Patricia Orantes

Ana Patricia Orantes Thomas is a Guatemalan politician and biologist who serves as Minister of Environment and Natural Resources since 2024. A founding member of Semilla party, she was member of the Congress for National List in 2024, having been elected in 2023 general election.

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.

Orantes is a cofounder of Movimiento Semilla political party and has held positions within its leadership. She was a member of the National Executive Committee, initially occupying the role of National Organization Secretary, and afterwards that of National Political Program Secretary. Afterward, she coordinated the Semilla party in the Central District (Guatemala City's municipality). She occupied second place for the Semilla parte for the National List constituency for the 2023 legislative election, and she was elected.

Personal life
Orantes is married to architect Andreas Lehnhoff, who served as Minister of the Environment and Natural Resources in the Cabinet of Alejandro Maldonado, who served as president of Guatemala.

The International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala presented a case of espionage and illegal wiretapping in 2019, allegedly requested by the then Minister of Economy, Acisclo Valladares Urruela, against members of the Semilla, including Samuel Pérez Álvarez, Lucrecia Hernández Mack and Ana Patricia Orantes Thomas. 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.