Carolina Cosse

Ana Carolina Cosse Garrido (born 25 December 1961) is a Uruguayan engineer and politician who has been Intendant of Montevideo since 27 November 2020. A member of the Broad Front, she served as Minister of Industry, Energy, and Mining from 2015 to 2019 during the second administration of President Tabaré Vázquez. In the 2019 Uruguayan general election, she was elected to the Senate of Uruguay, taking her seat on 15 February 2020. On 27 September 2020, she was elected Intendant of Montevideo, the capital of the country. She is a candidate in the 2024 Broad Front presidential primaries for president of Uruguay in the 2024 general election.

Early life and education
Cosse was born in Montevideo on 25 December 1961 to Villanueva Cosse, a history teacher and an actor, and Zulma Garrido. In 1991, Cosse graduated from the Faculty of Engineering of the University of the Republic in Montevideo with a degree in electrical engineering. In 2009, at the same institution, she obtained a master's degree in mathematical engineering. After her academic career, she mainly worked for private corporations, including Siemens, Claro, and Verizon. She also provided assistance to governmental agencies such as designing and supervising the first structured cabling for the state under the Ministry of Foreign Relations and developing fingerprint capture devices for the Venezuelan National Electoral Council.

Political career
Her political career began in 2007 when she assumed the position of director of the Information Technology Division of the Departmental Government of Montevideo. Among the policies she enacted in office was the technological implementation of the city's Metropolitan Transportation System (STM).

In May 2010, President José Mujica appointed her as president of ANTEL (National Administration of Telecommunications), a position she held until 2015. In December 2014, after the election of Tabaré Vázquez for a new presidential term was confirmed, it was announced that Cosse would be the head of the Ministry of Industry, Mining and Energy, a position she assumed on March 2, 2015.

2019 presidential campaign
In 2018, she began to be seen as a possible candidate for the presidency or vice presidency in the 2019 election. On November 10, 2018, the Plenary of the Broad Front nominated Cosse, Daniel Martínez, Óscar Andrade, and Mario Bergara as pre-candidates for the 2019 presidential primaries. Of the four Broad Front pre-candidates, Cosse finished second behind Martínez, obtaining 27% of the vote.

2024 presidential campaign
Throughout 2023 different sectors of the Broad Front announced their support for a possible candidacy of Cosse for the 2024 presidential primaries. On November 8, 2023, still in the position of Intendant, Cosse formally announced her candidacy. She had previously said in 2020 that she would not run for president if she was elected Intendant of Montevideo. In late November 2023, she was polling at about 33% in national Broad Front primary opinion polls, second to Yamandú Orsi.

Intendant of Montevideo
On January 29, 2020, the Departmental Plenary of the Broad Front in Montevideo announced Cosse, Daniel Martínez, and Álvaro Villar as candidates for Intendant of Montevideo in the municipal election that year.

On September 27, Cosse was elected Intendant of Montevideo with 20.7% of the vote, with her party's total vote share exceeding that of the Coalición Multicolor candidate, Laura Raffo. Cosse took office on November 27.

In 2023, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres appointed Cosse to his Advisory Group on Local and Regional Governments, co-chaired by Pilar Cancela Rodríguez and Fatimatou Abdel Malick.

Personal life
Cosse has two children, Rodrigo and Ángeles. She is a supporter of Club Nacional de Football.