Alcira de la Peña

Alcira de la Peña (8 November 1910 – 15 March 1998) was an Argentine physician and political leader. She became an important figure within the country's communist, feminist, and human rights movements.

Early years Alcira de la Peña was born in Buenos Aires on 8 November 1910, the daughter of immigrants. Her father was the Spanish cereal producer Manuel de la Peña, and her mother, from a family of French freemasons, was Agustina Montrejeau. She had seven siblings. In 1918, the family moved to the city of Salto. Due to financial losses from the Great Depression, the children had to find jobs to pay for their studies. This is how Alcira came to work as a packer in a cigarette factory, a proofreader, and a nurse.

Political activity She entered the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Buenos Aires (UBA). In 1931, she joined the , and became a member of the communist student group Insurrexit.

Initially, Alcira de la Peña carried packages to political prisoners, and later she became the Secretary of the International Red Aid organization. Due to her activity, she was arrested and expelled from UBA. In 1938, she continued her studies at the Faculty of Medical Sciences of the National University of Córdoba. While there, she held directive positions in the local Communist Party, and in 1942, obtained her title of medical surgeon. In 1954, she was nominated for the same position, and in 1958 she was elected to a four-year term as councilor for the Deliberative Council of Buenos Aires, together Luis Fiori, both for the Communist Party.

In 1982, she was arrested at the premises of the PCA Central Committee on , and prosecuted. She participated as a delegate to the PCA's 15th Congress in September 1983. She resigned from her position on the Central Committee after the 16th Party Congress – held in November 1986 – approved a self-criticizing measure regarding the party line of conciliation with respect to the military dictatorship.

Alcira de la Peña died in Buenos Aires on 15 March 1998. In 2002, the Buenos Aires City Legislature named her one of 18 Outstanding Women of the 20th Century.