President-elect Luis Abinader tweeted on Thursday, 23 July 2020, that he will be naming 33-year old engineer Kimberly Taveras his Youth Minister in his future government.
“With her experience and dynamism, she will have the mission of transforming this ministry into a body that articulates real public policies for the benefit and development of our youth,” the President-elect said.
Shortly after the announcement, Taveras Duarte defended the Abinader government keeping the Ministry of Youth at a time when a downsizing of government is promised. Taveras Duarte said that young people make up 40% of the population and led the Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM) to win the election. She said by keeping the ministry, the new government is “guaranteeing their participation in the national discussion tables.”
Taveras Duarte was part of the National Commission for Assessment of Personnel that is in charge of preselecting and organizing those that will be named in the Abinader administration come 16 August 2020. Others on the commission are Luis Valdez, Nelson Arroyo, Jesús “Chu” Vásquez and Yadira Henríquez.
She is also the national youth coordinator for the Luis Abinader campaign (JLAP).
She studied elementary and high school at Colegio San Antonio de Padua, in the Los Alcarrizos sector in northern Santo Domingo province. She graduated in chemical engineering from Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo (UASD), writing her thesis on “Refining in Landfills for Second Generation Fuels.”
At the UASD, she became active in organizing services for her La Guayiga town. Her student activism would next lead her to be elected mayor for the town and the youngest mayor in the country when she was 22 years old. In the 2016 municipal election, she was voted mayor for nearby Pedro Brand, a bigger town.
Taveras had tested positive for Covid-19, as was announced on 16 July 2020. She is married and has two daughters.
The Abinader cabinet is shaping up as follows, in order of announcement of the appointments:
Ethics and corruption Office director: Milagros Ortiz Bosch
Minister of the Presidency: Lisandro Macarrulla
Foreign Relations Minister: Roberto Álvarez Gil
Education Minister: Roberto Furcal
Spokesperson for the Presidency: Milagros Germán
Governor of the Central Bank: Hector Valdez Albizu
Economy & Planning Minister: Miguel Ceara Hatton
Hacienda Minister: Jochi Vicente
Superintendent of Banks: Alejandro Fernández Whipple
National Budget director: Jose Rijo Presbot
CEI-RD director: Biviana Riveiro
Economic advisor to the President: Pedro Silverio
Legal Advisor to the President: Antoliano Peralta
Energy & Mines Minister: Antonio Almonte Reynoso
Administrative Minister of the Presidency: José Ignacio Paliza
Defense Minister: Major General Carlos Luciano Díaz Morfa
Head of the Health Cabinet: Vice President-elect Raquel Peña
Public Health Minister: Plutarco Arias
Deputy Minister for Collective Health: Ivelisse Acosta
Executive director Public Procurement Agency: Carlos Pimentel
Tourism Minister: David Collado
Public Works Minister Deligne Ascención
Youth Minister: Kimberly Taveras Duarte
Interior & Police Minister: Jesús (Chu) Vásquez
Public Administration Minister: Dario Castillo Lugo
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Listin Diario
La Voz del PRM
23 July 2020