Sandra Torres (politician)
| Sandra Torres | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Secretary-General of the National Unity of Hope | |
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Assumed office May 20, 2012 |
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| Preceded by | Álvaro Colom |
| First Lady of Guatemala | |
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In office January 14, 2008 – January 14, 2012 |
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| President | Álvaro Colom |
| Preceded by | Wendy Widmann de Berger |
| Succeeded by | Rosa Leal de Pérez |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Sandra Julieta Torres Casanova 5 October 1955 Melchor de Mencos |
| Nationality | Guatemalan |
| Political party | Unidad Nacional de la Esperanza (UNE) |
| Spouse(s) | Álvaro Colom (2003–2011) |
| Residence | Guatemala City |
| Alma mater |
Universidad de San Carlos Universidad Rafael Landívar |
Sandra Julieta Torres Casanova is a Guatemalan politician who was the First Lady of Guatemala from 2008 to 2011, as the wife of President Álvaro Colom Caballeros. She is originally from the county of Melchor de Mencos, in the department of Petén. She has a degree in Communication Sciences from the University San Carlos de Guatemala and a master's degree in Public Politics from the University Rafael Landívar de Guatemala.
She was disqualified from being a candidate in the 2011 Presidential election, but in the Presidential election of 2015 she was accepted as a candidate and finished second in the first round of the election on 6 September, narrowly beating the third-placed Manuel Baldizón, and qualifying for the runoff against first-placed Jimmy Morales.
Her mother language is Spanish. She also speaks English and is currently studying K'iche', one of the predominant Mayan languages in Guatemala. She has spent most of her professional lifetime promoting politics, plans, programs, projects and laws concerning social development, specially of women, children and people with special needs. Within the legal initiatives that she has promoted from inside her political party – the National Unity of Hope (UNE) – (of which her former husband is the Leader and in which she is also a director) are:
Sandra Torres de Colom was founder of the Coordinadora Nacional de la Mujer (National Coordinator of the Women) for the political party Unidad Nacional de la Esperanza, through which more than 30,000 Guatemalan women (Garifuna and Xinca amongst them) have channeled their specific demands. The action in favor of women was reflected within the corporate area. Sandra Torres, as a businessperson, worked at private companies and had been responsible for textile production and administration of clothing factories. In her role as first lady to President Colom, Torres took over crucial parts of the government over which she should have had no power according to the Constitution. Former government members who have left office have claimed that she approved or rejected any action of relative importance and that she deliberately managed every single government budget in order to transfer funds to her programs. In Colom's term, millions of dollars were transferred over from education, health, defense and homeland security budgets used to promote the fight against poverty.
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