Anne Malherbe Gosselin

Anne Malherbe Gosselin
Anne Malherbe during the presidential posesion, in 2009.
First Lady of Ecuador
Incumbent
Assumed office January 15, 2007
President	Rafael Correa
Preceded by	María Beatriz Paret
Personal details
Born	Anne Malherbe December 16, 1968 Namur, Belgium
Spouse(s)	Rafael Correa
Children	Sofía, Anne Dominique, Rafael Miguel
Residence	Quito, Ecuador (private) Palacio de Carondelet (official)
Alma mater	University of Louvain
Occupation	Teacher
Religion	Roman Catholic

Anne Malherbe Gosselin (born Anne Malherbe on December 16, 1968) is the wife of President Rafael Correa, President of Ecuador since January 2007. She was born in Namur, Belgium, as the daughter of Paul Malherbe and Chantal Gosselin.^[1] She met Rafael while both were attending courses in the Catholic University of Louvain, in Belgium. Some time later they got married and set up residency in Ecuador.

Public statements

Since President Correa's inauguration she opted to keep a low public profile and to be completely focused on her duties as a mother and wife. The only public statement of a political nature was during the first weeks of President Correa's term in office, made concerning the perceived duties of the First Lady; she alleged that "we, women are all equal" giving reassurances to all people that hold the belief of a self intrinsic value as individuals and not for their spouse's position.^[2] It is important to highlight that she received a total unyielding support from her husband in this decision.

Anne Malherbe won sympathy from the Ecuadorian people (who until then knew very little of her) by a public statement on 31 July 2007 when during a telephone interview with EFE she referred to the case of an Ecuadorian child, Angélica Loja Cajamarca, who together with her mother had been detained in Belgium for not carrying a photo ID and were held at a center for undocumented migrants. The First lady said she was ashamed of what her country did to a child who was only eleven years old.^[3] After this interview she returned to her daily routine away from the public eye.

References

1. "Orígenes de Anne Malherbe, en la base de datos de Mauricio Alvarado-Dávila" (in Spanish). GeneaNet. Retrieved 27 June 2013.
2. "¿Tenemos primera dama?" (in Spanish). Hoy. 6 August 2007. Retrieved 27 June 2013.
3. "La primera dama de Ecuador se avergüenza de ser belga" (in Spanish). Hoy. Retrieved 27 June 2013.