Last January 20, Guatemalan politician Ana Patricia Orantes Thomas turned 55, five days following having assumed office as a deputy in second place on the National List for the Semilla Movement party.
He arrived in Congress in 2024 and is part of the Tenth Legislature. During his time in Congress he was a member of the Environment, Ecology and Natural Resources commissions; of Public Finance and Currency; of Energy and Mines and of Economy and Foreign Trade.
She is the founder of Movimiento Semilla, and together with her husband, financier of the group that brought Bernardo Arévalo de León and Karin Herrera to power.
She was organizational secretary during the first National Executive Committee (CEN) of Movimiento Semilla and currently serves as a substitute member of the party’s CEN. In addition, she coordinated the political group in Guatemala City.
This Thursday, April 11, she revealed in the halls of the Legislative Body that she will be the head of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (Marn), on instructions from the president. To occupy the position she must first ask Congress for permission to leave the seat for which she was elected.
His place in Congress would be occupied by Luis Enrique Ventura Urbina, an affiliate of the Movimiento Semilla party, originally from Quetzaltenango, who will turn 30 on September 2.
Currently Ventura Urbina was hired in line 022 as an advisor to the National List deputy Manfredo Duvalier Castañón González, with a salary of Q18 thousand.
Other permission
The first deputy from this bench to request permission was Jonathan Menkos, who was appointed by President Bernardo Arévalo as Minister of Public Finance (Minfin).
Orantes Thomas assured that she will request permission from the Legislative Body to take charge of the environmental portfolio left vacant by María José Iturbide, who was involved in a scandal over the use of official vehicles for her daughter.
Orantes Thomas is not new to Public Administration. According to her biography, she directed the General Secretariat of Planning (Segeplan) from 2006 to 2008 during the government of Óscar Berger.
The previous two years in this position was Hugo Beteta (2004-2006), who was now appointed by President Arévalo de León as ambassador in Washington, United States.
In these two administrations, territorial strategic plans were carried out in the context of associations.
The new head of the Marn is a biologist by profession from the University of San Carlos of Guatemala (Usac), with postgraduate studies in development policies and public administration in the United States and Germany.
During the time she was in charge of Segeplán she was decorated by King Juan Carlos of Spain with the Medal of Civil Merit.
For the Rainforest Alliance organization he coordinated the Climate, Communities and Nature program.
She was a consultant for the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
Andreas Cord Lehnhoff, her husband, was the head of the Marn during the transitional government of Alejandro Maldonado Aguirre, who was appointed to replace Otto Pérez Molina, who was forced to resign in 2015 due to corruption accusations that led him to prison.
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