María Fernanda Espinosa

María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés (born 7 September 1964)[1] is an Ecuadorian politician and diplomat. She was the President of the United Nations General Assembly for the 73rd session,[2] office which started in September 2018. She was Minister of National Defense of Ecuador from 28 November 2012 to 23 September 2014.[3] Previously, she served as Minister of Foreign Affairs under President Lenín Moreno from May 2017 to June 2018. She also held several other Ministerial posts before. She served as the Permanent Representative of Ecuador to the United Nations in Geneva from October 2014 to May 2017, and held the same position from 2008 to 2009. Besides her political career she is also a poet and essayist.

María Fernanda Espinosa
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
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
Political party	PAIS Alliance
Spouse(s)	Eduardo Mangas
Alma mater	Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador Rutgers University

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. She studied at Lycée La Condamine in France and graduated in the early 1980s.[4]

Education

She holds 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.

Even though Espinosa has stated in her résumé and in official UN publications that she holds a Ph.D. from Rutgers University,[5][6][7][8] no record of her doctoral dissertation is to be found in the university's archives. She has repeatedly maintained to be a Ph.D. candidate,[9] which Rutgers denied.[10]

In addition to that, she won the "First National Poetry Prize of Ecuador" in 1990.[11]

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.[12]

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.[13] In March 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 basic verification procedures had not been followed.[14] She resigned as Minister on 23 September 2014.[15]

In October 2014 Espinosa was named Permanent Representative of Ecuador to the United Nations in Geneva. She succeeded Luis Gallegos.[16] In her capacity as Permanent Representative she defended the case of Julian Assange in a discussion on arbitrary detention in September 2016.[17]

On 24 May 2017 Espinosa was appointed as Minister of Foreign Affairs in the government of President Lenín Moreno.[18]

Other activities

• International Gender Champions (IGC), Member[19]
• World Future Council, Member[20]

References

1. "NEW PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF ECUADOR PRESENTS CREDENTIALS", United Nations Press Release, BIO/3968, 7 March 2008.
2. https://news.un.org/en/story/2018/06/1011431
3. Maria Fernanda Espinosa new Defense Minister Archived 2013-04-13 at Archive.today on Ecuador Times, 28 November 2012
4. (in Spanish) Poesía y ecología, dos pasiones de María Espinosa on El Universo, 7 January 2007
5. "NEW PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF ECUADOR PRESENTS CREDENTIALS | Meetings Coverage and Press Releases". www.un.org. Retrieved 28 November 2019.
6. "NEW PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF ECUADOR PRESENTS CREDENTIALS | Meetings Coverage and Press Releases". 29 March 2019. Archived from the original on 29 March 2019. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
7. Espinosa, María Fernanda (28 November 2019). "CV María Fernanda Espinosa" (PDF).
8. (PDF). 27 March 2020 https://web.archive.org/web/20200327043524/https://www.defensa.gob.ec/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2012/11/hoja-de-vida3.pdf. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 March 2020. Retrieved 25 May 2020. Missing or empty |title= (help)
9. Espinosa, María Fernanda (28 November 2019). "CV Espinosa" (PDF). Ecuador's Secretary of State.
10. Arellano, Galo (26 April 2019). "CONFIRMADO: La Presidenta de la Asamblea General de las Naciones Unidas @mfespinosaEC no tiene un PH.D de la Universidad @RutgersU fue estudiante de 1994-2000. No completó los requerimientos para PH.D. @ONU_espic.twitter.com/Z3vy9l6Rzo". @Galoecuador (in Spanish). Retrieved 28 November 2019.
11. (in Spanish) Hoja de Vida Archived 2014-02-02 at the Wayback Machine on Ministry of National Defense of Ecuador
12. (in Spanish) Maria Fernanda Espinosa es la nueva Ministra Coordinadora de Patrimonio Archived 2013-04-12 at Archive.today on 19 October 2009
13. (in Spanish) Maria Fernanda Espninosa es la nueva Ministra de Defensa on 28 November 2012
14. Ecuavisa apologizes to the armed forces for misinformation Archived 2013-04-13 at Archive.today on Ecuador Times, 19 March 2013
15. "María Fernanda Espinosa renunció al Ministerio de Defensa" (in Spanish). El Comercio. 23 September 2014. Retrieved 21 December 2016.
16. "María Fernanda Espinosa is the new Ambassador of Ecuador before the UN in Geneva". Andes. 28 October 2014. Retrieved 21 December 2016.
17. "María Fernanda Espinosa aboga por Assange ante la ONU" (in Spanish). El Comercio. 13 September 2016. Retrieved 21 December 2016.
18. "María Fernanda Espinosa fue posesionada como Canciller del Ecuador". Cancilleria.gob.ec. 25 May 2017. Archived from the original on 31 May 2017.
19. Members International Gender Champions (IGC).
20. Counciller Biographies on World Future Council

External links

• Media related to María Fernanda Espinosa at Wikimedia Commons