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What I learned from Alvaro

A politician made with a firm hand

Alvaro Uribe Velez was born in Medellin Antioquia the 4th July 1952. Alberto Uribe and Laura Velez, his parents, thought it was important for him and his four siblings (Santiago, Maria Isabel, Maria Teresa and Jaime Alberto) to split their time between the city and the farms that the family owned in the country side. Uribe´s mother was one of his role models to become a politician, as she was elected to be a senator after being part of a referendum for women´s rights. He is now married to Lina Moreno, who graduated with a bachelor in philosophy from the University of Antioquia where the couple met, and with whom he has two children: Tomas ( who decided to become a chemical engineer) and Jeronimo Alberto ( who became an economist).
 

Education to achieve a good formation

Uribe spent his high school years in the Jorge Robledo Institute where he had an outstanding performance; consequently, he was named the best senior of his class. Afterwards, he followed a series of academic studies in different insittues such as the University of Antioquia where he obtained a law degree in 1977, in Harvard University where he majored in Special Studies in Administration and Management and got a degree for Negotiation and Dispute at St Antony´s College in Oxford under the Simon Bolivar scholarship coverage.
 

Journey to success

Alvaro Uribe went through several minor political positions such as being the Director of Civil Aviation from 1980 to 1982 under Julio Cesar Turbay´s government, where he was in charge of granting construction licenses of airports. He left this position in order to become Medellin´s mayor for five months, afterwards he became Medellin´s councilman con 1984 followed by his position as senator, where he obtained the Star senator along with the Senator with best iniciatives and Best Senator awards.
Despite the short lasting positions he was able to make huge improvements I different cities .Under his leadership , the international airports of Barranquilla and Cucuta were finished, the Puente Aereo in Bogota was constructed, he promoted a civic project in Medellin and created Metroseguridad as well as Metrosalud. Uribe did the Pension and labour reform, the soccer clubs´ funding and the protection of women as housewives.

Accomplished dreams

In 2002, he became the first president to be elected after the first voting round since the constitution of 1991when the law about election was created. Uribe was president during two periods in which the country had a major improvement economically and socially. The GDP doubled, as well as the number of tourists and the number of homicides and violations to the DIH decreased to half. Uribe´s government was known for its battle against insurgent groups and drug trafficking, which made up the democratic security campaign, he also made several military attacks such as Jaque and Phoenix.

Going back to the origins

After Uribe ended his government period, he worked as a professor and lecturer giving talks in various prestigious universities such as Georgetown, Wharton and Harvard. He began a political party called Uribe Democratic Center and was elected senator of the republic. In 2014, he was given The best Senator award, he has been previously awarded the Revel Leaders 2020, Great Colombian and Best political governor of  Latin America of the decades awards being one of the most well- known politicians that Colombia has ever had.






© 2015 Estefania Benavides P