Cristina Eugenia Reyes Hidalgo (born August 26, 1981) is an Ecuadorian poet, lawyer, and politician who is currently running for

President of Ecuador The president of Ecuador (), officially called the constitutional president of the Republic of Ecuador (), serves as the head of state and head of government of Ecuador. It is the highest political office in the country as the head of the exec ...

in the 2025 general election. She is a member of the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

for the Social Christian Party and part of the ., and is currently the President of the Andean Parliament, since July 14, 2023.

Biography

Cristina Reyes was born on August 26, 1981 into a Catholic family, the daughter of doctors Xavier Reyes Feijoo and Cristina Hidalgo de Reyes. She has two younger brothers, Xavier and Belisario Reyes Hidalgo. She studied at Las Mercedarias Catholic school, and was named queen of the city of Guayaquil in 2001. She studied law at the Catholic University of Santiago de Guayaquil and earned a master's degree in Political Action from

Francisco de Vitoria University Francisco de Vitoria University () is a private university located in Pozuelo de Alarcón, in the Community of Madrid, Spain. It is a Roman Catholic institution run by the Legion of Christ. It is named after Francisco de Vitoria Francisco d ...

in Spain. She competed at Miss Ecuador 2004 where she placed 1st Runner-up and gained the right to represent her country at

Miss World 2004 Miss World 2004, the 54th edition of the Miss World pageant, was held on 4 December 2004 at the Crown of Beauty Theatre in Sanya, China. The 2004 pageant marks the second straight year that Sanya played host of the pageant. Rosanna Davison of R ...

Sanya Sanya; Chinese postal romanization, also spelled Samah is the southernmost city on Hainan Island, and one of the four prefecture-level cities of Hainan, Hainan Province in Southeast China, South China. According to the Sixth National Populati ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. Although she did not make the first cut at

, Reyes placed in the top 10's Beauty Beach and top 20's Talent competitions. In 2005, Cristina was selected to compete at

Miss Earth 2005 Miss Earth 2005 was the fifth edition of the Miss Earth pageant, held at the University of the Philippines Theater in Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines, on October 23, 2005. Priscilla Meirelles of Brazil crowned Alexandra Braun of Venezue ...

Quezon City Quezon City (, ; ), also known as the City of Quezon and Q.C. (read and pronounced in Filipino language, Filipino as Kyusi), is the richest and List of cities in the Philippines, most populous city in the Philippines. According to the 2020 c ...

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

; she placed in the top 16 at the final night. It was the first Ecuadorian classification in this beauty contest. She was a program host at

TC Televisión TC Televisión is a state-run television channel in Ecuador. The network was founded in 1969 and was commercially-funded for many years until 2011 when Grupo Iasaías went into a lawsuit and was sold to a state government unit, Since then the chann ...

, Telesistema (now

RTS RTS may refer to: Medicine * Rape trauma syndrome, the psychological trauma experienced by a rape victim * Revised Trauma Score, a system to evaluate injuries secondary to violent trauma * Rubinstein–Taybi syndrome, a condition characterized by ...

), , and

Ecuavisa Ecuavisa is an Ecuadorian free-to-air television network that was launched on March 1, 1967, on Quito's channel 8 and Guayaquil's channel 2. It is one of the leading TV networks in the country. The channel has an international feed named Ecua ...

. Her first appearance as a reporter on television was on the program ''Ventana a la Calle'', hosted by Kenneth Carrera, who was later replaced by Reyes when he became involved in politics.

Political career

In November 2007, Reyes was a member of the

Constituent Assembly A constituent assembly (also known as a constitutional convention, constitutional congress, or constitutional assembly) is a body assembled for the purpose of drafting or revising a constitution. Members of a constituent assembly may be elected b ...

for the Social Christian Party, where she joined the panel on Sovereignty and Latin American integration. For the , she was nominated as city councilor for the alliance between the Social Christian Party and the , obtaining the second highest vote among the councilors, behind only . In November 2012 she resigned as councilor to participate in the , in which she was elected as a

member representing

Guayas Province Guayas (, ) is a coastal Provinces of Ecuador, province in Ecuador. It is bordered to the west by Manabí Province, Manabí, Santa Elena Province, Ecuador, Santa Elena, and the Pacific Ocean (as the Gulf of Guayaquil); to the east by Los Ríos ...

. During her term she was part of the Workers' and Social Security Commission. In the she retained her seat in the Assembly. In August 2017, she accused the Legislative Administration of inefficiency in an interview, which caused her to be sanctioned in January 2018 with a 10-day suspension without pay. In response, on January 16, she filed a protective action with the to counteract the measure. A week later, Judge Lucila Gómez dismissed the sanction, accepting the protective action in her favor. On January 8, 2019, Reyes was retained as the third member of the Legislative Council (CAL) with 79 votes in favor, 27 against, and 11 abstentions, following the resignation of . Before the elections in February 2021, she requested unpaid leave from the assembly so that she could take part in the elections. 42 other members also made the same request including

Wilma Andrade Wilma Piedad Andrade Muñoz (born 26 August 1956) is an Ecuadorian politician. Since 2017, she has served as a member of the National Assembly, after she was elected as part of the Democratic Left. In 2024 she became Ecuador's ambassador to Spa ...

, ,

Mónica Alemán Mónica Rocío Alemán Mármol is a politician from Ecuador. She was elected to the National Assembly. She led the introduction of legislation to reduce domestic violence. Life She was born in about 1980. When Nelson Serrano was elected to ...

Dallyana Passailaigue Dallyana Marianela Passailaigue Manosalvas (born October 27, 1980) is an Ecuadorian media personality, athlete, and politician. She is currently a member of the National Assembly representing Guayas Province . She ran for Vice President of Ecuador ...

and Verónica Arias. During her absence her job would be carried out by her substitute. In the elections to renew the

Andean Parliament The Andean Parliament is the governing and deliberative body of the Andean Community, conformed by representatives of its four member states Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, and one associate member, Chile. It is composed of 25 parliamentari ...

, held on July 14, 2023, she was elected President of the Andean Parliament for one year. In March 2024, Reyes announced her intentions to register as an Independent pre-candidate for

in the upcoming 2025 general election.

Personal life

Reyes has two children. On August 26, 2021, she accepted a marriage proposal from Quito businessman Patrick Mitaz.

Publications

* ''Travesía'' (2000), collection of 62 poems, most with a romantic theme * ''Tierna Furia'' (2007), poetry collection * ''@Yo Libertadora'' (2012), poetry collection * ''Mis plenos poderes'' (2018), poetry collection

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Reyes, Cristina 1981 births 21st-century Ecuadorian poets 21st-century Ecuadorian lawyers Ecuadorian television presenters Women members of the National Assembly (Ecuador) Ecuadorian women lawyers Ecuadorian women poets Living people Members of the Ecuadorian Constituent Assembly (2007–2008) Members of the National Assembly (Ecuador) People from Guayaquil Social Christian Party (Ecuador) politicians Universidad Católica de Santiago de Guayaquil alumni Women television personalities 21st-century Ecuadorian women writers Ecuadorian women television presenters Francisco de Vitoria University alumni 21st-century women lawyers