Paulina Saball

María Paulina Saball Astaburuaga (born 26 October 1952) is a Chilean politician and social worker. She was a minister during the second government of Michelle Bachelet.

Saball studied at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, where she was a member of the leftist movement Popular Unitary Action Movement (MAPU).

Saball was an opponent to the Pinochet dictatorship and was linked to human rights defense groups through various entities, such as the Committee of Cooperation for Peace in Chile and the Vicariate of Solidarity. Similarly, once returned the democracy she was part of the National Commission for Truth and Reconciliation (Rettig Report) during the christian-democratic government of Patricio Aylwin.

Early life and education

Saball is the daughter of Gustavo Saball Meneses and Carmen Astaburuaga Silva. She was married to sociologist Fernando José Ossandón Correa, with whom she had two children, Felipe and Macarena. She later married Socialist lawyer Ernesto Alejandro Galaz Cañas.

Following the 1973 Chilean coup d'état, Saball became involved in human rights advocacy through organizations including the Committee for Peace in Chile, the Vicariate of Solidarity, and later the National Commission for Truth and Reconciliation in 1990.

In February 2004, Lagos appointed her executive director of the National Environment Commission (CONAMA).

In August 2020, she became regional coordinator for Magallanes and Chilean Antarctica of the Horizonte Ciudadano Foundation, established by Bachelet in 2018.

In February 2023, President Gabriel Boric appointed Saball to oversee the housing reconstruction plan in areas affected by the wildfires in south-central Chile, including the regions of Ñuble, Biobío, and La Araucanía.