Soledad Núñez
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María Soledad Núñez Méndez (born 9 April 1983) is a Paraguayan civil engineer and politician. She was the candidate for
vice president of Paraguay A vice is a practice, behaviour, Habit (psychology), habit or item generally considered morally wrong in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a negative character trait, a defect, an infirmity, or a bad or unhe ...
for the
Concertación The Concertación, officially the Concertación de Partidos por la Democracia (; ), was a coalition of center-left political parties in Chile, founded in 1988. Presidential candidates under its banner won every election from when military rul ...
political alliance in the 2023 general elections as the running mate of
Efraín Alegre Pedro Efraín Alegre Sasiain (born 18 January 1963) is a Paraguayan politician, lawyer, and university professor, who served as president of the Authentic Radical Liberal Party from 2016 to 2023. For ten years he was the most prominent leader o ...
, losing to both
Santiago Peña Santiago Peña Palacios (; born 16 November 1978) is a Paraguayan politician and economist who is the 52nd and current president of Paraguay since 2023. In addition to his political career, Peña has served on leadership boards for the Central ...
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 (, 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 (, UPM) is a public university, located in Madrid, Spain. It was founded in 1971 as the result of merging different Technical Schools of Engineering and Arc ...
and the following year she became director of the Latin American NGO
TECHO TECHO, also known as Un Techo para mi País (UTPMP) (Spanish for "A Roof For My Country"), is a nonprofit organization that mobilizes youth volunteers to fight extreme poverty in Latin America, by constructing transitional housing and implementin ...
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 The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...
and was part of a program in Leadership and Public Policy at the
Harvard Kennedy School The John F. Kennedy School of Government, commonly referred to as Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), is the school of public policy of Harvard University, a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Harvard Kennedy School offers master's de ...
. In 2020, during the quarantine declared as a result of the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
, 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, lawyer, and university professor, who served as president of the Authentic Radical Liberal Party from 2016 to 2023. For ten years he was the most prominent leader o ...
'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) is a Paraguayan former politician and engineer who was the 44th president of Paraguay from 1993 to 1998. He was a member of the Colorado Party, and the country's first freely elected president ...
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 (, 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 established as a coalition of the Re ...
in the 2023 general elections, together with his wife's candidacy for vice presidency.


References


External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Núñez, Soledad 1983 births Living people People from Asunción Paraguayan Roman Catholics Harvard Kennedy School alumni Alumni of the University of Oxford Polytechnic University of Madrid alumni Universidad Nacional de Asunción alumni Paraguayan women in politics 21st-century Paraguayan women politicians 21st-century Paraguayan politicians Women government ministers of Paraguay