Verónica María Alonso Montaño (born October 24, 1973) is a Uruguayan businesswoman and politician of the National Party who served as Senator of the Republic from 2015 to 2020 and as National Representative from 2010 to 2015.
Verónica Alonso | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Senator of Uruguay | |
| In office 15 February 2015 – 15 February 2020 | |
| Representative of Uruguay for Montevideo | |
| In office 15 February 2010 – 15 February 2015 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Verónica María Alonso Montaño 24 October 1973 Montevideo, Uruguay |
| Political party | National Party |
| Spouse |
Marcel Gerwer (m. 2000) |
| Children | Camila, Delfina, Violeta |
Early life and education edit
Alonso was born in Montevideo in 1973.[1] She had five brothers and she was brought up as a Catholic.[2] She began studying International Relations at the University of the Republic,[3] but obtained her degree from the Universidad ORT Uruguay. She has a postgraduate Diploma in International Relations and Latin American Political Development from the Miguel de Cervantes University in Santiago.[3] She has completed the courses, but has pending delivery and defense of the thesis for a master's degree in Integration and International Trade at the Law School of the University of Montevideo.[1]
Political career edit
She began her political career began in the Wilsonist Current, a faction of the National Party, supporting then-senator Francisco Gallinal. In 2009 general election, she supported former president Luis Alberto Lacalle Herrera. And that year was elected National Representative for Montevideo Department.[4] Her first legislation was to propose to the Chamber of Representatives to exempt private companies from paying employer contributions after they employed workers who were over forty years old.[3]
In the 2014 presidential primaries, Alonso supported the pre-candidacy of Senator Jorge Larrañaga, who was defeated in the internal election of the National Party by Luis Lacalle Pou. In the general election of that year, in which Lacalle Pou was the candidate for the National Party, she joined the National Alliance faction, being elected Senator of the Republic.[5]
In July 2018, Alonso announced her presidential pre-candidacy for the 2019 presidential primaries.[6] However, on April 8, 2019, she withdrew it to support the nomination of businessman Juan Sartori,[7] stating "we are going to define the intern of the National Party."[8] Finally, Lacalle Pou defeated Sartori in the presidencial primaries, and was the candidate of the PN in the 2019 general election.[9] At it, Alonso ran for reelection as Senator, without being elected.[10]
In July 2020, Alonso claimed in an interview that she had been wrong to support Juan Sartori's nomination, stating "I made a wrong decision, but I can't turn back time."[11] As a consequence, Sartori's supporter faction reported that Alonso had been "excluded" from it.[12]
Private life edit
Alonso married Marcel Gerwer in 2000. Together they have three daughters, Camila, Delfina and Violeta.[13][14] She was brought up a catholic but converted to Judaism at the time of her marriage.[15]
During the COVID-19 pandemic in Uruguay a hotel owned by her family let rooms at $7 a day. The fees were paid by the state and allowed homeless people to find a place to stay.[16] The Hotel Urban Express is owned by her husband's family and is normally charged at $45 a night. It was pointed out that other hotels had refused to allow street people to use their facilities and at $7 a night the hotel would fail to cover the hotel's costs. Critics were told that $7 a night was not a charge, but virtually a donation.[17]
References edit
- ^ a b Observador, El. "Verónica Alonso tuvo en su currículum una maestría que no terminó". El Observador. Retrieved 2020-07-12.
- ^ "Entrevista a Veronica Alonso, La Vero (Fragmento)". www.cciu.org.uy. Retrieved 2020-07-12.
- ^ a b c Anónimo (2014-08-12). "Alonso". Parlamento del Uruguay (in Spanish). Retrieved 2020-07-12.
- ^ "Senadores y diputados electos". LARED21 (in Spanish). 2009-10-27. Retrieved 2020-07-12.
- ^ "Larrañaga acordó lugares en lista única al Senado | Noticias Uruguay y el Mundo actualizadas - Diario EL PAIS Uruguay". 2014-11-01. Archived from the original on 2014-11-01. Retrieved 2020-08-22.
- ^ "Verónica Alonso anunció que será precandidata del Partido Nacional en las elecciones internas de 2019". Teledoce.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 2020-08-22.
- ^ AM, Radio Montecarlo CX20-930. "Verónica Alonso baja su precandidatura y se une a Sartori". Radio Montecarlo CX20-930 AM (in Spanish). Retrieved 2020-08-22.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ ""Vamos a definir la interna del PN", dijo Alonso, que oficializó su apoyo a Sartori". Montevideo Portal (in Spanish). Retrieved 2020-08-22.
- ^ "Interna del Partido Nacional: Lacalle Pou 45%, Sartori 32% y Larrañaga 20%". subrayado.com.uy (in European Spanish). Retrieved 2020-08-22.
- ^ "Los que ya no estarán: senadores que perdieron su banca". subrayado.com.uy (in European Spanish). Retrieved 2020-08-22.
- ^ ElPais. "Verónica Alonso se arrepiente de haber ido con Sartori: "Tomé una decisión equivocada"". Diario EL PAIS Uruguay (in Spanish). Retrieved 2020-08-22.
- ^ ElPais. "En el sartorismo aseguran que Verónica Alonso fue excluida del sector nacionalista". Diario EL PAIS Uruguay (in Spanish). Retrieved 2020-08-22.
- ^ "Comité Central Israelita del Uruguay - Portal de la colectividad judí…". archive.vn. 2013-04-21. Archived from the original on 2013-04-21. Retrieved 2020-08-22.
- ^ "Verónica Alonso www.mujermujer.com.uy". archive.vn. 2019-01-25. Archived from the original on 2019-01-25. Retrieved 2020-08-22.
- ^ "Interview with Verónica Alonso". Montevideo Portal (in Spanish). Retrieved 2020-08-22.
- ^ Observador, El. "Familia de Verónica Alonso alquila hotel al Mides por US$ 7 al día por huésped". El Observador. Retrieved 2020-07-12.
- ^ "Hotel en donde se alojan indigentes pertenece a la familia de su esposo, aclaró Verónica Alonso". subrayado.com.uy (in European Spanish). Retrieved 2020-07-12.