Alfonso Valdivieso Sarmiento (born 2 October 1949) is a Colombian lawyer and politician.

Biography

Alfonso Sarmiento was born in

Bucaramanga Bucaramanga () is the capital and largest city of the department of Santander, Colombia. Bucaramanga has the fifth-largest economy by GDP in Colombia, has the lowest unemployment rate and has the ninth-largest population in the country, with 68 ...

Santander Santander may refer to: Places * Santander, Spain, a port city and capital of the autonomous community of Cantabria, Spain * Santander Department, a department of Colombia * Santander State, former state of Colombia * Santander de Quilichao, a m ...

to Roberto Valdivieso Serrano and Mercedes Sarmiento Suárez. He attended ''Divino Niño'' school and ''San Pedro Claver'' school. After graduating from ''Instituto Tecnológico Santandereano'', he moved to Bogotá. He attended

Pontifical Xavierian University The Pontifical Xavierian University (in Spanish Pontificia Universidad Javeriana) is a private higher education institution founded in 1623. It is one of the oldest, most traditional, and prestigious Colombian universities, directed by the Soc ...

where he graduated in

Law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

with a concentration in Socio-Political Sciences. Afterwards he moved to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

where he received a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

in Global

Development Economics Development economics is a branch of economics which deals with economic aspects of the development process in low- and middle- income countries. Its focus is not only on methods of promoting economic development, economic growth and structural ...

(MA GDE) from

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...

, and advanced studies in Urban and Regional Development at

Toronto University The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

. He is the cousin of the late

Luis Carlos Galán Luis Carlos Galán Sarmiento (29 September 1943 – 18 August 1989) was a Colombian liberal politician and journalist who ran for the Presidency of Colombia on two occasions, the first time for the political movement New Liberalism that he fou ...

, who was assassinated when he was 39 years old.

Political and diplomatic career

As the 2nd

Attorney General of Colombia The Office of the Attorney General of Colombia ( es, Fiscalía General de la Nación; literally "General Prosecutorial Office of the Nation") is the Colombian institution part of the Colombian judicial branch of Government with administrative a ...

, he brought charges and stood against the administration of

Ernesto Samper Pizano Ernesto Samper Pizano (born 3 August 1950) is a Colombian politician. Samper is a member of the influential Samper family. He served as the President of Colombia from 1994 to 1998, representing the Liberal Party. From 2014 to 2017 he served as ...

during the ''

Proceso 8000 8,000 Process (from the es, Proceso 8.000) is the unofficial name of the legal investigation for the events surrounding accusations about the Colombian Liberal Party candidate Ernesto Samper's 1994 campaign for President of Colombia being parti ...

''. He served as the 24th

Permanent Representative of Colombia to the United Nations The Permanent Representative of Colombia to the United Nations is the Permanent Representative of the Republic of Colombia to the United Nations, accredited as Concurrent Non-Resident Ambassador to the Republic of Kosovo, and Montenegro. The P ...

and as Ambassador of

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

. A

Radical Change Radical Change ( es, Cambio Radical; stylized with a backwards "R") is a conservative liberal political party in Colombia. After the elections on 12 March 2006, the party became one of the most important in the new Congress, receiving 20 seat ...

party politician, he was elected

Representative Representative may refer to: Politics * Representative democracy, type of democracy in which elected officials represent a group of people * House of Representatives, legislative body in various countries or sub-national entities * Legislator, som ...

and

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

in the

Congress of Colombia The Congress of the Republic of Colombia ( es, Congreso de la República de Colombia) is the name given to Colombia's bicameral national legislature. The Congress of Colombia consists of the 108-seat Senate, and the 188-seat Chamber of Re ...

, and served as Minister of National Education under the administration of

Virgilio Barco Vargas Virgilio Barco Vargas (17 September 1921 – 20 May 1997) was a Colombian politician and civil engineer who served as the 27th President of Colombia serving from 7 August 1986 to 7 August 1990. Early life Barco was born in Cúcuta in the Nort ...

Biography

Political and diplomatic career

References

Further reading