María Eugenia Estenssoro (born 15 April 1958) is a Bolivian Argentine politician, journalist and activist for women's rights. She represented the city of

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

in the Argentine Senate from 2007 to 2013. Estenssoro was born in La Paz. Her great-grandfather is credited with discovering oil in Bolivia and her grandfather founded the

national oil company A national oil company (NOC) is an oil and gas company fully or in the majority-owned by a national government. According to the World Bank, NOCs accounted for 75% global oil production and controlled 90% of proven oil reserves in 2010. Due to thei ...

YPFB Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales Bolivianos (YPFB) is a Bolivian state-owned enterprise dedicated to the exploration, exploitation, refining, industrialization, distribution and commercialization of oil, natural gas and derived products. I ...

. Her family also includes two former Presidents of Bolivia,

Víctor Paz Estenssoro Ángel Víctor Paz Estenssoro (2 October 1907 – 7 June 2001) was a Bolivian politician who served as the 45th president of Bolivia for three nonconsecutive and four total terms from 1952 to 1956, 1960 to 1964 and 1985 to 1989. He ran for pr ...

and

Hugo Banzer Hugo Banzer Suárez (; 10 May 1926 – 5 May 2002) was a Bolivian politician and military officer who served as the 51st president of Bolivia. He held the Bolivian presidency twice: from 1971 to 1978 in a military dictatorship; and then a ...

. Her parents came to Argentina with her in 1964, and her father ran the Argentine oil company, YPF. She was raised in

San Isidro, Buenos Aires San Isidro is a city in Greater Buenos Aires. It is located 27.9 km from the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires (CABA). It ranks as the province's most affluent neighborhood. History In 2007, San Isidro celebrated its 300 years of existence wi ...

and studied at the

Northlands School Northlands School is a co-educational, non-denominational bilingual school with campuses in Olivos and Nordelta, Argentina. History Northlands School was founded in 1920 by two English women, Winifred May Brightman and Muriel Ivy Slater, who h ...

. At 16 she continued her education in 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 territori ...

, studying at Smith College,

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

, and then in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

at the

Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...

and the

Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris , motto_lang = fr , mottoeng = Roots of the Future , type = Public research university''Grande école'' , established = , founder = Émile Boutmy , accreditation ...

. She completed a postgraduate course in books and magazines at Harvard and a teaching course at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. In May 1983 Estenssoro returned to Argentina. She began work at the magazine ''El Porteño'' and also worked for ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...

'' magazine, ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'' and other US publications. She became editor of ''Mercado'' and then economics editor of '' Noticias''. She founded a women's magazine and also worked in television. Estenssoro was elected to the Buenos Aires city legislature in 2003 as an independent on the list of liberal party Recrear, under the wing of Patricia Bullrich. She was the first legislator of Bolivian descent in a city with a large Bolivian population. Later she allied with the ARI party

In 2007 she became a senator for the Civic Coalition (Argentina), Civic Coalition

Her alliance with the ARI party, as a centre-right politician, provoked a crisis within ARI ranks, with several ARI deputies resigning to form an ' Solidarity and Equality, Autonomous ARI' block in the Argentine Congress.

References

External links

Official site

Senado de la Nacion Argentina
ational Senate web pagebr>Senadora María Eugenia Estenssoro
Senate blog
María Eugenia Estenssoro on FacebookSenator María Eugenia Estenssoro on Facebook
{{DEFAULTSORT:Estenssoro, Maria Eugenia Living people 1958 births Members of the Buenos Aires City Legislature Members of the Argentine Senate for Buenos Aires Women members of the Argentine Senate Argentine journalists Argentine expatriates in the United States Bolivian emigrants to Argentina Civic Coalition ARI politicians People from La Paz Smith College alumni University of Paris alumni Harvard University alumni Teachers College, Columbia University alumni 21st-century Argentine women politicians 21st-century Argentine politicians Naturalized citizens of Argentina Recreate for Growth politicians Argentine expatriates in France