Raquel Garrido
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Raquel Garrido in 2015
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| Member of the National Assembly for Seine-Saint-Denis's 5th constituency | |
| In office 22 June 2022 – 9 June 2024 | |
| Preceded by | Jean-Christophe Lagarde |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1974-04-23) 23 April 1974 (age 50) Valparaíso, Chile |
| Political party | La France Insoumise |
| Spouse | Alexis Corbière |
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Raquel Garrido (Spanish pronunciation: [raˈkel ɣaˈriðo]; born 23 April 1974)[1] is a French-Chilean politician. Representing La France Insoumise (LFI), she was elected to the National Assembly for Seine-Saint-Denis's 5th constituency in the 2022 French legislative election.
Garrido was born in Valparaíso, Chile. She was born seven months after Augusto Pinochet's right-wing coup d'état and her left-wing parents were interned. The family were exiled and lived in Toronto before settling in Marly-le-RoiinYvelines, Île-de-France.[1]
Garrido became vice president of SOS Racisme when she was 22.[1] As a student activist in the Union nationale des étudiants de France – Indépendante et démocratique [fr], she met Alexis Corbière, with whom she had three daughters.[2]
In 2008, amidst the backdrop of the world financial crisis, Garrido left the Socialist Party for Jean-Luc Mélenchon's new Left Party. She cited the financial crisis and the success of new leftist parties in Latin America as a reason to abandon the social democratic former party.[3] In the 2012 French legislative election, she stood in the Second constituency for French residents overseas (Latin America and the Caribbean), coming fourth with 8.6% of the vote.[4]
Garrido became spokesperson of Mélenchon's new La France Insoumise (LFI) in 2017 but left this role the same year due to questions of impartiality over her role as a political pundit on Les Terriens du dimanche ! [fr]onC8. She said that she would opt for the punditry, as the party's size would provide a replacement, while there were few left-wing commentators on television.[5] She and Corbière were also subject to scrutiny over continuing to live in public housing in the city of Paris while he represented a constituency in nearby Seine-Saint-Denis and their household income was over the limit; they were ordered to leave by the city council.[6]
In the 2022 French legislative election, Garrido ran for LFI within the New Ecological and Social People's Union (NUPES) in Seine-Saint-Denis's 5th constituency. She defeated 20-year incumbent Jean-Christophe Lagarde of the Union of Democrats and Independents by 53.5% to 46.5% in the run-off.[7]
In November 2023, Garrido was suspended by LFI for four months for allegedly spreading false information about its members.[8] She had criticised Mélenchon's leadership, and criticised her punishment as being exactly that given by the party to its former coordinator Adrien Quatennens for a domestic violence conviction.[9]
