Wendy de Berger | |
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First Lady of Guatemala | |
In role 14 January 2004 – 14 January 2008 |
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Preceded by | Evelyn Morataya |
Succeeded by | Sandra Torres |
First Lady of the Guatemala City | |
In role 15 January 1991 – 15 January 1996 |
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Succeeded by | Patricia de Arzú |
Personal details | |
Born |
Guatemala City |
August 11, 1946
Nationality |
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Political party |
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Spouse(s) | Óscar Berger |
Alma mater | University of San Carlos |
Occupation | Psychologist |
Margarita Wendy Widmann Lagarde de Berger (born 11 August 1946) is a Guatemalan psychologist and the former First Lady of Guatemala to Óscar Berger. She studied sociology at Trinity Washington University in Washington, D.C.
Wendy de Berger was born on 11 August 1946 in Guatemala City, Guatemala Department, fifth of six children born to Walter Widmann and Carlota Lagarde. She completed her primary and secondary studies at Colegio Monte María. In 1967, she married Óscar Berger and had five children: Oscar, Denise, Juan Esteban, Francisco and Wendy Berger Widmann. His interest in the humanities led her to study sociology at Trinity Washington University in the District of Columbia, capital of the United States.
In 1991, Óscar Berger became the Metropolitan Mayor of Guatemala City, and Wendy de Berger took charge of the city's social affairs, beginning several projects to help vulnerable groups, like women and children. She promoted the construction of low-rent housing and founded a school for children to continue their education from kindergarten and provided nursery programs for impoverished families. In 1996, de Berger began to collaborate with the program Eduquemos a la Niña, designed to help educate troubled adolescents and teenagers and offer them scholarships. During Oscar Berger's presidential campaign in 2003, she designed and embarked on the "National Plan of Women's Crusades."
On 14 January 2004, former lawyer Óscar Berger assumed the Presidency of Guatemala, and Wendy assumed control of the Secretariat of Social Works of the Wife of the President of the Republic of Guatemala (SOSEP). Wendy has also collaborated with Dallas-based charity organization Helps International to provide safe, sanitary stoves to poor Guatemalan women who participated in community projects such as in Santo Domingo Xenacoj, where a new bakery was opened with provided stoves.