Abinader Appoints Sahiana Quezada as Governor of Azua
Dominican President Luis Abinader has appointed lawyer Sahiana Quezada as the new civil governor of Azua, replacing María Minerva Navarro.
Key points
- Appointment made through Decree No. 775-26, dated October 29, 2026.
- Quezada Meló is a lawyer from Azua de Compostela, with a law degree from PUCMM (2009) and a master's in Civil Law and Civil Procedure from UASD (2016).
- According to her professional profile, she has more than 15 years of legal experience in the public and private sectors.
- In 2020 she was a pre-candidate for deputy for Azua in the PRM's internal convention.
Dominican President Luis Abinader has appointed Sahiana Licelot Quezada Meló as civil governor of the province of Azua through Decree No. 775-26, dated October 29, 2026. With this decision, Quezada Meló takes over the executive branch's representation in the province, replacing María Minerva Navarro.
Quezada Meló is from Azua de Compostela. She holds a law degree from the Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra (PUCMM), which she earned in 2009, and a master's degree in Civil Law and Civil Procedure from the Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo (UASD), completed in 2016.
According to her professional profile, she has more than 15 years of legal experience, specializing in litigation, insurance, civil liability, banking law and regulatory compliance. Her career spans the public and private sectors, with roles in legal advisory, risk management and strengthening institutional controls.
In politics, according to the same professional profile, she was a pre-candidate for deputy for the province of Azua in 2020 in the internal convention of the Partido Revolucionario Moderno (PRM). That participation, according to the profile, aimed to promote women's presence on the ballot and meet the gender quota.
In terms of further training, according to the same profile, she has training in anti-money laundering prevention in the insurance sector, operational risk management, administrative law, banking regulation and insurance management. In 2024 she obtained training and certification related to the international standard ISO 37301:2021 on compliance management systems.
Why it matters
Quezada takes over the executive branch's representation in Azua, a province in the south of the Dominican Republic.
With additional reporting from: El Nacional — La voz de todos