Maria Augusta Calle (born 1953) is an

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

ian journalist, politician and ambassador. She has been a member of the National Assembly representing the Province of Pichincha for the Alianza PAIS movement. She was the head of operations in Ecuador for the Venezuelan government television propaganda network

Telesur Telesur (stylized as teleSUR) is a Latin American terrestrial and satellite news television network headquartered in Caracas, Venezuela, and sponsored by the governments of Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua. First proposed in 2005 and subsidized ...

. In 2017 she was appointed Ecuador's ambassador to Cuba.

Life

Calle was born in

Quito Quito (; ), officially San Francisco de Quito, is the capital city, capital and second-largest city of Ecuador, with an estimated population of 2.8 million in its metropolitan area. It is also the capital of the province of Pichincha Province, P ...

in 1953. President

Rafael Correa Rafael Vicente Correa Delgado (; born 6 April 1963) is an Ecuadorian politician and economist who served as the 45th president of Ecuador from 2007 to 2017. The leader of the PAIS Alliance political movement from its foundation until 2017, Corr ...

noticed that Calle spoke in support of the government's idea of a Constituent Assembly when she visited the

Palacio de Carondelet Carondelet Palace () is the seat of government of the Republic of Ecuador, located in Quito. Access is by the public space known as Independence Square or Plaza Grande (colloquial name), around which are also the Archbishop's Palace, Municipa ...

. After this she joined the Alianza PAIS party and she was identified as a prospective assembly member. When the

Constituent Assembly A constituent assembly (also known as a constitutional convention, constitutional congress, or constitutional assembly) is a body assembled for the purpose of drafting or revising a constitution. Members of a constituent assembly may be elected b ...

was installed in December 2007, she was appointed president of the Latin American Sovereignty and Integration table with Gabriela Quezada as her deputy. As part of this work it was proposed that Ecuador should take control of Manta Military Base (that had been a military base of the United States). She said that in revenge for this she was accused of allowing her bank account to be used by the FARC leader

Raúl Reyes Luis Edgar Devia Silva (30 September 1948 – 1 March 2008), better known by his ''nom de guerre'' Raúl Reyes, was a leader, Secretariat member, spokesperson, and advisor to the Southern Bloc of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia–P ...

in 2006. Calle was elected as an assembly member for the province of

Pichincha Province Pichincha () is a province of Ecuador located in the northern Sierra region; its capital and largest city is Quito. It is bordered by Imbabura and Esmeraldas to the north, Cotopaxi and Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas to the south, Napo and ...

in 2009 and re-elected in 2013. She attracted attention during her second term when she championed the idea that "media lynching" should be added to the Penal Code. She proposed that the crime would be punishable with a sentence of one to three years during debates at the National Assembly. In 2017 she was appointed Ecuador's ambassador to Cuba by President

Lenín Moreno Lenín Boltaire Moreno Garcés (; born 19 March 1953) is an Ecuadorian politician who served as the 46th president of Ecuador from 2017 to 2021. He was also vice president from 2007 to 2013, serving under President Rafael Correa. He was nominat ...

, becoming the first woman to hold that position. She held the position until June 2019. In 2021 there was a story concerning Calle's accusation that the Ministry of Health had included her as someone who had been vaccinated against COVID-19 in their statistics. However she knew that this was wrong as she was out of the country. She believed that this had swelled the figures, however she was told that the count was made of people being scheduled to have a vaccination. It was agreed that it was a misunderstanding.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Calle, María Augusta 1953 births Living people People from Quito Ecuadorian journalists Ambassadors of Ecuador to Cuba Members of the National Assembly (Ecuador)