Raúl Lozano | |
Party: | Open Cabildo |
Birth Place: | Montevideo, Uruguay |
Birth Date: | 1 October 1958 |
Birth Name: | Raúl Lozano Bonet |
Term End2: | 5 May 2023 |
Term Start2: | 3 March 2020 |
Predecessor: | Irene Moreira |
President: | Luis Lacalle Pou |
Term Start: | 9 May 2023 |
Office: | Minister of Housing and Territorial Planning of Uruguay |
Alma Mater: | Uruguay Military School |
Office2: | Senator of the Republic |
Predecessor2: | Irene Moreira |
Succeeded2: | Irene Moreira |
Rank: | Colonel |
Serviceyears: | 1978 — 2015 |
Allegiance: | Uruguay |
Website: | www.rlozano.msartiguista.uy/ |
Raúl Lozano Bonet (born 7 April 1955) is an Uruguayan retired military officer and politician of Open Cabildo (CA), serving as Minister of Housing and Territorial Planning of Uruguay since May 9, 2023 under President Luis Lacalle Pou.
Lozano served as an officer of the National Army of Uruguay for more than 30 years, in different battalions and artillery groups.[1] He held the positions of Head of Division of the National Directorate of State Intelligence and General Director of the Material and Armament Service.[2] Likewise, he participated in the United Nations peacekeeping missions in Cambodia and the Ivory Coast, and as advisor in the peace negotiations between the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia and the Colombian government.[3] While serving in Cambodia he was kidnapped by the Khmer Rouge and held hostage for several days.[4]
In politics, he is one of the founders of the Movimiento Social Artiguista — Open Cabildo, which participated for the first time in the 2019 general election. From 2020 to 2023 he served as Senator of the Republic.[5] Since April 2024 he is the chairman of Open Cabildo.[6]
Lozano was born in Montevideo, the son of Rogelio Lozano Laporte, colonel of the National Army and Nelly Bonet Sagardoy, a teacher and school principal.[7] He attended Primary School No. 28, Liceo No. 3, Pallotti School, and the General Artigas Military High School.[8]
In 1975 he enrolled at the Uruguay Military School. He graduated as an Ensign of the Artillery on December 21, 1978.[9]
On November 29, 2018, Lozano was a founding member of the Artiguista Social Movement and Open Cabildo, of which he is, in turn, the vice president.[10] In the 2019 general election, he was elected substitute senator for Irene Moreira for the 49th Legislature.[11] Since Moreira was appointed Minister of Housing and Territorial Planning, Lozano took office on March 3, 2020.[12]
On May 5, 2023, Irene Moreira resigned from her cabinet post at the request of President Lacalle Pou, announcing that she would return to her senatorial seat.[13] Lozano was later chosen as his successor after the Open Cabildo proposal as a member of the government coalition, assuming the ministry on May 9, 2023.[14] [15]