[1] Her situation reflected a common fact of life for many women in rural agrarian areas of the country, where high school attendance, much less graduation, was often infrequent, even into the second half of the twentieth century.

Reelected to a second two-year term in 2010, Perlacios acceded to a national-level position in 2012 when she joined the directorate of the Bartolina Sisa Confederation as the organization's secretary of defense of the coca leaf.

[1] As a senator, the subject of coca policy promoted mixed loyalties, as Perlacios contended with her party's attempts to regulate the crop even as her own sector opposed such efforts.

[12] Cocaleros of the traditional coca-growing Yungas region had long enjoyed privileged status in regard to cultivation, a situation that the MAS-sponsored General Law of Coca threatened to upend by expanding the government's regulatory oversight over their crop and extending the rival zone of legal production in Cochabamba's Chapare Province.

[13] Ultimately, Perlacios held the party line on the matter, rejecting calls from ADEPCOCA that she file a motion of unconstitutionality against the legislation on their behalf,[12] a fact that led the organization to declare her persona non grata.

The final passage of the General Law of Coca ruptured the government's fragile relationship with Yungas cocaleros, and though Perlacios continually called for dialogue to resolve the conflict, organizations like ADEPCOCA remained steadfast in their mobilized opposition to the new regulations.