Mercedes Aráoz

Mercedes Rosalba Aráoz Fernández (born 5 August 1961) is a Peruvian economist, professor, and politician who served as Second Vice President of Peru from 2016 to 2020. At the beginning of her political career, she served as Minister of Foreign Trade and Tourism from 2006 to July 2009, after which she was appointed briefly as Minister of Production, and finally as Minister of Economy and Finance, all portfolios under the second presidency of Alan García.

At the 2016 Peruvian general election, Aráoz ran for the Second Vice Presidency along with Pedro Pablo Kuczynski and Martin Vizcarra in the Peruvians for Change ticket, being ultimately elected in a tight run-off against Keiko Fujimori's Popular Force ticket. Simultaneously, she was elected to Congress for the 2016–2021 term. In the Kuczynski administration, she was appointed Prime Minister of Peru, serving from 17 September 2017 to 2 April 2018. Kuczynski resigned on 23 March 2018, following a corruption scandal, thus making Martín Vizcarra the new President of Peru; Araóz subsequently acted as the only Vice President in the Vizcarra administration.

On 30 September 2019, a dispute between Martín Vizcarra and Congress resulted in the dissolution of Congress by the President, which in turn suspended Vizcarra and named Aráoz as Acting President. During the 2019–2020 Peruvian constitutional crisis, the suspension of Vizcarra was generally not recognized, forcing Aráoz to decline the claim to the presidency on 1 October 2019. Her resignation was accepted by Congress on 7 May 2020, leaving both Vice Presidencies vacant.