Ana Lya Uriarte (born 17 July 1962) is the former Chief of the Cabinet of The Presidency elected by Michelle Bachelet in her second presidential period. She was also the Minister for the Environment for

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

from 2007 to 2010.

Biography

Uriarte was born in

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...

on 17 July 1962, she was the only child of a

lower middle class In developed nations around the world, the lower middle class is a subdivision of the greater middle class. Universally, the term refers to the group of middle class households or individuals who have not attained the status of the upper middle ...

family. Uriarte became a mother when she was thirteen and her mother and grandmother had to support her. Her father died that same year. She says that the family savings were spent on buying her a

caesarian Caesarean section, also known as C-section or caesarean delivery, is the surgical procedure by which one or more babies are delivered through an incision in the mother's abdomen, often performed because vaginal delivery would put the baby or mo ...

operation Trends in Chilean Motherhood Ideals
. ILoveChile. Retrieved October 2012. She had to left her school because it was prohibited for teen mothers to continue studying, so she continued studying in a

night school A night school is an adult learning school that holds classes in the evening or at night to accommodate people who work during the day. A community college or university may hold night school classes that admit undergraduates. Italy The Scuola ...

. After two years and when her son was old enough to be care in the day by her grandmother, she returned to high school in another area, where nobody knew her, hiding the fact that she was a teen mother. After a difficult time at school facing discrimination as a single and teen mother, Uriarte continued to succeed due to her hard work. She studied law at the University of Chile and worked part-time at the same time to support her family. She went on to be a student political activist during the 1980s building up the Student Federation of the University of Chile into an important organisation. She trained as a lawyer and was called to the bar in 1988 in Chile.Ana Lya Uriarte
Martindale.com. Retrieved October 2012. When the Catholic church founded the

Vicariate of Solidarity The Vicariate of Solidarity (La Vicaría de la Solidaridad) was a human rights organization in Chile during the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. Background On 11 September 1973 a military junta toppled Chilean President Salvador Al ...

to support work in defence of

human rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...

. She worked with Alfonso Insunza helping the victims of

General Pinochet Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (, , , ; 25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean general who ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990, first as the leader of the Military Junta of Chile from 1973 to 1981, being declared President of ...

as a lawyer. Early in the 1990s she went to Germany for two years where her then-husband was studying International law at

Heidelberg University } Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg, (german: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg; la, Universitas Ruperto Carola Heidelbergensis) is a public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, ...

.Mensajera Verde (Green Messenger)
Sunday, April 2, 2006. Carla Alonso and Jose Miguel Jaque. Retrieved October 2012. Uriarte returned to the University of Chile where she became a Professor of Environmental Law. She taught on the Masters course in Environmental Law.Biography for Ana Lya Uriarte
Silobreaker.com. Retrieved October 2012. She worked on a human rights programme for the government from 1993 to 2003. She became the Minister of the Environment for Chile in March 2007 and she served until March 2010 under President Michelle Bachelet. One of the controversies that were debated during her ministry was a proposal to dam rivers to flood land and create hydroelectric power.Ana Lya Uriarte was HidroAysén says Bachelet government failed in
EMOL. Retrieved October 2012. She replaced by

María Ignacia Benítez María Ignacia Benítez (1 August 1958 – 28 February 2019) was the Chilean Minister of the Environment, between 2010 and 2014. Biography Benítez was born in Viña del Mar in Chile. She was the oldest of five children. She went to school local ...

. In 2012 she was a partner in a Chilean Law firm still specialising in the Environment. She is currently a Professor of Environmental Law at the University of Chile

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Uriarte, Ana Lya 1962 births Living people Chilean people of Basque descent People from Santiago Government ministers of Chile Women government ministers of Chile Socialist Party of Chile politicians