Lucía Topolansky Saavedra (born 25 September 1944) is a

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

an politician who served as the 17th

Vice President of Uruguay The vice president of Uruguay is the person with the second highest position in the executive branch of the Uruguayan government, after the President of Uruguay. The Vice President replaces the elected President in case of his death or absence. The ...

from September 2017 to March 2020. She was a Senator from 2005 to 2017. She also served as the

First Lady of Uruguay First Lady of Uruguay (Spanish: ''Primera Dama de Uruguay'') is the unofficial and protocol title of the wife of the President of Uruguay, and hostess of Suarez Residence. The first lady is not an elected position, carries no official duties and b ...

from 2010 to 2015.

Background

Lucía Topolansky is of

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...

noble ancestry on the side of her father, Luis Topolansky. During her childhood she studied in the College Sacré Cœur de las Hermanas Dominicas in Montevideo with her twin sister. She then entered the Instituto Alfredo Vásquez Acevedo where she was part of the students'

guild A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular area. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradesmen belonging to a professional association. They sometimes ...

. She has been associated with the

Movement of Popular Participation The Movement of Popular Participation ( es, Movimiento de Participación Popular) is a Uruguayan political party. It is a member organisation of the left-wing Broad Front coalition. Background From 1985 onwards, after the end of the military d ...

(MPP) for many years, linked with the former guerilla movement the

Tupamaros The Tupamaros – National Liberation Movement ( es, Movimiento de Liberación Nacional – Tupamaros, MLN-T), widely known as Tupamaros, was a Marxist-Leninist urban guerrilla group in Uruguay in the 1960s and 1970s. The MLN-T is inextricab ...

. She is married to

José Mujica José Alberto "Pepe" Mujica Cordano (; born 20 May 1935) is a Uruguayan politician, former revolutionary and farmer who served as the 40th president of Uruguay from 2010 to 2015. A former guerrilla with the Tupamaros, he was tortured and im ...

, who was the President of

from 2010 to 2015.

Political offices

She served as a Representative for Montevideo from 2000 to 2005 and she subsequently became a Senator. In the 2009 election she received the highest number of votes for Senator as the leader of the 609 electoral list. She was considered as a possible running mate for

Tabaré Vázquez Tabaré Ramón Vázquez Rosas (; ''Vázquez Rosas'' locally ; 17 January 19406 December 2020) was a Uruguayan politician who served as the 41st president of Uruguay from 2015 to 2020. He previously served from 2005 to 2010 as the 39th presiden ...

, the presidential candidate of the ruling coalition, in the 2014 elections.

Acting President of Uruguay

On 26 November 2010, due to the absence of both President Mujica and Vice-President

Danilo Astori Danilo Ángel Astori Saragosa (born April 23, 1940) is a Uruguayan retired social democratic politician who served as the 15th vice president of Uruguay from 2010 to 2015 under President José Mujica. A member of Uruguay Assembly– Broad Front, ...

, she became Acting President, making her the first woman to assume the Uruguay presidential powers and duties. This brief tenure as acting president lasted until 28 November 2010, when Vice President Astori returned to Uruguay. This state of affairs came about because of a clause in the Uruguayan Constitution, which stipulates that the Presidential powers & duties passes temporarily to the leader of the largest elected grouping in the Upper House, if both the President and the Vice President are absent from the territory of the Republic.

Vice President of Uruguay

Following the resignation of

Raúl Fernando Sendic Raul, Raúl and Raül are the Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, Galician, Asturian, Basque, Aragonese, and Catalan forms of the Anglo-Germanic given name Ralph or Rudolph. They are cognates of the French Raoul. Raul, Raúl or Raül may r ...

, after protracted series of controversies, she was appointed

in Sendic's place on 13 September 2017.

Bibliography

References