Gabriela Cuevas Barron has been the president of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) since her election in October 2017.
She is a Mexican politician and has been serving as a senator since September 2012.
Previously, she chaired the Foreign Relations Committee, which is responsible for the analysis of Mexico’s foreign policy, endorsing appointments of ambassadors and consuls general, and approval of international treaties signed by the executive and the departure of troops outside the national territory.
In the IPU, Sen. Cuevas Barron is the chair of the delegation of the Mexican Congress to the IPU.
Barron was a member of the Committee to Promote Respect for International Humanitarian Law between 2014 and 2016. Prior to that she also chaired the committee.
The IPU is a global inter-parliamentary institution established in 1889. It consists of 178 member parliaments and works closely with the UN. Barron has been politcally active since 1994 and remained a member of the National Action Party of Mexico (PAN) from 1994 to 2018.
In January 2018, Gabriela Barron decided to leave PAN to join the left-wing National Regeneration Movement (MORENA). According to her, the party did not achieve its objectives such as inclusion, pluralism, and development.
Barron regularly writes for several publications including Millenio, The Economist and Reform. She is a founding member of the Mexico Education Foundation AC. She obtained a degree in political science from Instituto Tecnologico Autonomo de Mexico, ITAM.
The IPU president on Tuesday met King Salman at his palace in Riyadh. She praised Saudi Arabia's efforts in continuing its humanitarian work around the globe and for supporting the IPU.