ÁLVARO URIBE VÉLEZ

President of Colombia

Álvaro Uribe Vélez was born on July 4th, 1952 in , Colombia. He is the 39th President of Colombia and is currently serving his second term in office.

Uribe started his politics career in his home department of Antioquia. He has held office in the Medellín Public Works (Empresas Públicas de Medellín) and in the Ministry of Labor and in the Civil Aeronautic. Later he held office as the mayor of Medellín in 1982, city counselor from 1984 to 1086, then he was Senator between 1986 and 1994, terms during which he received the Star Senator, Senator with the Best Programs and Best Senator awards. and finally Governor of Antioquia between 1995 and 1997 before he was elected President of Colombia in 2002.

Alvaro Uribe holds a degree in law from the Universidad de Antioquia and a post graduate degree in Management and Administration from Harvard University. From 1998 to 1999 after being awarded the Simon Bolivar Fellowship by the British Council in Bogotá, and was nominated as Senior Associate Member at the Saint Antony's College at Oxford University.

Under his presidency, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) have suffered a series of military defeats, the main paramilitary groups have gone through a demobililization process and he has spearheaded several Free Trade Agreements with different countries.