María del Rosario Guerra de La Espriella

María del Rosario Guerra de La Espriella is a Colombian economist, professor and politician who has served as Senator of Colombia since 2014. Maria Del Rosario was elected under the newly created political party, the Democratic Center which is led by former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe. Maria Del Rosario previously served as Minister of Communications under President Alvaro Uribe, from July 2006 until January 2010.^[1] In March 2017, Maria Del Rosario announced her candidacy for President of Colombia.^[2]

Career

Maria Del Rosario is economist from the Del Rosario University, she also graduated with a Masters in Public Administration at the Harvard University and has a Masters in Agricultural Economy from Cornell University.

She was appointed Minister of Communications during the second term of President Alvaro Uribe. Maria Del Rosario, had previously held roles as Vice Chancellor of Del Rosario University and also served as Director of the Administrative Department of Science, Technology and Innovation - Colciencias, among others charges. One of her main contributions was to implement the Law of Technologies of Information and Communication, TIC (Law 1341 of 2009), and the Law on the Services Postcards (Law 1369 of 2009). She also led programs to expand internet access to marginalised regions of Colombia by expanding the Digital Citizen initiative. Maria is a professor at Del Rosario University, University of the Andes and the National University of Colombia.

Political career

In March 2014, She was elected Senator of the Republic for the period 2014-2018 under the Democratic Centre, political movement that was created and currently led by former President Alvaro Uribe. Maria Del Rosario became the de factor deputy leader of the Democratic Centre in the Senate, behind President Uribe who was also elected Senator.^[3] In March 2017, Maria Del Rosario launched her presidential bid for the upcoming presidential elections scheduled in 2018. She is seen as the leading contender for the party nomination, which is expected to be finalised by September 2017.^[4]

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