Provoste was born in Vallenar, north of Chile, to a family of Diaguita descent. At the age of nine she was a national champion in gymnastics, for which she received a scholarship to study at the women's boarding school in Santiago. Back in Vallenar she switched to athletics, becoming a pentathlon champion. Provoste majored in physical education at the Playa Ancha University of Educational Sciences in Valparaíso. She pursued postgrad studies in education administration at the same university, and in local government and decentralization in Colombia. During her university years she was twice president of the student board and was a member of the student's federation. During the Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle administration Provoste was the Atacama Region director of the National Women's Service and governor of the Huasco Province. During President Ricardo Lagos's tenure she was intendant of the Atacama Region, minister of Planning and, during Michelle Bachelet's presidency, National Executive Director of Integra Foundation and minister of Education.
Impeachment trial
In February 2008, the Office of the General Auditor of the Republic reported that around US$500 million transferred by the Education Ministry to public and subsidized private schools during 2004–2008 were not properly accounted for and that nearly US$600K were illegally transferred by an accountant working in the Ministry's Santiago Regional Office to private school managers and her relatives. There were also reports of financial mismanagement in other areas, as well as duplicate enrollment of thousands of students.
Vote details
Chamber of Deputies:
Admissibility of impeachment against the Minister of Education Yasna Provoste.
Count 2: Not applying sanctions in the cases of grave infractions to the subsidizing law.
*Yes: 19
*No: 19
*Abstention: 0
*Result: Rejected.
Count 3: Not dismissing the Santiago Metropolitan Region Ministerial Secretary of Education, administratively responsible in the grave infractions and irregularities.
*Yes: 4
*No: 34
*Abstention: 0
*Result: Rejected.
Count 4: Ignoring the results and recommendations of audits that revealed the very grave irregularities committed in different programs and regions of the country.
*Yes: 14
*No: 24
*Abstention: 0
*Result: Rejected.
Count 5: Providing inaccurate or intentionally incomplete information to the public opinion and to the Chamber of Deputies, thus violating the principle of administrative probity.
*Yes: 3
*No: 34
*Abstention: 1
*Result: Rejected.
Provoste was accused by the opposition of not correcting these irregularities and was impeached as minister of Education by the Chamber of Deputies on April 3, 2008 and suspended from her post. The Senate heard her case on April 15, 2008 and voted to convict her the following day on one out of five counts. She was immediately removed from her job and disqualified from office for the following five years.
Post-impeachment life
Shortly after her impeachment Provoste moved to Canada to study. On October 15, 2008 she filed a suit against the Chilean State before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. Provoste returned to Chile in mid-2009, residing in Vallenar. In November 2010 she was elected Atacama Region president of the Christian Democrat Party with 80% of the vote, allowing her to be part of the party's National Council. In November 2013, she was elected a deputy at Chile's lower chamber of Congress, representing District 6 of the Atacama Region of northern Chile.
