Virginia Reginato

Virginia María del Carmen Reginato Bozzo (born 16 July 1939) is a Chilean politician. A member of the Independent Democratic Union (UDI) party, she formerly served as mayor of the city of Viña del Mar.

Virginia Reginato
December 2018
Councilor of Viña del Mar
In office
26 September 1992 – 6 December 2004
Mayor of Viña del Mar
In office
December 6, 2004 – June 28, 2021
Preceded byJorge Kaplán
Succeeded byMacarena Ripamonti
Councilor of Viña del Mar
Assumed office
June 28, 2021
Personal details
Born
Virginia María del Carmen Reginato Bozzo

(1939-07-16) 16 July 1939
Valparaíso, Chile
Political partyIndependent Democratic Union
SpouseJuan Gray
OccupationPolitician
Websitewww.virginiareginato.cl

From 1992 to 2004 she served as councilor, and in 2004 was elected for the first time to lead the municipality for a four-year term. In the 2008 municipal elections, she was re-elected with the top national majority in votes (107,355)[1] and the sixth largest percentage, with 78.76%. She is popularly known as "Tía Coty" (Aunt Coty).[2]

Biography

Born on 16 July 1939 in Valparaíso, she lived in the Playa Ancha area until age three, when her parents moved to Viña del Mar.[3]

While her official biography states that she studied at the Scuola Italiana and the College of the French Nuns of Valparaíso,[3] her formal education is known to have reached the third grade, and in 2007 she passed her basic and secondary education through free exams at El Sembrador de Colina school. This validation of studies has been questioned for having been allegedly carried out in a day, and deputies filed a complaint against Reginato in 2013 for falsification of a public instrument, an accusation which was dismissed.[4][5]

During her youth she was a beauty queen five times – at the centenary celebrations of the Sixth Fire Company of Valparaiso, the Red Cross carnival, the Società Canotieri Italiani, the Scuola Italiana kermesse,[6] and the first International Industrial Fair.

[It was] an event that was held at the Casino, where each exhibitor had a candidate. I was attending my family's stand and I came out queen by one vote, which was not bad, since it was put out in the defunct Valparaiso newspaper La Union.

— Virginia Reginato[7]

She married Juan Gray, with whom she had two children, Verónica and Ricardo.[3]

Political career

Roles during the military dictatorship and councilor

A sympathizer of the right, her political career began as a volunteer at the National Secretariat for Women in 1975, an institution where she later served as the communal secretary of Viña del Mar (1981) and provincial secretary of Valparaíso (1982). She joined the Community Development Council (CODECO) of the Municipality of Viña del Mar from 1983 to 1988. She later served as regional secretary of the National Secretariat for Women.[8]

In the municipal elections of 1992, she was elected as councilor for Viña del Mar. She was reelected in 1996 and 2000, fulfilling this function until 2004.[3]

Mayor of Viña del Mar
Reginato in 2008

In the municipal elections of 2004 she defeated incumbent mayor Dr. Jorge Kaplán with 47.88% of the votes, becoming the first woman in the city to attain the position through the electoral process, and the second after Eugenia Garrido, a councilor appointed by the military regime.

Her administration put emphasis on the tourist image of Viña del Mar, the social development of the most vulnerable sectors of the municipality, as well as implementing an extensive citizen security program and bidding for organizing rights for the Viña del Mar International Song Festival.[9]

In the municipal elections of 2008 she obtained 78.84% of the votes, being re-elected as mayor of Viña del Mar for the term 2008–2012, with the top national majority, and the most votes of any woman mayor in the country, with 107,355.[1] In 2012[10] and 2016[11] she was also re-elected to the position, for the terms 2012–2016 and 2016–2020, after which she will have served 16 years in the mayor's office of the so-called "garden city".[2]

References
  1. "Elecciones Municipales 2008" [2008 Municipal Elections] (PDF) (in Spanish). Servel. March 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 March 2012. Retrieved 9 September 2018.
  2. "La Tia Coty se impone sin problemas en Viña y llegaría a 16 años como alcaldesa" [Tia Coty Wins Without Problems in Viña and Will Reach 16 Years as Mayor] (in Spanish). SoyChile. 23 October 2016. Retrieved 9 September 2018.
  3. "Nuestra alcaldesa" [Our Mayor] (in Spanish). Viña del Mar. Retrieved 9 September 2018.
  4. "Se querellan contra Virginia Reginato por presunta falsedad de su licencia de educación media" [Virginia Reginato Sued for Alleged Falsification of Her Secondary Education Diploma]. El Mercurio (in Spanish). Valparaíso. UPI. 11 April 2012. Retrieved 9 September 2018.
  5. "Alcaldesa Reginato fue sobreseída por supuesta falsificación de licencia de educación escolar" [Mayor Reginato Absolved from Alleged Falsification of Diploma]. La Tercera (in Spanish). 12 February 2013. Retrieved 9 September 2018.
  6. Zamora, Rosa (27 September 2004). "De bailes, comparsas y carros alegóricos" [Of Dances, Troupes, and Floats]. El Mercurio de Valparaíso (in Spanish). Retrieved 9 September 2018.
  7. "'La verdad es que fui súper polola'" ['The Truth is That I was Super Cocky']. La Cuarta (in Spanish). 27 July 2008. Retrieved 9 September 2018.
  8. Pérez C., Aníbal (October 2014). "¿UDI popular? Los campamentos y el respaldo electoral-popular de derecha. El caso de Virginia Reginato en Viña del Mar (2008–2013)" [¿Popular UDI? Camps and right-popular election support. The case of Virginia Reginato in Viña del Mar (2008–2013)] (PDF). Izquierdas (in Spanish) (21): 2. ISSN 0718-5049. Retrieved 9 September 2018.
  9. "TVN, Canal 13 y FOX se adjudican la licitación del Festival de Viña del Mar" [TVN, Canal 13, and FOX are Awarded the Tender for the Viña del Mar Festival] (in Spanish). 24 Horas. 12 April 2018. Retrieved 9 September 2018.
  10. "Mujeres se toman el poder en elecciones municipales" [Women Take Power in Municipal Elections]. Paula (in Spanish). 29 October 2012. Retrieved 9 September 2018.
  11. "Resultados municipales 2016" [2016 Municipal Results]. El Mercurio (in Spanish). Retrieved 9 September 2018.
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