Johana Farina Pesántez Benítez (born 20 November 1975) is an

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

ian politician, she was Minister of Justice, Human Rights and Religious Affairs between 13 May 2011 and 18 June 2013. Since 24 May 2017 she has been judicial advisor to President

Lenín Moreno Lenín Boltaire Moreno Garcés (; born 19 March 1953) is an Ecuadorian politician who served as the 46th president of Ecuador from 2017 to 2021. He was also vice president from 2007 to 2013, serving under President Rafael Correa. He was nominat ...

Personal life

Johana Pesántez was born on 20 November 1975 in

Quito Quito (; ), officially San Francisco de Quito, is the capital city, capital and second-largest city of Ecuador, with an estimated population of 2.8 million in its metropolitan area. It is also the capital of the province of Pichincha Province, P ...

."Curriculum Vitae"
Ministerio de Justicia, Derechos Humanos y Cultos, Ecuador Pesántez speaks five languages, besides her native Spanish they are English, Portuguese, French and Italian.

Education

Pesántez has a licentiate in Juridical Science and a doctorate in Jurisprudence by the

Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador The Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador (PUCE) (English: ''Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador'') is a Pontifical Catholic university founded in 1946 in Quito, Ecuador. History The university opened in the fall of 1946, with Carlo ...

. She has a postgraduate degree in Roman Right by the

Sapienza University of Rome The Sapienza University of Rome (), formally the Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza", abbreviated simply as Sapienza ('Wisdom'), is a Public university, public research university located in Rome, Italy. It was founded in 1303 and is ...

and a doctorate in 'Current programs in criminal law and criminology' by the Pablo de Olavide University. Between 2003 and 2011 Pesántez was a Law professor in the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador and the Universidad de las Américas. She also worked shorter periods for Universidad Tecnológica Indoamérica and the

Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja (UTPL) is a private institution that provides on-campus and continuing education programmes. There are 23 Bachelor's degrees on the Loja campus and 20 continuing education programmes. It is considered the f ...

Political career

From 2008 to 2011 Pesántez was Interinstitutional Judicial Advisor of the National Directorate of Judicial Advisors to the Presidency of the National Court of Justice. Between January and May 2011 Pesántez was judicial advisor to the President of Ecuador,

Rafael Correa Rafael Vicente Correa Delgado (; born 6 April 1963) is an Ecuadorian politician and economist who served as the 45th president of Ecuador from 2007 to 2017. The leader of the PAIS Alliance political movement from its foundation until 2017, Corr ...

. In May 2011 she was named Minister of Justice, Human Rights and Religious Affairs. During her term as Minister she was confronted with the severe overcrowding of prisons and several escapes by detainees. On the topic of human rights, Pesántez sees the

Universal Periodic Review The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is a mechanism of the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council (HRC) that emerged from the 2005 UN reform process.resolution 60/251of 3 April 2006, the UPR periodically examines the human rights performance of a ...

, a mechanism of the

United Nations Human Rights Council The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) is a United Nations body whose mission is to promote and protect human rights around the world. The Council has 47 members elected for staggered three-year terms on a United Nations Regional Gro ...

, as a good system for Ecuador to strengthen its democracy. In 2012, 97% of the recommendations made to Ecuador via this system were supposed to be implemented by the government. On 28 and 29 November 2012 Ecuador hosted the Ninth Meeting of Justice Ministers of the

Organization of American States The Organization of American States (OAS or OEA; ; ; ) is an international organization founded on 30 April 1948 to promote cooperation among its member states within the Americas. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, the OAS is ...

. Pesántez inaugurated the meeting together with the Secretary General of the OAS,

José Miguel Insulza José Miguel Insulza Salinas (born June 2, 1943) is a Chilean politician, lawyer, and academic serving as a senator for the Arica y Parinacota Region since 2018. He previously served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1994 to 1999 and Ministe ...

. Her term in office ended on 18 June 2013 when she was replaced as Minister by Lenin Lara. In July 2015 she was one of three possible candidates proposed by the legislative branch for a seat on the

Constitutional Tribunal of Ecuador The Constitutional Court of Ecuador (Spanish: ''Corte Constitucional del Ecuador''), previously the Constitutional Tribunal of Ecuador (''Tribunal Constitucional del Ecuador''), is the constitutional court of Ecuador. History The Court was cr ...

. In October 2015 she was not among those chosen. When

took over the Presidency of Ecuador of Rafael Correa on 24 May 2017 he appointed Pesántez in his second decree as judicial advisor (Spanish:''Secretaria General Jurídica'') to the President. She succeeded Alexis Mera in this position. In November 2019, after José Agusto Briones resigned as general secretary (Spanish:''Secretaría General'') of the Presidency she also became caretaker of this position. As of 30 August 2020 she was the only person of the original Moreno cabinet to remain in the same function.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pesantez, Johana 1975 births Living people Female justice ministers Government ministers of Ecuador Politicians from Quito Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador alumni Academic staff of the Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador Sapienza University of Rome alumni Women government ministers of Ecuador 21st-century Ecuadorian women politicians 21st-century Ecuadorian politicians Justice ministers of Ecuador