Silvana López Moreira

First Lady of Paraguay (2018–2023)

Silvana López Moreira
López Moreira in September 2022
First Lady of Paraguay
In office
15 August 2018 – 15 August 2023
PresidentMario Abdo Benítez
Preceded byEmilia Alfaro
Succeeded byLeticia Ocampos
Personal details
Born
Silvana López Moreira Bó

(1974-01-31) 31 January 1974 (age 50)
Asunción, Paraguay
Spouse(s)
José Félix Ugarte
​
(divorced)​

​
(m. 2007)​
Children4
Parent(s)Néstor López Moreira
Rossana Bó
ResidenceMburuvicha Róga

Silvana López Moreira Bó (born 31 January 1974) is a former First Lady of Paraguay, from 15 August 2018 to 15 August 2023, due to her marriage to President Mario Abdo Benítez. With López Moreira, the office of First Lady was reopened in Paraguay after a vacant period, since the previous President, Horacio Cartes, ordered its closure due to being divorced.[1]

Personal life

Silvana López Moreira comes from a wealthy family, daughter of Néstor López Moreira and Rossana Bó.[2] López Moreira's maternal grandfather is businessman Nicolás Bó, who amassed his fortune during the regime of the late Paraguayan dictator Alfredo Stroessner, and owned media companies and various other businesses.[2][3][4] López Moreira's first cousin, model Gabriela Bó, had a brief marriage with Mexican singer Cristian Castro.[2]

López Moreira's first marriage was to wealthy cattle rancher José Félix Ugarte (circa 1990s), with whom she had three children, two sons and a daughter.[2][3][4] In 2007, she married politician and later President of Paraguay Mario Abdo Benítez. He was her teenage sweetheart when both attended the San Andrés High School in Asunción. They have a son.[2][3][4]

López Moreira had a sister who, alongside her husband and their three children, died in the 2021 Surfside condominium collapse.[5][6][7]

Education

López Moreira studied at the San Andrés High School in Asunción,[2][3][4] and her university studies were carried out at the Polytechnic and Artistic University of Paraguay, where she obtained a degree in Public Relations. She also obtained a degree in Marketing,[2][3] at the Universidad Americana.[4]

First Lady of Paraguay

López Moreira alongside her husband Mario Abdo Benítez during his inauguration

López Moreira was noted for her fashion sense during her husband's inauguration, wearing a dress made out of ñandutí (a typical handmade fabric of Paraguay),[2] embroidered by weavers from Itauguá, a city known for its production of the fabric.[8] Spanish magazine ¡Hola! reported that on Paraguayan newspapers, ABC Color compared her to Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Michelle Obama, and Última Hora considered her appearance "impeccable", while ¡Hola! itself compared López Moreira's appearance to Juliana Awada, wife of Argentine President Mauricio Macri.[3] Other media also compared her to Queen Letizia of Spain,[9] with Spanish newspaper El Mundo referring to her, on occasion of a November 2022 visit to Spain alongside her husband, as "the Paraguayan Letizia".[10]

In February 2019, it was informed that López Moreira had contracted dengue fever during the 2019–2020 dengue fever epidemic, after her husband, President Adbo Benítez, had been infected the previous month.[11]

In July 2020, it was announced that López Moreira would debut as a television presenter in a television program aimed to support entrepreneurs during the COVID-19 pandemic in Paraguay, named Aikuaa ("To know" in Guarani language), to be broadcast on the state-run public broadcasting channel Paraguay TV, as well as on social media.[12]

References

  1. ^ "Despacho de la Primera Dama será reabierto" [First Lady office to be reopened]. La Nación (in Spanish). 15 August 2018. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Velázquez, Marcos (17 August 2018). "Quién es la nueva Primera Dama de Paraguay que se robó las miradas durante el traspaso presidencial" [Who is the new First Lady of Paraguay who stole the spotlight during the presidential inauguration]. Infobae (in Spanish). Retrieved 15 August 2020.
  3. ^ a b c d e f "Silvana López, la Primera Dama de la que todos hablan" [Silvana López, the First Lady everyone talks about]. ¡Hola! (in Spanish). 16 August 2018. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
  4. ^ a b c d e de Carlos, Carmen (19 August 2018). "Silvana López, la primera dama de Paraguay" [Silvana López, the first lady of Paraguay]. ABC (in Spanish). Retrieved 15 August 2020.
  5. ^ "Identifican cuerpos de Sophía López Moreira, Luis Pettengill y uno de sus hijos en restos de derrumbe en Miami" [Identified the bodies of Sophía López Moreira, Luis Pettengill and one of their children in the remains of the collapse in Miami]. ABC Color (in Spanish). 8 July 2021.
  6. ^ "Hallaron los cuerpos de tres familiares de la primera dama de Paraguay tras el derrumbe en Miami" [Found the bodies of three relatives of the first lady of Paraguay after the collapse in Miami]. Infobae (in Spanish). 9 July 2021.
  7. ^ "Identifican cuerpos de cuñada de presidente de Paraguay y miembros de su familia en derrumbe de Miami" [identify the bodies of the sister-in-law of the president of Paraguay and members of his family in the collapse of Miami]. El Comercio (in Spanish). Peru. 8 July 2021.
  8. ^ "Vestido de ñandutí de la Primera Dama fue bordado por 14 tejedoras itaugüeñas" [The First Lady's ñandutí dress was embroidered by 14 weavers from Itauguá]. Extra (in Spanish). 16 August 2018. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
  9. ^ "Comparan a Silvana con la reina consorte de España" [Silvana compared to the queen consort of Spain]. Extra (in Spanish). 18 August 2018. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
  10. ^ Font, Consuelo (3 November 2022). "La Letizia paraguaya: licenciada, divorciada y presentadora de televisión" [The Paraguayan Letizia: Graduate, divorced and television presenter]. El Mundo (in Spanish). Retrieved 4 November 2022.
  11. ^ "Primera dama de Paraguay es diagnosticada con dengue" [First lady of Paraguay is diagnosed with dengue]. DW in Spanish (in Spanish). 9 February 2019. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
  12. ^ "Primera dama paraguaya presentará un programa televisivo para emprendedores" [Paraguayan first lady to present a television program for entrepreneurs]. Infobae (in Spanish). 28 July 2020. Retrieved 15 August 2020.

External links

  • Official website of the Office of the First Lady of Paraguay (in Spanish)