Region: Colombia

Cristina Vélez Valencia

Cristina Vélez Valencia is currently the Vice president for Public-Private Partnerships of the Chamber of Commerce of Bogotá and is in charge of programs to foster regional integration and economic development, as well as the Chamber's knowledge management among other programs involving public and private sectors. Until June 2019, she served as the Secretary for Social Integration in the Mayoralty of Bogotá. She oversaw a department with over 9500 employees and a budget in excess of $360 million. The department defines and implements social policy in a city of over 7 million residents and is responsible for comprehensive programs for early childhood, aging populations, homelessness, youth, people with disabilities, and…

Alejandro Pacheco

Alejandro Pacheco is currently the Deputy Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Colombia. Previously, he served as Strategic Adviser for Latin America and the Caribbean, after having led the poverty and inequality area of UNDP Haiti and managed the Government's flagship early recovery and reconstruction program. Alejandro served as Private Sector Specialist for UNDP El Salvador and Belize, as well as Country Adviser for Argentina, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, and Venezuela for the same organization. He has supported the creation and implementation of public policies in developing countries with impact on thousands of micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises. Previously, Alejandro worked as a consultant for the Spanish…

Livia Sobota

Livia Sobota is a Brazilian career diplomat with nearly two decades of experience in public service. She heads the International Cooperation Unit at the Brazilian Embassy in Colombia, focusing her work on that country’s most vulnerable regions. She also served at the Permanent Mission of Brazil to the United Nations in New York. Livia represented Brazil in several UN negotiations on sustainable development, as well as in cross-regional initiatives on humanitarian assistance and building peaceful, just, and inclusive societies. Notably, Livia was one of the three leading negotiators for 130+ developing countries during the 2016 review of the UN Development System. Previously, she worked as an advisor to the Office…

Claudia López

Claudia López is the Mayor of Bogotá, previously serving as a Senator for the Republic of Colombia from 2014 to 2019. Her dedication to strengthening human rights and the rule of law makes her one of the most well-known contributors to democratic development in Colombia. A former researcher for New Rainbow Corporation and Civil Society Electoral Mission, Claudia is one of Colombia's most respected political analysts: she exposed the infiltration of paramilitary death squads at some of the highest levels of Colombia’s political system. Her research on the infiltration of paramilitary groups in the Colombian Congress triggered a national scandal known as "parapolitics" which led to the legal investigation of…

Angela Orozco-Gomez

Angela Orozco-Gomez is Minister of Transportation for the government of Colombia. She was previously a partner at Vali Consultores S.A.S and Before CEO of her own consulting firm – Research & Opportunities, where she worked to strengthen the Colombian export and manufacturer sectors. Angela previously headed the Colombian Flower Exporters Association, Asocolflores, participating actively in the Colombian defense strategy for counteracting the Antidumping Processes and Duties imposed by the U.S. Department of Commerce in the 1990s, as well as the Colombian Flower Sector lobby before the U.S. Congress between 1995 and 1998. As the country's top trade official, Angela helped design and implement a negotiation strategy in preparation for Free…

Paula Moreno

Paula Moreno is Founder and President of Manos Visibles (Visible Hands), a Colombian NGO that implements development strategies to strengthen urban youth organizations and communities of women, with an emphasis on high-risk ethnic communities. Since 2010, Visible Hands has reached more than 500 community leaders and organizations that influence more than 25,000 Colombians. Paula is the former Minister of Culture of Colombia, the youngest woman and first Afro descendant to be appointed as a cabinet minister in the country's history. For her service to the Government of Colombia and the nation as Minister of Culture, Paula was awarded the Order of Saint Charles in 2010 by President Uribe, and in…

Cecilia Barja-Chamas

Cecilia Barja-Chamas is a writer of narratives that mobilize to act on behalf of the ousted and disenfranchised. She works in the public sector and civil society leading complex multi-sector, multi-year, and cross-borders sustainable programs in her home country Bolivia and throughout Latin America. Being part of a new generation that started a new era of politics in Bolivia, and later as a team member that built systemic change toward sustainable development in the Pan Amazon and the peace process in Colombia, she has deepened her understanding of the complexity and beauty of social processes towards the common good. She was a Mason Fellow at the Ash Center at Harvard…

Natalia Arboleda

Natalia Arboleda is an attorney and a diplomat specializing in human rights, humanitarian, and public international law. During her 15-year career, she has negotiated peace agreements with guerrilla groups, represented Colombia at the U.N. Security Council, and led reconciliation efforts in remote areas of Colombia. Natalia was a core member of Colombia’s peace negotiating team in Havana, where under the auspices of Cuba and Norway, Colombia and the FARC guerrilla group brought one of the longest armed conflicts in the world to an end. After the successful negotiation of the peace agreement, Natalia played an active role in the approval of the constitutional amendments required to implement the terms of…

Meet Claudia López, the first woman to lead Colombia's capital

Yale Greenberg World Fellows Interview Series: Cristina Vélez Valencia