Sandra Torres

Sandra Julieta Torres Casanova (locally ['sandɾa xu'ljeta 'tores kasa'noβa]; born 5 October 1955) is a Guatemalan politician who served as the first lady of Guatemala from 2008 to 2011, as the wife of president Álvaro Colom. As the candidate of the National Unity of Hope party, Torres ran for president in 2015, 2019 and 2023, coming in second place in each election.

This article is about the Guatemalan politician. For the Argentine athlete, see Sandra Torres (athlete).
In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Torres and the second or maternal family name is Casanova.
Sandra Torres
Torres in 2019
General Secretary of the National Unity of Hope
In office
20 May 2012 – 31 August 2021
First Lady of Guatemala
In role
14 January 2008 – 7 April 2011
PresidentÁlvaro Colom
Preceded byWendy de Berger
Succeeded byRosa Leal de Pérez
Personal details
Born
Sandra Julieta Torres Casanova

(1955-10-05) 5 October 1955
Melchor de Mencos, Petén, Guatemala
Political partyNational Unity of Hope
Spouse
​
​
(m. 2002; div. 2011)​
ChildrenNadia de León Torres (daughter)
EducationUniversity of San Carlos of Guatemala
Rafael Landívar University

Early life and education

Sandra Julieta Torres Casanova was born on 5 October 1955, in the municipality of Melchor de Mencos, in the department of Petén.[1] She is the daughter of Enrique Torres and Teresa Casanova. She has a degree in Communication Sciences from San Carlos University.[2] She also has a master's degree in Public Politics from Rafael Landívar University.[3]

Career

She has spent most of her professional lifetime promoting politics, plans, programs, projects and laws concerning social development, especially 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 was the Leader and in which she is also a director) are:

  1. Initiative of Law Against Feminicide. Approved in the first semester of 2008.
  2. Initiative of Law of Responsible Parenting. Approved in August 2008.

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 businesswoman, worked at private companies and had been responsible for textile production and administration of clothing factories. She also was president of Consejo de Cohesión Social (Council of Social Cohesion), an institute in charge of orienting social investment for the eradication of extreme poverty and combating poverty in general. The group employs programs and projects focused on improving the coverage and quality of education, healthcare, infrastructure, sustainability and national reconstruction (specifically pertaining to the disasters Hurricane Stan, landslides in La Unión, Zacapa, and Storm 16).

Presidential candidate

During the 2008 presidential term of her husband Álvaro Colom, she had a proactive role in many social programs, creating a platform for the distribution of government aid to the poor. She became quite popular among the poor and hence she decided to run for president in the 2011 general election. However, she was disqualified from being a candidate since the Constitution of Guatemala, article 186(c), prohibits relatives of the incumbent president and Vice president from running as candidates. Even though she divorced her husband President Álvaro Colom, the move was seen as an attempt to circumvent the electoral law.[4][5]

With no restrictions from the Constitution she was able to run in the presidential election of 2015 as a candidate for the same political party that her ex-husband was elected, the social-democratic National Unity of Hope party (UNE). This time she 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.[6][7][8] She lost the election in the second round.

She ran again in the 2019 presidential election, and led in some polls, though she had faced a legal challenge by the Constitutional Court over potential campaign finance violations.[9] during the last election, which she denied. Torres says she would provide "comprehensive solutions like development, fight against poverty and job opportunities" to try to convince Guatemalans to stay in the country rather than migrating to the United States.[10][11] Torres pledged health and education reforms as well as jobs to stem the flow of migration to the US. In an appeal to more conservative voters, she vowed to oppose abortion and same-sex marriage.[12] She did not attend either the first round or second round debates, despite having been invited to both. She was defeated in the second round of the 2019 presidential election by Alejandro Giammattei.[13]

Torres ran again in the 2023 presidential election. On 12 July, the Public Ministry announced that Semilla's legal personality was suspended for alleged cases of false signatures to establish her party.[14][15] This was reversed by the Constitutional Court, paving the way for the second round of the presidential election to proceed.[16] Later that month she visited Washington, D.C..[17] She finished in first place in the first round alongside running mate Romeo Guerra.[18] She was defeated in the second round by Bernardo Arévalo.

Arrest

On 2 September 2019, she was arrested at her home on charges of violating campaign finance rules.[19] In 2022, however, the case was dismissed by a judge.[20]

References
  1. Claudia Palma. Sandra Torres: mitad beliceña y mitad petenera. El Periódico de Guatemala, 18 May 2011.
  2. "Torres, la única mujer con posibilidades para pasar a segunda vuelta" [Torres, the only woman with possibilities to go to runoff]. Prensa Libre. 4 September 2015. Archived from the original on 6 September 2015. Retrieved 5 April 2019.
  3. "Facebook". facebook.com.
  4. Pablo Ordaz (23 March 2011). "Guatemala: divorcio por amor al poder" [Guatemala: divorce for love of power]. El País (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 23 November 2019.
  5. Ezra Fieser (17 June 2011). "Guatemala's presidential divorce of convenience". Christian Science Monitor. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 22 January 2021. Torres divorced Colom to skirt a constitutional provision banning family members of sitting president from running for the following election.
  6. "Guatemala ex-first lady Sandra Torres in presidential run-off". BBC News. Archived from the original on 4 September 2019.
  7. Juan Montes (15 September 2015). "Guatemalan Former First Lady Sandra Torres in Presidential Runoff". WSJ.
  8. "Guatemala Comic to Face Former First Lady in Presidency Run-off". Voice of America. Archived from the original on 17 May 2019.
  9. Cuffe, Sandra (15 May 2019). "Guatemala court rules popular anti-corruption crusader ineligible to run for president". Washington Post. Retrieved 16 May 2019.
  10. "Guatemala election: Uncertainty reigns as top candidates barred". BBC News. 18 June 2019. Archived from the original on 8 November 2020. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
  11. "Top contenders for president in Guatemala election". Washington Post. 16 June 2019. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
  12. "Corruption tainted Guatemala set to elect new president". 16 June 2019.
  13. "Guatemala center-left candidate concedes defeat in presidential..." Reuters. 12 August 2019. Archived from the original on 12 August 2019. Retrieved 12 August 2019.
  14. "Juzgado ordena la suspensión de la personalidad jurídica del Movimiento Semilla". Prensa Libre (in Spanish). 12 July 2023. Retrieved 12 July 2023.
  15. macamilarincon (13 July 2023). "Sandra Torres, candidata presidencial en Guatemala, suspenderá su campaña en solidaridad con el Movimiento Semilla". CNN (in Spanish). Retrieved 21 July 2023.
  16. Menchu, Sofia (13 July 2023). "Guatemala top court reverses ban on anti-graft presidential candidate". Reuters. Retrieved 14 July 2023.
  17. "Guatemalan presidential contender Torres visits Washington ahead of August run-off". Reuters. 27 July 2023. Retrieved 3 August 2023.
  18. "Guatemalan ex-first lady Torres polls first in crowded field ahead of Sunday vote". Reuters. 22 June 2023. Retrieved 27 June 2023.
  19. "Guatemala arrests former presidential candidate on eve of U.N..." Reuters. 2 September 2019. Archived from the original on 14 December 2019. Retrieved 3 September 2019.
  20. Romero, Simon; Kitroeff, Natalie; García, Jody (23 June 2023). "In This Election, Some Candidates Lost Before a Single Vote Was Cast". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
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