In 1993, he got a degree in Administration and Management, as well as in Conflict
Negotiation from Harvard University.
In 1998 he was awarded the Simón Bolivar fellowship by the British Council and
named Senior Associate Member at Saint Anthony's College
at Oxford University.
ACHIEVEMENTS
HEAD of the Real Estate Department of Medellín's Public
Works, where he was in charge of the acquisition of the
properties needed to build the El Peñol dam as well as
of the relocation of the population of El Peñol.
GENERAL SECRETARY OF THE LABOR
MINISTRY under President Alfonso Lopez Michelsen and for
Labor Ministers Oscar Montoya and Juan Gonzalo Restrepo,
time during which he pushed through in Congress the Decree
numbered 1468 of 1978, on labor union liberties.
DIRECTOR OF CIVIL AERONAUTICS under President Julio Cesar Turbay, with the following
achievements:
- He hired and oversaw the construction
of 60% of Rionegro's Jose Maria Córdova airport which cost
30 million dollars in a negotiation which for the first
time was
- supervised by the local community under the direction
of Medellín's Chamber of Commerce.
- He was responsible for finishing
the construction of the Barranquilla airport building.
- He devised the closing steps
for the Development Plan for Cartagena's airport.
- Was responsible for the construction of Avianca airline's
terminal. The airline took charge of its administration.
- Decentralized the administration
of the Cali and Medellín airports in agreement with both
cities' Chambers of Commerce.
- Ordered important investments
towards improving the airports of some of the country's
cities and faraway regions, such as night operations in
the Bucaramanga and Cúcuta airports and jet operations
in those of Valledupar and Arauca.
- Wrote and put into effect Decree
2303 under which the operation of all runways in the country
must be approved by the military and drug enforcement agencies.
- He gave a boost to regional
air operations. Aces airline aircraft went from 6 airplanes
to 19. And Aires, a new regional airline which serves the
departments of Tolima and Huila was created.
- He hired and oversaw the design
for Bogotá's Eldorado airport second runway as well as
the updating of the airport's passenger terminal.
- He privatized the operation
designed to collect airport and exit taxes. Evasion and
corruption went down and the tax provision went from $
2.184 million pesos to $ 4.600 million in a year as a direct
consequence of this measure.
- He acquired specialized aircraft
to monitor radio signals
AS MAYOR OF MEDELLIN: under President
Belisario Betancur
Started city companies such as "Metroseguridad" and "Metromezclas"
Completed the studies and obtained the needed nation's
funds for the Medellín metro system.
Closed down the old city dump
and got private contractors for the new sanitary refill
at Curva de Rodas Designed the plans for urban renewal
of the Moravia sector in the surroundings of the old city
dump Got the central government's approval for improvement
plans in the underprivileged sectors of Medellin called "comunas" looking to create job opportunities and a better quality of life Jump-started
the so-called Intermediate Health Units Created civic organizations
for joint work with the town's administration, one of which
carried out the city's tree-planting program
Suppressed bureaucracy
PARLIAMENTARY WORK: As part of
his work as a senator, he presided over the
Senate's Seventh Committee which put through the following
laws:
Law 11/1988 by which housemaid
work was included in the national health insurance System.
Law 71/1988 or the so-called " Reforma
Pensional" ( a revision of the country's retirement plans) Law79/ 1988 An update of the
cooperative banking system
Law 16/ 1990 Democratic funding of soccer clubs Law 40/1990
Protection and development of "panela" (
raw sugar) production Law 91/1990 Jumpstarted the national
Teacher's Work Benefits Fund Law 50/ 1990 or Labor Reform
Law
Law 100/ 1993 Social Security System Law 82/ 1993 Protection
for women heads of one-parent families
Awards for senatorial service:
- "Star Senator" in
1990
- One of 5 best senators in 1992
- Elected "Senator
with the Best Projects" in 1992 by the media and his fellow congressmen.
- Best Senator of 1993
AS GOVERNOR OF ANTIOQUIA (1995-1997)
As the department of Antioquia's governor his goals were
a reduction of public spending, putting an end to politicking,
placing strict controls over the department's public
funds, encouraging savings and generating more investment
funds on behalf of the community.
He scaled down bureaucracy in
Antioquia while strengthening the state. On January 2nd
1995 there were 14.061 government jobs, by December 1997
the number had gone down to 5, 499.
This reduction notwithstanding,
he confirmed in their jobs, 348 women heads of single parent
families and 70 pre-retirement age and 45 handicapped people
received special benefits.
In 1995, the department's government
office had 409 cars whose maintenance cost the nation 12.432
million pesos a year. After the reform the number of official
cars was set at 149 which meant earnings for 7.320 million
pesos. A sum which went into paving the Fredonia-Puente
Iglesias highway with left-over funds to spare.
In 1994 official spending on office
supplies was 10.000 million pesos. In 1995, it had gone
down to 7.191 millions, in 1996 to 2.461 million pesos
and in 1997 to 1.580 million. Total savings in office supply
spending between 1995 and 1997, was 8.420 million pesos.
Savings in other areas such as
fuel, insurance, travel allowance, maintenance and security
reached 2.778 million pesos.
IN EDUCATION
As governor of Antioquia, Alvaro Uribe created 102.161
new openings in primary and secondary schools, 16.000
of which were used by students in rural areas who benefited
from the SAT, "Sistema
de Apendizaje Tutorial" ( Tutorial Learning System) and created 3.500 new jobs as well.
Alvaro Uribe created 13.180 new
openings in higher education as well as 62 in the fields
of high technology and craftsmanship.
In conjunction with several savings
banks he brought credit to 46 municipalities. In 1997,
58,317 people had savings for $22.022 millions and credit
for 26,835 millions.
The department of Antioquia which
up till then had 49,956 telephone lines, got 85,648 additional
ones during the Uribe administration. And now the whole
of the department's municipalities have digital plants
and 80 among them, have Internet connections.
HEALTH SERVICES
The poorest sector of the department, some million 20,000
people, were included in the national subsidized health
insurance system. The so-called "Servicio
Seccional de Salud" (local health services) became the country's most efficient and won the race
for productivity.
The Uribe administration eliminated
1,355 bureaucratic jobs. By December 1997, the department
had only 342 public workers and the number of official
vehicles went down from 51 to 3, such savings were later
used for investments in the health sector.
ROADS
The number of paved roads during the Uribe administration
was the highest in the history of the department. Paved
roads went from 305 kilometers to 939 in only three years.
AGRICULTURE
During his three-year tenure, Governor Uribe greatly boosted
agriculture by creating 22 community sugar cane mills,
6 fish breeding farms and 40 community tanks.
In order to stimulate the production
of rubber, the Agriculture Department planted 170 hectares
in the town of Tarazá and 70 more in the town of Mutatá.
The Uribe administration also
greatly boosted farmer associations as well as storage
centers. Six dairy centers were built and five more were
updated. Plus encouraging the building of 11 storage centers
for different products. An additional thirty-eight farmer
groups received production and marketing support for their
products.
As governor, Uribe urged the cattle
farmers of the regions of Urabá and Magdalena Medio to
rent 10% of their land to farmer community groups for cultivation
and as a way to create jobs. In an act of reconciliation,
they agreed to giving 650 hectares in Urabá and 900 in
Magdalena Medio. The Agriculture Department gave the farmers
the necessary technical assistance.
HOUSING
The Uribe administration also gave technical assistance
to low-cost housing projects in the department. One-hundred
five projects in 74 municipalities which meant 3,463
new houses were given technical assistance and 17, 315
people got new homes. An additional 21 such projects
in an equal number of municipalities benefited 4.272
people.
INDIGENOUS GROUPS
The department's different indigenous groups were given
special attention during Uribe's three-year tenure. Governor
Uribe created the "Consejería
Indigena" (Indian Council) which was especially designed to contribute to the well-being
of several indigenous groups. A 3.000 million peso investment
was made in the acquisition of land and land reform projects
on their behalf plus health benefits for 14,000 of their
members.
One of the Uribe administration's
flagship programs was the Juvenile Music Bands Program
for the department's youth. A young people's musical band
was created in each of the department's municipality and
20,000 young people were enrolled in what was deemed to
be a program to keep them away from violence.
PEACEFUL NEGOTIATION OF CONFLICTS
This program's initial goal was to train 40.000 people
in Harvard University's professor Roger Fisher's program.
But by 1997, 82,756 people had received training and
most of them were in turn, to become the program's instructors.
|