María Soledad Buendía Herdoiza is an Ecuadorian politician who currently serves in the

National Assembly of Ecuador The National Assembly () is the unicameral legislature of Ecuador. It replaced the National Congress in 2009 following reforms under the 2008 Constitution. Within Ecuador, the National Assembly has the power to pass laws, while appointment of ...

as a member of the

PAIS Alliance The Revolutionary and Democratic Ethical Green Movement (, MOVER) was a centre to centre-right neoliberal political party in Ecuador. In 2016, it had 979,691 members. Until 2021 it was known as the PAIS Alliance (Proud and Sovereign Homeland) (P ...

, where she has served since 2013.

Life

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 ...

, she studied Political Science at the

Latin American Social Sciences Institute The Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (, or FLACSO) is a graduate-only university and inter-governmental autonomous organization for Latin America dedicated to research, teaching and spreading of social sciences. Headquartered in Costa R ...

with a specialization in Governance and Political Management, and while there began to work as a human rights activist. She also served as a consultant for the

United Nations Development Fund for Women The United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM, , ) was established in December 1976 originally as the Voluntary Fund for the United Nations Decade for Women in the International Women's Year. Its first director was Margaret C. Snyder. U ...

, and was an active member of

The Citizens' Revolution The Citizens' Revolution () was a political and socioeconomic project formulated by a coalition of left-wing politicians with a variety of social organizations in Ecuador. Through the implementation of the Citizens' Revolution, President Rafael C ...

. In 2012, Buendía was nominated to the position of Coordinating Minister of Politics, replacing Betty Tola who had temporarily resigned. In the 2013 elections, Buendía was elected to the National Assembly, and was re-elected in

2017 elections Africa *2017 Somali presidential election 8 February 2017 *2017 Gambian parliamentary election 6 April 2017 *2017 Algerian legislative election 4 May 2017 *2017 Lesotho general election 3 June 2017 *2017 Republic of the Congo parliamentary electi ...

. In her first year, she was sanctioned after going against the government and supporting assembly members

Paola Pabón Paola Verenice Pabón Caranqui (born 28 January 1978) is an Ecuadorian lawyer, politician and feminist who ran for President of Ecuador in the 2025 general election. She has served as a representative to the National Assembly for the PAIS Alli ...

and Gina Godoy in a motion to decriminalize abortion in cases of rape in the country. She also spoke out against sexism in Ecuadorian publications. In the instance of '' Diario Extra'', she filed a complaint and pushed for sanctions on the newspaper due to the publication of a "Lunes Sexi" segment, which she found to be demeaning to women. In her second term of office on the National Assembly, Buendía has spoken out in favor of

Jorge Glas Jorge David Glas Espinel (; born 13 September 1969) is an Ecuadorian politician and electrical engineer. He served as Vice President of Ecuador from 24 May 2013 to 13 December 2017. Then Ecuadorian president Lenín Moreno suspended Glas of his ...

during his suspension from the Vice Presidency.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Buendía, Soledad Year of birth missing (living people) Living people PAIS Alliance politicians Politicians from Quito Women government ministers of Ecuador 21st-century Ecuadorian women politicians Women members of the National Assembly (Ecuador)