María Gabriela Chávez

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Chávez and the second or maternal family name is Colmenares.

María Gabriela Chávez Colmenares (born 12 March 1980). She is the daughter of former President Hugo Chávez, and acted as his First Lady after his separation from Marisabel Rodríguez in 2003.^[1]

María Gabriela Chávez
Born	María Gabriela Chávez Colmenares (1980-03-12) 12 March 1980 (age 45) Barinas, Venezuela
Alma mater	Bolivarian University of Venezuela
Occupation	Diplomat
Partner	Giovanny Rivero (1997–1998)
Children	1
Parents	Hugo Chávez (father) Nancy Colmenares (mother)
Family	Pedro Pérez Delgado (great-great grandfather) Hugo de los Reyes Chávez (grandfather) Elena Frías de Chávez (grandmother) Adán Chávez (uncle) Aníbal José Chávez Frías (uncle) Argenis Chávez (uncle) Asdrúbal Chávez (second cousin)
Alternate Ambassador of Venezuela to the United Nations
Incumbent
Assumed office 13 August 2014 Serving with Samuel Moncada
President	Nicolás Maduro
First Lady of Venezuela Acting
In office 2003–2013
President	Hugo Chávez

Biography

María Gabriela Chávez is the second of the three children that Hugo Chávez had during his first marriage with Nancy Coromoto Colmenares. On 18 April 1998, her daughter, Gabriela Alejandra Rivero, was born, the result of her relationship with Giovanny Alexander Rivero Montes (1979). Her siblings are: Rosa Virginia (1978) and Hugo Rafael (1982). In addition, she has three half-sisters: Rosinés Chávez Rodríguez (1997), Génesis María Chávez Segura (2005) and Sara Manuela Chávez Fajardo (2008).

She enrolled at the Central University of Venezuela majoring in International Studies, but transferred to Social Communication after her sixth semester when she had a problem with a teacher. She graduated as a social communicator at the Bolivarian University of Venezuela, although she has not formally practiced the profession.^[2]

On 12 April 2002, during the coup d'état attempt, after the military announced that President Chávez had resigned and transferred him to the Fuerte Tiuna [es] base outside of Caracas, María Gabriela was the first person whom Chávez phoned; their conversation was captured by the Associated Press. She contacted several journalists to report that a coup was taking place.^[3] According to statements by Fidel Castro in the Cuban newspaper Granma, he advised her to declare to the international media that Chávez had not resigned from the presidency, saying that "Then I immediately prepared her to speak with Randy the journalist, and at 12:40 we fired off (her message) on the air (...) and we delivered it to the agencies and CNN."^[4] On the same day, María Gabriela Chávez offered a telephone interview to the Cuban journalist Randy Alonso.^[2]

Like Zulemita Menem and Keiko Fujimori, she assumed the role of First Lady of Venezuela after her father divorced, accompanying him on trips and at official events.^[3] During the 17th Ibero-American Summit of Heads of State and Government, held in Santiago, Chile from 8 to 10 November 2007, she participated in the First Ladies' agenda.^[2] On 13 August 2014, she was appointed as Alternate Ambassador of Venezuela to the United Nations, a position she left on 15 January 2019.^[5]

Controversies

In July 2014, deputies Abelardo Díaz [es] and Homero Ruiz [es], both of the Copei party, alleged that María Gabriela Chávez was involved in an irregular contract with the Argentine company Bio Ar S.A., which consisted of the purchase of rice and white corn overpriced by $15.5 million under the agri-food agreement between Venezuela and Argentina.^[1]

On 7 August 2015, Diario Las Américas published an article on its website entitled "María Gabriela Chávez podría ser la mujer más rica de Venezuela" (María Gabriela Chávez Could Be the Richest Woman in Venezuela). In it, the newspaper said that Chávez holds $4.197 billion in her bank accounts in Andorra and the United States, more than Venezuelan businessmen such as Lorenzo Mendoza and Gustavo Cisneros.^[4] On 10 August 2015, Eva Golinger sent a letter to Diario Las Américas acting as Chávez's lawyer, demanding that the newspaper "desist from defamation of the character and reputation" of her client and "issue a complete and just retraction (...) of any defamatory assertion," affirming that Chávez was a victim of defamation and that she had suffered damages from the article.^[6]

María Gabriela Chávez is banned from entering neighboring Colombia.^[7] The Colombian government maintains a list of people banned from entering the country or subject to expulsion; as of January 2019, the list had 200 people with a "close relationship and support for the Nicolás Maduro regime".^[7][8]