Gabriela Rodríguez de Bukele: The First Lady of El Salvador

Gabriela Rodríguez de Bukele is Wife of the President of El Salvador,  Nayib Bukele. This makes Gabriela Rodríguez de Bukele the First lady of El Salvador. She uses the Spanish naming customs: the first or paternal family name is Rodríguez the second or maternal family name is Perezalonso, and, for married women, the optional marital name is de Bukele.

Gabriela Rodríguez de Bukele : Bio Summary

Gabriela Rodríguez de Bukele is a Salvadoran educator, prenatal psychologist, and the current First Lady of El Salvador, married to the country’s 46th President, Nayib Bukele. Gabriela Rodríguez was born on March 31, 1985. As of 2022, she is 36 years old. Her husband claims she is of Sephardic Jewish ancestry, and she is the youngest of four daughters.

Her father, José Roberto Rodrguez Trabanino, is a Salvadoran investor, and her mother, Arena Perezalonso de Rodrguez, is a Nicaraguan who was a member of El Salvador’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Gabriela Rodríguez de Bukele showed an interest in ballet at an early age and joined the dance company Fundación Ballet de El Salvador. She is also a professional ballet dancer who performs with the Fundación Ballet de El Salvador.

Rodrguez was born in San Salvador, El Salvador. She has a doctorate in prenatal psychology and founded PrePare, El Salvador’s first prenatal teaching center, in October 2010.

How did Gabriela Rodríguez de Bukele

Much information is not available regarding the circumstances under which they meet and started their relationship. However, she married Bukele in 2014. They got married on 6 December 2014 in a private ceremony in El Boquerón, San Salvador.

She announced her pregnancy days before her husband, Bukele won the general presidential elections. The couple had their child later in 2019.

The First Lady of El Salvador worked as Secretary for Women during his tenure as Mayor of San Salvador (2015–2018), where she assisted in the development of projects promoting women’s rights and culture. During her tenure as San Salvador’s Secretary for Women, Rodrguez founded the San Salvador Ballet group.

Rodrguez was involved in the selection process for the government’s Cabinet following Bukele’s victory in the 2019 Salvadoran presidential election.

Career:

Rodrguez is the first person in El Salvador to hold a doctorate in prenatal psychology. She founded PrePare, the country’s first prenatal teaching center, in October 2010 and serves as its director. Rodrguez is also the Association For Prenatal And Perinatal Psychology And Health’s (APPPAH) regional representative.

Gabriela Rodríguez de Bukele Involvement in politics

Throughout her husband’s political career, Rodrguez has worked closely with him. Bukele referred to her as his partner in 2016 and stated, “Anyone who votes for me for public office understands that she comes with the package. That is how we have been as a team since we first met twelve years ago “.

Gabriela Rodríguez de Bukele served as the Municipal Secretary for Women during Bukele’s mayoralty in San Salvador with the Farabundo Mart National Liberation Front (FMLN) party (2015–2018).

During her tenure in this position, she was instrumental in establishing the first Culture Secretariat of the Mayoralty of San Salvador, as well as the San Salvador Ballet group and the Secretariat for Women.

Bukele founded a new political party called Nuevas Ideas after being expelled from the FMLN on October 10, 2017, and ran for president of El Salvador as a candidate of the Grand Alliance for National Unity (GANA). Rodrguez co-founded and directs the Bienestar Social program with Nuevas Ideas in 2018.

Following Bukele’s victory in the 2019 Salvadoran presidential election, Gabriela Rodríguez de Bukele became involved in Cabinet selection, primarily for the social, health, and education portfolios. She was also in charge of the government’s proposed education bills. Rodrguez refused to give interviews to the national media both during and after the election campaign.

Her government positions and those of Bukele’s relatives have been criticized by Salvadoran publications such as La Prensa Gráfica and El Faro, which have accused the president of nepotism.