María Emma Mejía Vélez

María Emma Mejía Vélez
Secretary General of the Union of South American Nations
In office 2011–2012
Preceded by	Néstor Kirchner
Succeeded by	Alí Rodríguez Araque
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office July 1996 – 25 March 1998
President	Ernesto Samper Pizano
Preceded by	Rodrigo Pardo García-Peña
Succeeded by	Camilo Reyes Rodríguez
Colombia Ambassador to Spain
In office 1993–1995
President	César Gaviria Trujillo
Preceded by	Ernesto Samper Pizano
Succeeded by	Humberto de la Calle Lombana
Personal details
Born	(1953-09-27) 27 September 1953 Medellín, Antioquia, Colombia
Political party	Alternative Democratic Pole
Other political affiliations	Colombian Liberal Party
Spouse	Lucas Caballero Reyes (1980-1995)
Children	Pedro Lucas Caballero Mejía
Residence(s)	Bogotá, DC, Colombia
Alma mater	Pontifical Bolivarian University University of Valle
Profession	Journalist

María Emma Mejía Vélez (born 27 September 1953) is a Colombian journalist and politician who has served as Colombian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of National Education, and Ambassador to Spain. She currently works as Executive President of the Pies Descalzos Foundation, a charity founded by the Colombian singer-songwriter Shakira and collaborates as a journalist in the El Radar a Colombian investigative television news program that airs in Caracol TV.

Vélez succeeded Néstor Kirchner of Argentina following his death to become the 2nd Secretary General of the Union of South American Nations.

Background

María Emma Mejía Vélez was born to Luis Mejía Arango and Sofía Vélez Pérez on 27 September 1953 in Medellín, Antioquia.

After graduating from the Gimnasio Los Pinares high school in Medellín, on November 1971, she worked for a short time as a fashion model. She went on to study Social communication at the Pontifical Bolivarian University, from where she did not graduate, to go on sabbatical to London where she held various jobs including working for the Colombian Consulate and the BBC. While at London she also studied cinematography and television which lead her to direct two films by the age of 23.

On her return to Colombia Fernando Gómez Agudelo, a pioneer of the Colombian television industry, named her assistant to the writer and director Bernardo Romero Pereiro.

Work in politics

FOCINE

María Emma entered politics thanks to her work as a film director, when President Belisario Betancur named her Director of the Cinematographic Fomenting Company (FOCINE) making this her first public post. Her work as Director of FOCINE was seen as successful for achieving greater State support for the Film Industry of Colombia, but at the same time her success was criticized for only benefiting a few group of film producers.

Presidential Advisory Council

After her work in FOCINE she became attracted to the ideas of Luis Carlos Galán, and it was his assassination which drove her to become more politically active, this time working with the presidential electoral campaign of César Gaviria Trujillo as Secretary General of the campaign. After the election, Gaviria Trujillo named her as head of the Presidential Security Advisory Council on Medellín.

As head of this advisory council she was faced with a barrage of existing and growing problems that included the violent rule of Pablo Escobar that had transformed Medellín into a battle field of car bombs explosions, drug trade, and shanty towns.