María Fernanda Espinosa
María Fernanda Espinosa | |
|---|---|
Espinosa in 2024 | |
| President of the 73rd UN General Assembly | |
| In office 18 September 2018 – 17 September 2019 | |
| Preceded by | Miroslav Lajčák |
| Succeeded by | Tijjani Muhammad-Bande |
| Minister of Foreign Affairs | |
| In office 24 May 2017 – 11 June 2018 | |
| President | Lenín Moreno |
| Preceded by | Guillaume Long |
| Succeeded by | José Valencia Amores |
| In office 15 January 2007 – 7 December 2007 | |
| President | Rafael Correa |
| Preceded by | Francisco Carrión |
| Succeeded by | María Isabel Salvador |
| Minister of National Defense | |
| In office 28 November 2012 – 23 September 2014 | |
| President | Rafael Correa |
| Preceded by | Miguel Carvajal |
| Succeeded by | Fernando Cordero Cueva |
| Coordinating Minister of Heritage | |
| In office 19 October 2009 – 28 November 2012 | |
| President | Rafael Correa |
| Preceded by | Alex Rivas |
| Succeeded by | María Belén Moncayo |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 7 September 1964 Salamanca, Spain |
| Spouse | Eduardo Mangas |
| Alma mater | Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador Rutgers University |
María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés (born September 7, 1964) is an Ecuadorian linguist, poet, politician, and diplomat. Currently, is Executive Director of GWL Voices, an NGO dedicated to achieve a gender-equal multilateral system. She served as an advisor on biodiversity and indigenous peoples (1999-2005) and was the regional director for South America (2005-2007) at the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Espinosa Garcés was Ecuador's Minister of Foreign Affairs twice, from 2007 to 2008 and then from 2017 to 2018. She also served as ambassador and permanent representative to the United Nations in New York (2008-2009) and Geneva (2014-2017), and as Ecuador's Minister of National Defense (2012-2014). In June 2018, she was elected President of the United Nations General Assembly for the 73rd session by a two-thirds vote of the member states. Espinosa Garcés became the fourth woman in the seventy-three-year history of the United Nations to be elected President of the General Assembly. Besides her political career, she is also a poet and essayist.