María Emma Mejía Vélez

María Emma Mejía Vélez
Secretary General Mejía during an UNASUR event in 2012.
2nd 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 of Colombia
In office July 1996 – 25 March 1998
President	Ernesto Samper Pizano
Preceded by	Rodrigo Pardo García-Peña
Succeeded by	Camilo Reyes Rodríguez
Minister of National Education of Colombia
In office July 1995 – July 1996
President	Ernesto Samper Pizano
Preceded by	Arturo Sarabia Bette
Succeeded by	Olga Duque de Ospina
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
Nationality	Colombian
Political party	Alternative Democratic Pole
Other political affiliations	Liberal
Spouse(s)	Lucas Caballero Reyes (1980-1995)
Children	Pedro Lucas Caballero Mejía
Residence	Bogotá, D.C., Colombia
Occupation	Journalist
Religion	Roman Catholic

María Emma Mejía Vélez (born 27 September 1953) is a Colombian journalist and diplomat. She served as the 2nd Secretary General of the Union of South American Nations (2011-2012), Minister of Foreign Affairs of Colombia (1996-1998), and Ambassador of Colombia to Spain (1993-1995).

She currently works as Executive President of Pies Descalzos Foundation, a charity founded by the Colombian singer-songwriter Shakira, and collaborates as a journalist for El Radar, a Colombian investigative television news program that airs in Caracol TV.

Background

María Emma was born on 27 September 1953 in Medellín, Antioquia, to Luis Mejía Arango and Sofía Vélez Pérez.^[1]

After graduating from the Gimnasio Los Pinares high school in Medellín, on November 1971, she worked for a short time as a fashion model.^[2] 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.^[1] While at London she also studied cinematography and television, which led her to direct two films by the age of 23.^[1]

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.

References