Bertha Puga Martínez

Bertha Puga de Lleras
First Lady of Colombia
In role
7 August 1958 – 7 August 1962
PresidentAlberto Lleras Camargo
Preceded byCarola Correa de Rojas Pinilla
Succeeded bySusana López de Valencia
In role
7 August 1945 – 7 August 1946
PresidentAlberto Lleras Camargo
Preceded byMaría Michelsen de López
Succeeded byBertha Hernández de Ospina
Personal details
Born
Bertha Puga Martínez

(1909-03-13)13 March 1909
Temuco, Cautín Province, Chile[1]
Died9 August 2007(2007-08-09) (aged 98)
Bogotá, D.C., Colombia
CitizenshipColombian
Nationality
Political partyLiberal
Spouse
(m. 1931; died 1990)
Children
  • Consuelo
  • Alberto
  • Ximena
  • Marcela
Parent

Bertha Puga Martínez de Lleras (13 March 1909 - 9 August 2007) was the first lady of Colombia from 1945 to 1946 and again from 1958 until 1962, as the wife of President Alberto Lleras Camargo. She was the second person to serve in this role during two nonconsecutive terms after María Michelsen de López, and the first naturalized citizen to become first lady.[2]

Puga de Lleras met Alberto in late 1929 in Bogotá while her father Arturo Puga Osorio was Chilean ambassador to Colombia. She married Alberto Lleras Camargo in 1931. The Lleras family lived a private life before Alberto's first election as president in 1945 and his reelection in 1958.

Personal life

She moved to Colombia with her family when her father was named Ambassador of Chile to Colombia, and it was then that she met her future husband Alberto Lleras Camargo, whom she married on 10 August 1931.[3] Alberto and Bertha had four children: Consuelo, Alberto, Ximena, and Marcela. Bertha died on 9 August 2007 at the age of 98.[4]

References

  1. ^ "Murió Bertha Puga Martínez, esposa del ex presidente Alberto Lleras Camargo". El Tiempo (in Spanish). Bogotá. 2007-08-09. Retrieved 2009-12-09.
  2. ^ Ríos Peñalosa, Gilma (1 August 1996). "Primeras damas del siglo XX". Bank of the Republic. Retrieved 6 November 2012.
  3. ^ Adames, Luis Carlos (1999). Periodistas, violencias y censuras (in Spanish). Bogotá: Fundación Universidad Central. p. 76. ISBN 9789582600167. OCLC 43363444. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
  4. ^ "A sus 98 años falleció Bertha Puga de Lleras, viuda del expresidente Alberto Lleras Camargo". 9 August 2007.