Beshootsu Pyvupi
| Beshootsu Pyvupi | |
|---|---|
 Pyvupi giving a speech at the World Assembly | |
| 1st Prime Minister | |
| In office August 12, 1968 – June 11, 1991 | |
| Succeeded by | Peket Ahmadi |
| 1st Leader of the Shooda-Tsiba Party | |
| In office August 12, 1968 – June 11, 1991 | |
| Succeeded by | Peket Ahmadi |
| Personal details | |
| Born | October 20, 1938 Bucha-Duchavo’a, Chavotsy |
| Died | June 11, 1991 (aged 52) Chavotsy, Chavotsy |
| Cause of death | Complications of Gunshot Wound |
| Resting place | Jishutsy, Duchavo |
| Political party | Shooda-Tsiba |
| Spouse(s) | Dukoo Chootsoo (m. 1973; d. 1976) Alexander ga To’etsy (m. 1977; d. 1983) |
| Domestic partner | Bena'ivoo Piba'i (1985-1991) |
| Children | Charlotte To'etsy-Pyvupi (1981-2015) |
| Mother | Bevoo Pyvupi |
| Relatives | Tsupe Pyvupi |
Beshootsu Pyvupi was the first Prime Minister of Tsiba and the founder of the Shooda-Tsiba party. She was the daughter of Bevoo Pyvupi, a Tsiba Independence Leader and the sister of Tsupe Pyvupi, the current leader of the Alliance for the People of Tsiba. She became involved in the counter-Islamist movement in her teens through her mother. She led the Shooda-Tsiba faction of the country during the Tsiba Civil War. After the overthrow of Muhammed Jutsytoo she took control of the country and founded the Shooda-Tsiba party. She served as Prime Minister of Tsiba from 1968 to her death in 1991, when she was assassinated during a visit to Chavotsy.
Early Life and Work
Pyvupi was born in 1938 in Bucha-Duchavo'a (then know as Buckadutch) during the British colonial era. Her mother, Bevoo Pyvupi, was an important Tsiba Independence Leader. Pyvupi never publically stated who her father was. Her younger brother, Tsupe, was born in 1942
When Pyvupi was five, the Islamic Republic of Tsiba was founded. Her mother was vocal in her socialist beliefs and in her criticism of Jutsytoo's government, which increasingly put the family at risk as the government began cracking down on dissenters. In 1951, Bevoo Pyvupi's newspaper, She Shoo Ibo’ugu, was banned, and a warrant was put out for her arrest. Pyvupi and her brother were pulled out of school, and the family went into hiding in Ahitutha.
Pyvupi became interested in her mother's work as a young teenager. She began writing for She Shoo Ibo'ugu, which continued to be printed and distributed underground, when she was fifteen. As she got older, Pyvupi began to believe that violence was necessary to meet her and her mother's goals, increasingly distancing the two.
In 1956, Pyvupi began organizing student socialist groups around the country, where she met Peket Ahmadi for the first time. The two would continue to work together until Pyvupi's death.
In 1959, Pyvupi's younger brother, Tsupe, joined the Islamic Republic's military.
Tsiba Civil War
In 1964, Jutsytoo's forces began a massive campaign to arrest leaders of the growing socialist movement. Pyvupi's mother was arrested in 1965 for her continued publication of She Shoo Ibo'ugu. She was tried for sedition the next year, found guilty, and executed by firing squad on May 25, 1966.
Angered by her mother's death, Pyvupi began organizing a military force to fight against Jutsytoo's government. Jutsytoo's protege, Kamran Voohhatsu, organized a coup against Jutsytoo's government in 1967, splitting the Islamist government into two factions. Seeing the opportunity, Pyvupi's forces joined the war. By July of 1968, Pyvupi's troops had captured both Jutsytoo and Voohhatsu. They were executed together by firing squad on August 12, 1968, and Pyvupi declared herself the new Prime Minister of Tsiba, as well as leader of the newly formed socialist party, the Shooda-Tsiba.
Fighting continued in small pockets around the country until 1971, but Pyvupi and Ahmadi, who she had appointed as her Ja-Prime Minister, held the country's first elections for the Parliament (the Duchavoputsy) in 1970. Only Shooda-Tsiba candidates were allowed on ballots.
Political Career
As Prime Minister, Pyvupi worked to further develop the social welfare and healthcare systems developed during the Islamic Republic era. She also implemented extensive reforms to education, requiring all students to attend school until the age of sixteen, requiring schools to only teach secular curriculums, and requiring classes to be taught in both Farsi and Tsidi. As Prime Minister, Pyvupi liberalized divorce laws and decriminalized homosexuality, among other social reforms.
In 1985, a group of Jutsytoo loyalists in Shuputsy rose against Pyvupi's government in the First Shuputsy Uprising. Pyvupi quickly responded, arresting over two hundred and publicly executing eleven leaders. Her brother, Tsupe Pyvupi, was one of the loyalists arrested, but Pyvupi pardoned him, drawing criticism from within her party.
Death
On June 11, 1991, Pyvupi was on a state visit to Chavotsy when a gunman hoping to bring her brother, Tsupe, to power shot her in the chest. Pyvupi was rushed to Chavotsy State Hospital but died that night of complications from the gunshot wound.
Ja-Prime Minister Peket Ahmadi assumed Pyvupi's roles as Prime Minister of Tsiba and the Leader of the Shooda-Tsiba party. The country observed a two week period of national mourning following Pyvupi's death.
Personal Life
Beshootsu Pyvupi received an honorary degree from Behhapa University in 1987 for her work as Prime Minister. She identified as a non-religious throughout her life.
Pyvupi met her first husband, Dukoo Chootsoo, in 1972. She and Chootsoo married in 1973 but divorced three years later, in 1976. She met her second husband, Alexander ga To’etsy, in 1977 and they were married three months later. The couple had one daughter, Charlotte To'etsy-Pyvupi, born in 1981. To'etsy and Pyvupi divorced two years later, in 1983.
After Pyvupi's death, it came out that, starting in 1985, Pyvupi had been living with her partner, Bena'ivoo Piba'i, a former elementary school teacher. While Pyvupi never publically discussed her sexuality, it is widely believed that she was a closeted lesbian.
Pyvupi's daughter, Charlotte, was a theology professor at the University of Duchavo. She died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in 2015.