Elsa Paredes de Salazar  Elsa Paredes de Salazar (20 December 1918 – 13 December 2013) was a Bolivian researcher and multifaceted journalist, promoter of women's organizations, and doll collector. Elsa Paredes was born in La Paz on 20 December 1918. Her father was the writer Rigoberto Paredes Iturri and her mother was Haydée Candia Torrico. Her siblings were Orestes, Mercedes, and the well-known Antonio Paredes Candia and Rigoberto Paredes Candia. Along with her family, Elsa spent her childhood in the northern area of the city of La Paz, more precisely in a house on Calle Sucre and Junín, in which her parents passed on to the children their passion for art and culture. She attended the Juana Azurduy de Padilla primary school, Liceo de Señoritas Venezuela secondary school, and the Ayacucho National College. She was admitted to the Higher University of San Andrés and graduated with the title of dental surgeon. She also studied law, politics, journalism, library science, and craft design. Paredes was the first president of the University Women's Union ("Unión Femenina Universitaria"; UFU), founded on 14 September 1938, the same year in which she was elected president of the La Paz Student Center of Dentistry. It was the first time that a women held this position. She was also a delegate of the Faculty of Dentistry to the Local University Federation ("Federación Universitaria Local"; FUL). On 3 August 1942 she founded, together with others, the University Women's Association of La Paz, of which she was a member for dentistry. From 1958 to 1959, she was president of this association, and managed conferences attended by women professionals. Paredes was the first vice president of the Pro-School Committee of Journalism, founded on 2 September 1957. She was a member, vice president (1958), and president (1962 and 1963) of the Ladies Committee of the Lions Club of La Paz. In 1958 she founded and was the first president of the Confederation of National Women's Institutions ("Confederación de Nacional de Instituciones Femeninas"; CONIF). She was a board member of the Women's Center for Hispanic Culture (1959), as well as a member, vice president (1959), and president (1960) of the Ladies Conference of Saint Vincent de Paul.