Soledad Alvear

In this Chilean name, the first or paternal surname is Alvear and the second or maternal family name is Valenzuela.

Soledad Alvear
File:Soledad Alvear in the 2005 Concertación primary debate.jpg Soledad Alvear (2005)
Member of the Senate
In office 11 March 2006 – 11 March 2014
Preceded by	Alejandro Foxley
Succeeded by	Carlos Montes Cisternas
Constituency	Santiago Oriente (8th Circumscription)
President of the Christian Democratic Party
In office 2006–2008
Preceded by	Andrés Zaldívar
Succeeded by	Jorge Burgos
Foreign Affairs Minister of Chile
In office 11 March 2000 – 1 October 2004
President	Ricardo Lagos
Preceded by	Juan Gabriel Valdés
Succeeded by	Ignacio Walker
Minister of Justice
In office 11 March 1994 – 16 December 1999
President	Eduardo Frei Ruíz-Tagle
Preceded by	Francisco Cumplido
Succeeded by	José Antonio Gómez
Head Ministry of the National Women's Service
In office 3 January 1991 – 11 March 1994
President	Patricio Aylwin
Preceded by	Creation of the Office
Succeeded by	Josefina Bilbao
Personal details
Born	(1950-09-17) 17 September 1950 Santiago, Chile
Party	Christian Democratic Party Amarillos por Chile
Spouse	Gutenberg Martínez
Residence(s)	Santiago, Chile
Alma mater	University of Chile (LL.B)
Profession	Lawyer

María Soledad Alvear Valenzuela (born September 17, 1950), is a Chilean lawyer and former Christian Democrat politician, who was a cabinet member of the Aylwin, Frei and Lagos administrations. She was president of the Christian Democrat Party (PDC) from 2006–2008.

Political career

Under President Patricio Aylwin, Alvear worked as Minister of Women's Affairs, a new Ministry created to deal with discrimination against women in Chilean society. Under the Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle administration she assumed as Justice Minister and helped in completely overhauling the Criminal Justice Code, which dated from Spanish Colonial times. With Ricardo Lagos she worked as campaign manager during the 2000 runoff election, and then under his government she worked as Foreign Minister, signing Free Trade Agreement with the United States, the European Community and South Korea.

On late 2004 Alvear won her party's nomination for the upcoming presidential election, and then was to face the Socialist Party candidate, Michelle Bachelet, in an open primary election, to define a sole Concertación candidate. However, low support in opinion polls and on her party leadership led her to resign two months before the defining primary. Her decision to run for a seat in the Senate in the concurrent parliamentary election proved successful, winning a seat for the PDC in the Santiago/East constituency. In May 2006, she became the first woman elected president of the PDC, with nearly 70% of the votes.

On 22 September 2022, she officially joined Amarillos por Chile, centrist political party.

External links

• BCN Profile