Alicia Angela Tromp-Yarzagaray, known as Ella Tromp-Yarzagaray, is an Aruban former politician of the

People's Electoral Movement The People's Electoral Movement (''Movimiento Electoral del Pueblo'', MEP) is a left-wing political party in Venezuela, founded in 1967 by Luis Beltrán Prieto Figueroa. The MEP was founded after Prieto Figueroa won the 1967 Acción Democráti ...

party. She was the first woman to hold the positions of

Minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...

and Minister Plenipotentiary in the country.

Biography

After graduating from Meer Uitgebreid Lager Onderwijs, comparable to

junior high school A middle school (also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school) is an educational stage which exists in some countries, providing education between primary school and secondary school ...

, Ella obtained diplomas in bookkeeping, modern business administration, and introductory trade. Initially, she worked in business, but moved into education in 1976. She first worked as an Economic, Tourism, and Administrative Education teacher, then as an Economics teacher, and finally as a Secondary Administrative Education teacher. Ella Tromp's political career began in 1989. She worked as an employee in the cabinet of the

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

. On 9 March 1991 she was appointed Minister Plenipotentiary in the first cabinet of Nelson Oduber, a position which she held until 1 March 1993. She was the first woman in the history of the country to hold this position. She was also the first woman to be appointed as

, which she served as during Oduber's second cabinet. During her tenure as Minister of Finance, from 1993 to 1994, there was a quarrel between

coalition A coalition is a group formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political or economical spaces. Formation According to ''A Gui ...

members of the ruling government, which led to early elections and a shortened term. Despite this, she maintained firm control over government spending and for the first time in Aruba's '' status aparte'' period the country had a

budget surplus A balanced budget (particularly that of a government) is a budget in which revenues are equal to expenditures. Thus, neither a budget deficit nor a budget surplus exists (the accounts "balance"). More generally, it is a budget that has no budget ...

. From 1994 to 2001, Tromp was a Member of the

Parliament of Aruba The Parliament of Aruba ( pap, Parlamento di Aruba, nl, Staten van Aruba) is the unicameral legislature or parliament of Aruba. The parliament has 21 members, elected for a four-year term by proportional representation. Each member holds their s ...

and sat on the People's Electoral Movement party board. From 30 October 2001 to 1 December 2005, she again served as Minister Plenipotentiary in Oduber's third cabinet. Upon the resignation of Christina van den Berg-de Freitas on 1 September 2008, she was appointed as acting Governor of Aruba. She resigned on November 1, 2016, and was succeeded by Yvonne Lacle-Dirksz.

Awards

In 1992, Tromp was awarded the Order of Francisco de Miranda (1st Class) by

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

for her services as a representative of Aruba to the Kingdom Body, a consultative mechanism between Venezuela, the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, the

Netherlands Antilles nl, In vrijheid verenigd"Unified by freedom" , national_anthem = , common_languages = Dutch English Papiamento , demonym = Netherlands Antillean , capital = Willemstad , year_start = 1954 , year_end = 2010 , date_start = 15 December , ...

, and Aruba, from 1989 to 1991. She is also a Knight in the Order of the Netherlands Lion, the highest Dutch civil order.

References

{{Reflist Aruban politicians Dutch women ambassadors Women government ministers of the Netherlands Antilles Ministers plenipotentiary (Aruba) Year of birth missing (living people) Living people