María Soledad Alvear Valenzuela (born September 17, 1950), is a
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 ...
an lawyer and
Christian Democrat
Christian democracy (sometimes named Centrist democracy) is a political ideology that emerged in 19th-century Europe under the influence of Catholic social teaching and neo-Calvinism.
It was conceived as a combination of modern democratic ...
politician, who was a cabinet member of the
Aylwin
Patricio Aylwin Azócar (; 26 November 1918 – 19 April 2016) was a Chilean politician from the Christian Democratic Party, lawyer, author, professor and former senator. He was the first president of Chile after dictator Augusto Pinochet, a ...
,
Frei
Frei is a former municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 2008 when it was incorporated into Kristiansund Municipality. It was located between the Kvernesfjorden and Freifjor ...
and
Lagos
Lagos (Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the List of cities in Africa by population, second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national ca ...
administrations. She was president of the
Christian Democrat Party
__NOTOC__
Christian democratic parties are political parties that seek to apply Christian principles to public policy. The underlying Christian democracy movement emerged in 19th-century Europe, largely under the influence of Catholic social ...
(PDC) from 2006–2008. She is currently
senator
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
for
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 ...
/East.
Under President
Patricio Aylwin
Patricio Aylwin Azócar (; 26 November 1918 – 19 April 2016) was a Chilean politician from the Christian Democratic Party, lawyer, author, professor and former senator. He was the first president of Chile after dictator Augusto Pinochet, a ...
, Alvear worked as Minister of Women's Affairs, a new Ministry created to deal with discrimination against women in Chilean society. Under the
Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle
Eduardo Alfredo Juan Bernardo Frei Ruiz–Tagle (; born 24 June 1942) is a Chilean politician and civil engineer who served as president of Chile from 1994 to 2000. He was also a Senator, fulfilling the role of President of the Senate from 2006 ...
administration she assumed as Justice Minister and helped in completely overhauling the Criminal Justice Code, which dated from Spanish Colonial times. With
Ricardo Lagos
Ricardo Froilán Lagos Escobar (; born 2 March 1938) is a Chilean lawyer, economist and social-democratic politician who served as president of Chile from 2000 to 2006. During the 1980s he was a well-known opponent of the Chilean military di ...
she worked as campaign manager during the 2000 runoff election, and then under his government she worked as
Foreign Minister
A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between cou ...
, signing
Free Trade Agreement
A free-trade agreement (FTA) or treaty is an agreement according to international law to form a free-trade area between the cooperating states. There are two types of trade agreements: bilateral and multilateral. Bilateral trade agreements occur ...
with the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
, the
European Community
The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organization created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisbo ...
and
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...
.
On late 2004 Alvear won her party's nomination for the upcoming presidential election, and then was to face the
Socialist Party
Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...
candidate,
Michelle Bachelet
Verónica Michelle Bachelet Jeria (; born 29 September 1951) is a Chilean politician who served as United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights from 2018 to 2022. She previously served as President of Chile from 2006 to 2010 and 2014 to 201 ...
, in an
open primary
Primary elections, or direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the ...
election, to define a sole ''
Concertación
The Concertación, officially the Concertación de Partidos por la Democracia ( en, Coalition of Parties for Democracy), was a coalition of center-left political parties in Chile, founded in 1988. Presidential candidates under its banner won ...
'' candidate. However, low support in opinion polls and on her own party leadership led her to resign two months before the defining primary. Her decision to run for a seat in the Senate in the concurrent
parliamentary election
A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...
proved successful, winning a seat for the PDC in the Santiago/East constituency. In May 2006, she became the first woman elected president of the PDC, with nearly 70% of the votes.
External links
Official senatorial campaign site(In Spanish)
Alvear quits race to lead Chile(BBC News)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alvear, Soledad
1950 births
Living people
People from Puente Alto
Members of the Senate of Chile
Chilean women lawyers
Christian Democratic Party (Chile) politicians
Foreign ministers of Chile
Women government ministers of Chile
Liceo Javiera Carrera alumni
Candidates for President of Chile
Female foreign ministers
20th-century Chilean women politicians
20th-century Chilean politicians
21st-century Chilean women politicians
21st-century Chilean politicians
Women members of the Senate of Chile
Chilean women diplomats
Chilean diplomats
20th-century Chilean lawyers
Female justice ministers
20th-century women lawyers
Government ministers of Chile