María Soledad Núñez Méndez (born 9 April 1983) is a Paraguayan civil engineer and politician. She was the candidate for
vice president of Paraguay
The vice president of Paraguay is the person with the second highest position in the executive branch of the Paraguayan government, after the president of Paraguay. The position of vice president was created with the Constitution of 1844, althoug ...
for the
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 ...
Efraín Alegre
Pedro Efraín Alegre Sasiain (born 18 January 1963) is a Paraguayan politician. He was the President of the Chamber of Deputies from 1999 to 2000. From August 2008 to June 2011, he served as the Minister of Public Works and Communications in th ...
, losing to both
Santiago Peña
Santiago Peña Palacios (; born 16 November 1978) is a Paraguayan politician and economist who is the president-elect of Paraguay following the 2023 general election. He is a former member of the Board of Directors of the Central Bank of Parag ...
and Pedro Alliana of the Colorado Party in an electoral landslide.
She previously served as executive secretary of the National Secretariat of Housing and Habitat of Paraguay from 2014 to 2018.
Biography
Núñez was born in Asunción, Paraguay, on 9 April 1983. She was raised in the General Díaz neighborhood of the city and spent a large part of her childhood in the Chaco region along with her grandfather, a veteran of the
Chaco War
The Chaco War ( es, link=no, Guerra del Chaco, gn, Cháko Ñorairõ
She studied civil engineering at the
National University of Asunción
National may refer to:
Common uses
* Nation or country
** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen
Places in the United States
* National, Maryland, ce ...
(UNA) and she later began her professional career in the private sector.
In 2008, she obtained a master's degree in Management and Integrated Management of Construction Projects and Real Estate Assets at the
Technical University of Madrid
The Technical University of Madrid or sometimes called Polytechnic University of Madrid ( es, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, UPM) is a public university, located in Madrid, Spain. It was founded in 1971 as the result of merging different Te ...
and the following year she became director of the Latin American NGO TECHO in Paraguay, a position she held until 2013. Also in those years, she was invited to integrate ''
ad honorem
''Ad honorem'' is a Latin phrase that literally can be translated as "to the honor". When used today, it generally means "for the honor of"; that is, not seeking any material reward. It is commonly used in universities for certain unpaid teaching ...
'' the first National Country Strategy Team, an initiative of the Paraguayan government to organize a plan to reduce poverty in the country.
In 2014, she received a scholarship at the Georgetown University School of Business.
Political career
Minister
In 2014, she participated in the creation of the National Open Government Plan and on October 1 of that year she was appointed Minister of the National Secretariat of Housing and Habitat (Senavitat) of her country until 2018, being one of the youngest female ministers in the country's history. During her tenure, the National Habitat Committee was created. In 2015 she was elected president of the Assembly of Ministers of Housing and Urban Development for Latin America and the Caribbean. The figures of the previous administrations added up to 1,000 homes built, but she left a portfolio with 37,000 homes: 30,000 finished (or with more than 95% progress) and 7,000 in progress. The total investment for her period is around 2.5 billion guaraníes.
After leaving office, in 2019 she did her second master's degree in Public Policy at the
University of Oxford
, mottoeng = The Lord is my light
, established =
, endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019)
, budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20)
, chancellor ...
and was part of a program in Leadership and Public Policy at the
Harvard Kennedy School
The Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), officially the John F. Kennedy School of Government, is the school of public policy and government of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school offers master's degrees in public policy, public ...
.
In 2020, during the quarantine declared as a result of the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
, he joined the Settlement Support Network. She also founded the NGO Alma Cívica, of which she was the executive director.
Núñez is the academic director of the Diploma in Public Policy at the UCOM University, member of the team of the dialogue initiative "Paraguay Ahora"”, and is part of the Board of Directors of the NGO Enseña por Paraguay (Teach for all) and the advisory board of Roof Paraguay.
2023 general election
In May 2022, Núñez presented her presidential candidacy for the National Concertation to compete in the 2023 general election. In August of that same year, however, she declined her presidential aspirations to be
Efraín Alegre
Pedro Efraín Alegre Sasiain (born 18 January 1963) is a Paraguayan politician. He was the President of the Chamber of Deputies from 1999 to 2000. From August 2008 to June 2011, he served as the Minister of Public Works and Communications in th ...
's vice-presidential candidate.
Personal life
Nunez is a Catholic. She married Bruno Raúl Defelippe Díaz de Espada in 2020.
In 2002, Defelippe, 18, was physically assaulted by former president
Juan Carlos Wasmosy
Juan Carlos Wasmosy Monti (born December 15, 1938) was the president of Paraguay from August 15, 1992 until August 15, 1998. He was a member of the Colorado Party, and the country's first freely elected president, as well as the first civilian ...
when the former criticized the latter for his management as president. Defelippe unsuccessfully ran for National Senator for the
National Encounter Party
The National Encounter Party ( es, Partido Encuentro Nacional, PEN) is a political party in Paraguay.
History
The National Encounter Movement was established on 26 October 1991. Prior to the 1993 elections the National Encounter Party was establ ...