María Auxiliadora Delgado San Martín (11 March 1937 – 31 July 2019) was an Uruguayan

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

, health advocate, and wife of President Tabaré Vázquez. She served as First Lady of Uruguay from 2005 to 2010 and from 2015 up to her death in 2019.

Early life

Auxiliadora met her husband, Tabaré Vázquez, when he was just 16 years old, and she was 19 years old. She worked for the Caja de Jubilaciones y Pensiones (Pension Fund) for 32 years before her retirement.

First Lady

Auxiliadora's signature initiative as First Lady was a national program to improve

dental health Dental Public Health (DPH) is a para-clinical specialty of dentistry that deals with the prevention of oral disease and promotion of oral health. Dental public health is involved in the assessment of key dental health needs and coming up with effe ...

and oral hygiene. She oversaw the national campaign, with an emphasis on students from rural schools and communities. Her program, Plan Bucal, which was launched in 2005, has provided dental services to more than 100,000 children across Uruguay, as of 2015. In December 2015, the

General Assembly of Uruguay The General Assembly of Uruguay ( es, Asamblea General de Uruguay) is the legislative branch of the government of Uruguay, and consists of two chambers: the Chamber of Senators and the Chamber of Representatives. General Assembly has 130 voting ...

honored her with an award for her work. The First Lady rarely granted interviews during her tenures.

Death

She died of a heart attack on 31 July 2019. Her husband survived her by 16 months, dying of cancer in December 2020. Both are buried at

Cementerio de La Teja, Montevideo Cementerio Paso Molino, known also as Cementerio de La Teja, is a cemetery in Montevideo, Uruguay. It is located in the ''barrio'' of La Teja. Interments * María Auxiliadora Delgado (1937–2019), First Lady of Uruguay (2005–10 and 2015–19)< ...

Bibliography

References

1937 births 2019 deaths First ladies of Uruguay Politicians from Montevideo Tabaré Vázquez Uruguayan health activists Uruguayan women activists Uruguayan civil servants Uruguayan women civil servants Burials at Cementerio de La Teja, Montevideo {{Uruguay-bio-stub