Luis Gilberto Murillo Urrutia is the Former Elected Governor of the predominantly Afro-Colombian Department of Chocó in Colombia.[1] He is currently the Vice President for Programs and Strategy at Phelps Stokes in Washington, DC.
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Mr. Murillo’s meteoric ascent to an influential Afro-Colombian political figure began as a teenager, when he earned an unusually high score for his state on the national collegiate qualifying exams. This allowed him to be awarded Colombia’s prestigious ICETEX Scholarship to study abroad. As a result, he earned his Bachelor's degree in Mining Engineering and Master's degree in Engineering Science with a concentration in Open Pit Mining, in 1990. He also received a Certificate as Instructor of Russian Language. Because Mr. Murillo graduated with honors, he was offered to continue in a PhD program in Mining Engineering. Although initially he accepted the offer and started the program, six months later, he returned to his native country and region to contribute to his community and to gain professional experience.
In 1993, at the age of 27, Mr. Murillo was promoted by Colombian President César Gaviria to the Office of Director General of the Corporation for Sustainable Development of the State of Chocó (CODECHOCO), under the National Department of Planning. As Director of CODECHOCO, Mr. Murillo reorganized and transformed that public institution. Although difficult, this transformation was needed to respond to the challenges of developing pioneering programs to promote the protection of biodiversity and the tropical rainforest. These reforms also incorporated the defense of land rights of rural Afro-Colombian and Indigenous communities that populate Choco’s River Valley Region. In this position, Mr. Murillo played an important role in the discussion of Colombia’s National Environmental Law (Law 99/93). This law mandated the creation of the Ministry of Environmental Protection. Due to his accomplishments and managerial skills, Mr. Murillo was awarded the prestigious honor as Chocó Executive of the Year in two consecutive years, 1993 and 1994.
In 1995, Bogotá’s Mayor Antanas Mockus Sivickas and the Director of the then Department of Environmental Protection of Bogotá (DAMA), Eduardo Uribe Botero, appointed Mr. Murillo as the Deputy Director of Planning of this agency. Mr. Murillo’s tenure as a key member of DAMA’s Leadership Team was a watershed in Colombia’s history of urban environmental management, which, heretofore, had been a sector largely underdeveloped. Mr. Murillo combined his passion for environmental policy with developing a brain-trust of University Scholars. To this end, he has taught environmental policy in Colombia’s top universities.
In 1998, a coalition of the Afro-Colombian National Movement Party, the Liberal Party, and Afro-Colombian leaders drafted Mr. Murillo as their Gubernatorial Candidate for the state of Chocó, only five months before the election. Riding the wave of democratic optimism generated by the new 1991 Colombian Constitution and other encouraging developments in Latin America, Mr. Murillo, as an independent political figure, defeated the competitors of major traditional movements in Chocó and was elected governor – as one of the youngest people (age 31) elected to this office in Colombia’s history.
Determined to follow his platform of reform, Governor Murillo proposed a reorganization of the institutional structure of the state government. He pioneered the creation of a Secretariat of Ethnic Affairs and the Office of Environmental Development. He also designed and implemented the state plan for ethnic development. During Mr. Murillo’s tenure, Colombian government formalized the biggest collective land title to Afro-Colombians rural communities, under the umbrella of the Asociacion Campesina del Bajo Atrato (ACIA).
However, the intimidation and massacres against Afro-Colombian communities and their subsequent displacement from their ancestral lands had already begun. All armed groups, paramilitaries and guerrillas, committed atrocities against rural communities. Given the seriousness and difficulty of the situation of Afro-Colombian and Indigenous communities of Chocó, Governor Murillo declared the state of Chocó a territory of peace. At this point, Governor Murillo favored the creation of forces under the United Nations’ leadership and authority. At the time of this proposal, Governor Murillo was the subject of an illegal harassment. He and his family were threatened.
In January 1999, Murillo was stripped of his office by a controversial court ruling, which has been described in editorials of Colombia’s second most important newspaper El Espectador as unjust. The most influential Colombian Newsweek-style magazine Revista Semana wrote that because of a legal technicality, the political career of one of the most influential leaders in Colombia was about to end. Governor Murillo’s removal from his office had several negative ramifications for the common people of Chocó. First, public confidence in the democratic process suffered. Second, state government policies that protected the environment, the rainforest and other needed reforms were abandoned. Third, issues of concern for people of Chocó lost prominence in the national political debate.
After leaving the Governor’s Office, Mr. Murillo continued being an outspoken leader on issues of environment, democracy, security, and development. In 2000, Murillo was kidnapped by an illegal armed group. After being released some hours later, and because of the lack of government protection, he was forced to leave the country with his family. Governor Murillo relocated to the United States, where he became one of the most visible voices for equality, security, and development in Colombia. Undaunted by the turbulence of his political life, Mr. Murillo was determined from the outcome of his debacle of a greater need for political debate and organizing and he began working at the Lutheran World Relief (LWR), as the US-Colombia Policy Coordinator and was later, promoted to the position of Senior International Policy Analyst. Governor Murillo worked hard to make the voices of marginalized global citizens, especially Colombians, heard in the foreign policy debate in Washington, D.C. and the international community. His work was part of Lutheran World Relief’s efforts to resolve conflict and to build peace around the world through local projects backed by education and advocacy in the United States.
Governor Murillo is one of the most active international advocates of Afro-Colombians and Afro-Latinos. He has been a catalystic force in creating links between Afro-Colombian, Afro-Latino and African American civil society, public, and popular elected leaders. Moreover, Governor Murillo is a well-known political advocate for U.S. foreign aid that promotes equality and just development in Latin America and, hence calls for broad changes in U.S. policy toward the region. Governor Murillo regularly participates in Congressional Briefings and lectures about critical topics of foreign policy in the United States. Articles written by, or about Governor Murillo have appeared in the Washington Post, Baltimore Sun, Miami Herald, New Amsterdam, Chicago Tribune, Source and Crisis Magazines, among others.
Governor Murillo also has served on the board of directors and on advisory committees of various U.S. based organizations, such as the Colombian Human Rights Committee, US Office on Colombia, American Friends Service Committee, the Global Exchange Speaking Bureau, and the Center for International Policy.
Through all of his years in Colombia, Russia, and the United States, Governor Murillo has accumulated a great deal of practical knowledge and a variety of experiences. Now he is combining those experiences and putting then into practice at Phelps Stokes Fund. In his capacity as Senior Fellow and Vice President for Programs and Strategy,[1] Mr. Murillo is leading an ambitious initiative that integrates leadership, development, security, energy, environment, and culture within the framework of foreign policy. The aim of this initiative is to promote just development and diversity in Latin America and throughout the world, through the promotion of youth leadership, creative social and economic inclusion, and policy and institutional transformation that are sensitive to Afro-Descendants, Indigenous, and other marginalized social groups.