Claudia Juana Rodríguez de Guevara

Claudia Juana Rodríguez de Guevara (born 1980 or 1981) is a Salvadoran accountant who was the presidential designate and head of state of El Salvador from 1 December 2023 to 1 June 2024. She assumed presidential powers and duties after President Nayib Bukele was granted a leave of absence by the Legislative Assembly to focus on his 2024 re-election campaign, which some constitutional lawyers have argued violates the country's constitution.

Rodríguez served as a finance manager for Bukele both before and during his presidency from 2019 to 2023. In 2021, Rodríguez was appointed as the Director of Municipal Works, and in 2022, she was named as Bukele's private secretary. On 30 November 2023, after granting Bukele and Vice President Félix Ulloa a leave of absence to run for re-election in the 2024 election, Rodríguez was selected by the Legislative Assembly to serve as designated president, a position she assumed the following day. Her appointment as presidential designate to assume presidential duties and powers has been criticized by lawyers as unconstitutional. Rodríguez is the first woman to hold presidential powers in El Salvador.

Early life

Rodríguez was born in 1980 or 1981.

Rodríguez studied at the Reverend José Saberlio Ponce Christian College and the General Francisco Morazán National Institute. She later attended the Francisco Gavidia University for five semesters, although she did not graduate. She also completed a course at the Corporation of Accountants of El Salvador.

Rodríguez previously served as a bidding and billing manager for Servicios Quirúrgicos de El Salvador, S.A. de C.V., as a finance manager for Obermet, S.A. de C.V., a company owned by the Bukele family, and as an auxiliary accountant for Tire Center, S.A. de C.V. That year, she was also a legal representative for MOV-I, S.A. de C.V.

Accounting career

From 2012 to 2015, she served as a finance manager for the municipality of Nuevo Cuscatlán while Nayib Bukele was its mayor. She served as the municipal treasurer of San Salvador while Bukele was its mayor from 2015 to 2018. In November 2022, Rodríguez became the director of the Emergency Committee and oversaw the allocation of US$2 billion of funds to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. On 25 November 2021, she was appointed by Bukele as the president of the board of directors of the newly created Directorate of Municipal Works. On 17 March 2022, Bukele named Rodríguez as his private secretary. She replaced Ernesto Castro, who had earlier assumed office as president of the Legislative Assembly. On 21 April 2023, Bukele named Rodríguez as the representative of the board of directors of the Road Conservation Fund. Rodríguez also previously served as the coordinator of the FANTEL-Dalton after the resignation of Carolina Recinos.

Presidential designation

On 30 November 2023, the Legislative Assembly selected Rodríguez as the designated president after granting Bukele a leave of absence to focus on his 2024 re-election campaign, which many politicians and constitutional lawyers have argued is illegal and unconstitutional. Although she assumed presidential powers and duties, she did not assume the office of president itself; her official title is the "Presidential Designate of the Republic in Charge of the Office" ("").

She was confirmed with 67 in favor and 11 against with 6 absent out of 84 votes. She officially assumed her presidential powers on 1 December and she was described by various media outlets as the country's first female president, although in an acting capacity; she will maintain her powers until the end of the presidential term on 1 June 2024. President of the Legislative Assembly Castro and Guillermo Gallegos, a deputy from the Grand Alliance for National Unity, contradicted each other as to whether Rodríguez was sworn in or not. Castro claimed that she was sworn in, although not publicly, stating that "it did not have to be public" ("). Meanwhile, Gallegos claimed that she was not sworn in as "she is simply the presidential designate, [...] it was determined that a swearing in was not necessary" ("").

Rodríguez's appointment as presidential designate to temporarily assume presidential duties and powers was criticized by various lawyers, opposition politicians, and analysts. Héctor Silva, the Nuestro Tiempo candidate for mayor of San Salvador wrote on X, "The current state of democracy in El Salvador: the office of the president of the Republic will by occupied by a person who nobody ever voted for" (""). Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) deputy to the Legislative Assembly César Reyes described Rodríguez as part of "President Bukele's inner circle" ("") and "a very unknown profile to everyone" ("") who "they installed to guard the throne [presidency]" (""). Political analyst Carlos Araujo stated that "Only a naïve person would believe that [Rodríguez] is going to govern, he [Bukele] is not going to let go of power, he will be involved in reviewing what his ministers do. Asking for leave is just a mere appearance". Economist Julia Martínez stated that "Bukele is not going to let anyone ruin what he has done, and that’s why he proposed [Rodríguez], she is part of his circle of control". According to some street interviews conducted in San Salvador by Voice of America, some Salvadorans doubt that Rodríguez would actually be governing the country and that instead Bukele would govern through Rodríguez.

On 17 December 2023, Rodríguez accepted the resignation of Moisés Cabrera, the president of the board of directors of the Development Bank of El Salvador. On 22 December, she appointed Nelson Rivas as Cabrera's successor. On 6 May 2024, she appointed Mauricio Calderón Sansivirini as the president of the Salvadoran Institute of Coffee.

Personal life

Rodríguez's brother, Douglas Rodríguez Fuentes, is currently the president of the Central Reserve Bank of El Salvador, having served since 19 September 2020.