María Fernanda Espinosa

María Fernanda Espinosa
Minister of National Defense of Ecuador
Incumbent
Assumed office 28 November 2012
President	Rafael Correa
Preceded by	Miguel Carvajal
Coordinating Minister of Heritage of Ecuador
In office 19 October 2009 – 28 November 2012
President	Rafael Correa
Preceded by	Doris Soliz
Succeeded by	María Belén Moncayo
Minister for Foreign Affairs, Commerce and Integration
In office 15 January 2007 – 7 December 2007
President	Rafael Correa
Preceded by	Francisco Carrión Mena
Succeeded by	María Isabel Salvador
Personal details
Born	September 7, 1964 Salamanca, Spain
Alma mater	Facultad Latinoamericano de Ciencias Sociales Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador

María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés (born September 7, 1964)^[1] is an Ecuadorian politician and diplomat. She has been Minister of National Defense of Ecuador since 28 November 2012.^[2] She held several Ministerial posts before her current position and she served as the Permanent Representative of Ecuador to the United Nations. Besides her political career she is also a poet and essayist.

Personal life

Espinosa was born 7 September 1964 in Salamanca, Spain during a stay of her parents in the city. She is fluent in French and English and has working knowledge of Portuguese. She has interests in poetry and ecology. Espinosa got married during the end of the 1980s, but shortly after divorced and later married another man.^[3]

Education

Espinosa has a master's degree in Social Science and Amazonic Studies. She also has a postgraduate degree in Anthropology and Political Science from the Facultad Latinoamericano de Ciencias Sociales in Quito and a licentiate in Applied Linguistics from the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador. In addition to that, she won the "First National Poetry Prize of Ecuador" in 1990.^[4]

Political career

Under President Rafael Correa, Espinosa was Minister for Foreign Affairs, Commerce and Integration from January 2007 to December 2007. She was then Special Adviser to the President of the Constituent Assembly, Alberto Acosta from December 2007 to February 2008 before being appointed as Ecuador's Permanent Representative to the United Nations. She presented her credentials as Permanent Representative on March 7, 2008.^[1] From October 2009 till November 2012 she was Coordinating Minister of Heritage.^[5] In November 2012 she got the post of Minister of National Defense as incumbent Minister Miguel Carvajal stepped down to run for the National Assembly elections of 2013. She is the third female to lead the Ministry of National Defense after Guadalupe Larriva and Lorena Escudero.^[6] In March of 2013 some controversy arose after television channel Ecuavisa reported there was unrest in the military concerning the promotion of certain colonels to generals. President Correa ordered Espinosa to take legal action against Ecuavisa, saying that the information Ecuavisa possessed was false. On 18 March 2013 Ecuavisa apologized and confirmed that the basic verification procedures were not followed.^[7]

She is a member of the World Future Council.^[8]

References

1. "NEW PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF ECUADOR PRESENTS CREDENTIALS", United Nations Press Release, BIO/3968, March 7, 2008.
2. Maria Fernanda Espinosa new Defense Minister on Ecuador Times, 28 November 2012
3. (Spanish) Poesía y ecología, dos pasiones de María Espinosa on El Universo, 7 January 2007
4. (Spanish) Hoja de Vida on Ministry of National Defense of Ecuador
5. (Spanish) Maria Fernanda Espinosa es la nueva Ministra Coordinadora de Patrimonio on 19 October 2009
6. (Spanish) Maria Fernanda Espninosa es la nueva Ministra de Defensa on 28 November 2012
7. Ecuavisa apologizes to the armed forces for misinformation on Ecuador Times, 19 March 2013
8. Counciller Biographies on World Future Council