse.

“When ideals are no longer shared, it is best to part ways.”

Letter of resignation from Copei, October 23, 1995

Los buenos somos más, pero los malos son los que más se hacen sentir. Vamos a reunir toda la gente buena para que se apoyen mutuamente.

“There are more of us good people, but the bad ones make themselves felt the most. Let’s bring all the good people together so they can support one another.”

As remembered by her daughter Magdalena

Remembrances

How they remember her

“Gloria, how can God do this to you?” an aunt asked her at the hospital. She turned around: “What are you saying? I had the joy of my son for twenty-three years!”

She was an authentic woman. What she said and what she did were the same. For me, that is the essential word.

She was a small, slight woman, yet when she walked into a room everyone looked at her.

There was an enormous person inside that small body.

She could be at a soccer game cheering on her children and then go to a directors’ meeting at city hall that same afternoon.

It became like a club where, from this door inward, we were all equals, and she was one of us.

“I’m not going to let dialysis run my life. Monday, Wednesday and Friday I have my dialysis. Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday are my life.”

Seeing the affection when she arrived in the barrios was striking. They truly loved her.

Press archive

What was written

Press clippings, city hall publications and documents in chronological order, all in the original Spanish. Tap an image to see it in full.

Clipping of Tania Díaz’s interview with Gloria Capriles

Front page with a portrait of Gloria Capriles, first mayor of Baruta

Cover of Vía Municipal on the new look of the Municipal Police

Report on the performance of the Baruta Municipal Police

Clipping: after 25 years, the Piedras Azules neighborhood gets running water

City hall notice listing the administration’s achievements

Page from Exceso magazine: Gloria de Capriles, a target

Front page of El Periódico Municipal: the governing pact in the Baruta council breaks apart

Message of condolence from Baruta City Hall

Online press (in Spanish)

Mar 31, 2021The legacy of Gloria Lizárraga de Capriles, mother of the municipality of Baruta · El Diario
Mar 31, 2021The first mayor of Baruta has died · Noticiero Venevisión
June 2021
Democratización no. 14, an issue dedicated to her memory · Instituto FORMA
Oct 26, 1989
Interview on “Buenos días con Sofía” · Sofía Ímber and Carlos Rangel Virtual Archive, UCAB