Álvaro Uribe Vélez Biography

Álvaro Uribe Vélez was born in Medellín, Antioquia (Colombia), on July 4, 1952. He is a politician, who presided over the country during two terms: 2002-2006 and 2006-2010. He is the founder of the Democratic Center political party and is currently a senator of the Republic.

Son of Alberto Uribe Sierra and Laura Vélez Uribe, he has two brothers and two sisters: Santiago, Jaime Alberto, María Teresa and María Isabel. Álvaro Uribe grew up between Medellín and the southwest of Antioquia, where his family had several farms. He finished high school at the Jorge Robledo school and later enrolled at the University of Antioquia, wherein in 1977 he obtained his law degree. After working for Empresas Públicas de Medellín, his superiors promoted him to Head of Assets. A year later, he would act as general secretary in the Ministry of Labor, where he would hold the post until 1978. By 1982, he would be Director of Civil Aviation, contributing to the construction of the airports of Barranquilla, Frontino, Urrao, Caucasia, Amalfi, and Cúcuta, as well as with the construction of the Air Bridge at the El Dorado International Airport.

In 1982, he was appointed by the Antioquia governor, Álvaro Villegas, as mayor of Medellín. However, he would exercise his position for only five months, after leaving presenting his resignation.

This fact caused great controversy, because the president of the Republic at that time, Belisario Betancur, informed by Fabio Echeverri, believed that it was related to the Medellin Cartel. Despite this, Álvaro Uribe was a city councilor from 1984 to 1986, and then a senator of the Republic during 1986 and 1994.

While serving as a senator, he served as President of the Seventh Commission. He also supported Law 71, through which the pension system was reformed in 1988; Law 16, according to which the Colombian football clubs would be democratically financed in 1990; Law 50, by which the labor system was reformed in 1990; the Law on the Protection of Women, Head of the Family, 1993; among many others.

In 1993, he obtained certificates in Administration and Finance from the Extension School of Harvard University and later in Conflict Negotiation. Later, thanks to the Simón Bolívar scholarship of the British Council, Álvaro Uribe studied at St Antony’s College in Oxford, England where he also participated as SAM, Senior Associate Member.

In 1995, he was Governor of Antioquia by democratic vote, surpassing his opponent, Alfonso Núñez Lapeira, by 418 votes. During its mandate, the paved races tripled, the quota for education was increased by 102,000 and the Cooperativas de Vigilancia Convivir were defended, which would later act as paramilitary groups.

By 2002, Uribe was launched as a presidential candidate. At first, he wanted to do it through the Liberal Party, but this already had Horacio Serpa and it did not seem that he had the same guarantees. That is why he was presented as an independent candidate, although receiving the support of the Conservative Party, which at that time had no candidate, as well as several liberal heads. That same year he would be elected president in the first round, obtaining 53% of the votes. On August 7, 2002, while he was invested in the Nariño Palace, the FARC detonated four mortars in the vicinity of the place. During his government, he fought terrorism and agreed to the demobilization of the AUC, the main paramilitary group; although several members of his cabinet would be trialed in the future for having links with these illegal forces.

In 2006, after reforming the Constitution to allow immediate reelection, Álvaro Uribe returned to be president with 62.35% of the votes. During this period, the government lashed the FARC with Operation Fénix

and Operation Jaque, where former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt was rescued after six years of captivity. Also, during this period several cases of false positives were reported, in which civilians were murdered and then dressed as guerrillas and collect rewards; the Yidispolítica; the scandal of Agro Ingreso Seguro, and Parapolítica cases continued to be investigated.

After the failure of the second attempt of re-election, Uribe left power in 2010. After his mandate, he joined an international commission to clarify an attack on a fleet in Gaza and taught at Georgetown University, where he was appointed Distinguished Professor in the Practice on Global Leadership.

In 2013, he founded the Democratic Center party and the following year he was elected as senator of the Republic by the same party for the period 2014-2018. During the mandate of Juan Manuel Santos, whose campaign to achieve the presidency was promoted by himself, he presided over the opposition and carried out a campaign to promote the “No” during the plebiscite for the agreements of peace with the FARC. A campaign that would achieve its end after obtaining 50.21% of the votes, of which the majority were from the department of Antioquia.