Anarella Vélez

Anarella Vélez
Born1956 (age 69–70)
Tegucigalpa, Honduras
OccupationsPolitician, poet, minister
SpouseRigoberto Paredes

Anarella Vélez Osejo (born 1956) is a Honduran academic, historian and writer. She has published over twenty books. In 2022 she became the Secretary of State for Culture, Arts and Sports.

Life

Vélez was born in 1956[1] in Tegucigalpa. Vélez planned to professionally follow the footsteps her parents, Sergio Vélez and Gloria Osejo, a gynaecologist and an obstetrician. However her interest turned to history and she traveled to Argentina to study at the National University of La Plata though she ended up graduating the National Autonomous University of Honduras. Vélez completed her education in Spain, where she gained a master's degree in history at the Autonomous University of Barcelona.[2]

Vélez became a Professor of Art History at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Honduras.[3] and published over twenty books.[2] Her husband, a noted poet, died in 2015.[4]

Art and culture were said to have been neglected during the government of Juan Orlando Hernández,[2] downgraded from a full ministry. However, in 2022, Vélez became a member of the cabinet[4] when she accepted the position of the Secretary of State for Culture, Arts and Sports in Xiomara Castro's government.[5]

Vélez complained that the previous administration spent all of its small budget on salaries. According to her, Vehicles, buildings and even paintings were unmaintained. She announced, "We have cracked the patriarchal culture".[4]

In 2025, Vélez was awarding the inaugural national awards for art and culture at the Museum for National Identity. She was also recognizing leading artists, which she described as her duty.[6]

Publications include

  • Todas las voces (lit. "All Voices"), 2013;
  • Iluminadas (lit. "Illuminated"), 2016;
  • Columna de fuego (lit. "Column of Fire"), 2018[7]
  • Once de Noviembre (lit. "11 November"), 2021.

References

  1. ↑ "Anarella Vélez Osejo". www.festivaldepoesiademedellin.org (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2025-10-23. Retrieved 2025-11-23.
  2. 1 2 3 "Anarella Vélez y su reto por rescatar la cultura, el arte y el patrimonio de Honduras". Criterio.hn (in Spanish). 2022-08-06. Archived from the original on 2025-11-14. Retrieved 2025-11-24.
  3. ↑ "Familia". SECAPPH (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2025-11-11. Retrieved 2025-11-24.
  4. 1 2 3 Lezama, Luis (2022-02-12). "«Le hemos hecho una fisura a la cultura patriarcal»: Anarella Vélez, nueva titular de Cultura, Arte y Deportes - Contra Corriente fern" (in European Spanish). Archived from the original on 2025-08-13. Retrieved 2025-11-24.
  5. ↑ "Xiomara Castro confirma su gabinete de gobierno". Proceso Digital (in Spanish). 2022-01-27. Archived from the original on 2025-06-28. Retrieved 2025-11-23.
  6. ↑ "Premiaciones y reconocimientos en el marco del Año de las Artes". Diario La Tribuna (in Spanish). 2025-09-22. Retrieved 2025-11-24.
  7. ↑ Vélez Osejo, Anarella (2018). Columna de fuego (in Spanish). Ediciones Librería Paradiso. ISBN 978-99926-828-9-0. Archived from the original on 2026-01-12. Retrieved 2026-01-02.
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