Patricia Orantes

Ana Patricia Orantes Thomas (born 20 January 1969) is a Guatemalan politician and biologist who serves as a member of the Congress of Guatemala for the National List, a position she has held since September 2026, having previously served briefly in early 2024. A founding member of the Semilla party, she was elected in the 2023 general election and briefly took office before taking a leave of absence to serve as Minister of Environment and Natural Resources in the cabinet of Bernardo Arévalo from 2024 to 2026.

Biography Orantes was born in Guatemala City, daughter of Megan Thomas, an American anthropologist, and of José Alejandro Orantes Martínez, a Guatemalan trader. She is a biologist graduated from the Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala; holds a master's degree in Public Policy for Development from Duke University, and obtained postgraduate studies in public administration at the University of Potsdam, Germany. She was appointed head of the Planning and Programming Secretariat of the Presidency in 2006. During this period, she was awarded the Order of Civil Merit by the King Juan Carlos I of Spain.

She has worked as an advisor on environmental issues for several organizations such as the United Nations Development Programme, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the United States Agency for International Development. The process was archived in 2023. The case was closed by the Attorney General's Office, at the time presided by the Attorney General María Consuelo Porras, in 2023.