In memoriam: Carina Perelli
March 29, 1957 – September 9, 2026

The Latin American Security and Defense Network (RESDAL) mourns the loss of Carina Perelli, a member of the organization and an internationally recognized expert in electoral assistance, security and defense. Carina passed away on September 9, 2026, at the age of 69, leaving behind an exceptional career devoted to building democracy.

Born and raised in Montevideo, she was educated at the Lycée Français and earned a degree in Social Work from the Universidad de la República. During Uruguay's civic-military dictatorship, she studied Sociology at CLAEH, and later pursued graduate studies at FLACSO and a master's degree at the University of Notre Dame. She taught Political Science at the Universidad de la República and the Universidad Católica del Uruguay, and conducted research at universities in Paris and Washington, D.C., including Georgetown University. From 1998 to 2005, she headed the United Nations Electoral Assistance Division.

In that role, she took part in some of the most complex political processes of her time. In East Timor, she led the UN electoral component of the referendum that paved the way to independence. After the pro-Indonesian side was defeated, as violence escalated and international staff were ordered to evacuate, Carina chose to remain in the UN compound to protect the Timorese civilians who had taken refuge there. She later worked alongside Sergio Vieira de Mello on the process that established the country's first government. 

"She took on indispensable leadership in a situation as turbulent as it was violent," recalled a UN colleague from those years.

In Iraq, she served as Acting International Commissioner for the October 2005 constitutional referendum. She negotiated with the Multinational Force and Iraqi ministries the conditions needed to guarantee the vote of detainees, and was the first UN official authorized to enter Abu Ghraib prison to ensure adequate voting conditions. 

She was also involved in the political negotiations to reform Lebanon's electoral system. A colleague recalls an episode from that period that captures her character. During a meeting with a senior Hezbollah leader, a guard asked her to cover her head with a scarf. Carina agreed, greeted her counterpart in Arabic and, as she took her leave, told him: "Sir, with the body I have, there is no risk I could seduce you. Out of courtesy I accepted your scarf; now I return it to you and bid you farewell."

Her UN career was also marked by an institutional dispute. In December 2005, she was summarily dismissed on allegations of misconduct. In 2006, a UN disciplinary panel concluded that her dismissal had been carried out without due process and that the allegations had not been proven. In March 2013, after more than seven years of litigation, the UN administrative justice system confirmed that her dismissal had been unlawful and factually unsustainable. 

Associated with the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) since 1993, she served as its Executive Vice President from 2009 to 2012. During that time she led electoral assistance projects in Afghanistan, where she took part in the negotiations surrounding the runoff of the 2009 presidential election. She subsequently continued her work as an independent consultant.   

As a member of RESDAL, Carina maintained a close collaboration with the organization over the years. She co-authored studies on the crisis in Mali and the Sahel (2013) and on Lebanon (2014), as well as several reference books on the armed forces, democratic transition and electoral processes in Latin America.   

Her contribution went far beyond the positions she held and the projects she led. She left a deep mark on those who shared with her the work and challenges of international cooperation. "If I had to count on the fingers of one hand the people who changed the course of my professional and personal life, Carina would be among them," one of her colleagues wrote a few days after her passing.   

But behind the negotiator, the scholar and the international expert was also a person of enormous vitality, humor and character. Her daughter Elisa remembered her in words that offer a glimpse of that other side of her life: "The woman who drank coffee like it was the ambrosia from Olympus itself, the woman who smoked like a chimney, the woman who watched police procedurals and had opinions, the woman who loved reading and could gush about her new favorite authors." 

She added: "She was a beautifully bright, utterly infuriating woman who could out-stubborn a mountain if necessary […] The Carina Perelli I had the privilege to know was both the invincible Wonder Woman who could take on the world, and she was the ornery, lovely, proud bookworm who could love as fiercely as the lioness. I was lucky to call her mom."   

Her brother Jorge bid her farewell with words as simple as they are moving: "She was my sister. I was her brother." And, in closing: "Corazón, I miss you. I loved you in our own imperfect, complicated, very real way. You were my sister, you will always be my sister, and I will carry you with me for the rest of my life. Rest in peace, Corazón."   

RESDAL extends its heartfelt condolences to her daughter Elisa, her brother Jorge and her entire family, and thanks all those who shared their memories for this tribute. We remember Carina Perelli for her intelligence, her independent judgment, her courage and her commitment to democracy. Her life reminds us that building democratic institutions requires knowledge, conviction and the ability to act even in the most adverse circumstances.

As a member of RESDAL, her legacy is part of our organization's history and lives on in the work of all of us who remain committed to democracy, security and defense in Latin America.