Soledad Alvear
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Soledad Alvear (2005)
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| Member of the Senate of Chile | |
| 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 (age 73) Santiago, Chile |
| Political party | Christian Democratic Party Amarillos por Chile |
| Spouse | Gutenberg Martínez |
| Residence(s) | Santiago, Chile |
| Alma mater | University of Chile (LL.B) |
| Profession | Lawyer |
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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.[1] She was president of the Christian Democrat Party (PDC) from 2006–2008.[2]
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.[3][4]
