Jorge Alberto Uribe Echavarría (born 30 October 1940 in

Medellín Medellín ( or ), officially the Municipality of Medellín ( es, Municipio de Medellín), is the second-largest city in Colombia, after Bogotá, and the capital of the department of Antioquia. It is located in the Aburrá Valley, a central re ...

) is a Colombian politician and businessman. In 2003 the government of President Alvaro Uribe appointed him as Minister of Defense of Colombia.

Biography

He was educated at primary and secondary schools in Colombia, with two years spent at Culver Military Academy in the United States. He completed a first degree in economics at George Washington University in the US and did post-graduate work in

international marketing Global marketing is defined as “marketing on a worldwide scale reconciling or taking global operational differences, similarities and opportunities in order to reach global objectives". Global marketing is also a field of study in general busin ...

at Besançon University in France. He served as his country's

minister of defense A defence minister or minister of defence is a cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from country to country; in som ...

, succeeding Marta Lucía Ramírez, who was Colombia's first female defence minister. Prior to that appointment, he served as Finland's honorary consul in

Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city of Colombia, and one of the larges ...

for a period of ten years. Jorge Alberto Uribe Echavarría is not related to fellow '' medellinense'' President

Álvaro Uribe Vélez Álvaro (, , ) is a Spanish, Galician and Portuguese male given name and surname (see Spanish naming customs) of Visigothic origin. Some claim it may be related to the Old Norse name Alfarr, formed of the elements ''alf'' "elf" and ''arr'' "warrior ...

, but the two are old friends.

Controversy

Jorge Alberto Uribe, rejected the accusations that the newspaper El Nuevo Herald of Miami made about the alleged affair he had with a woman arrested for drug trafficking in El Buen Pastor prison in Medellin. In a press release, the Minister confirmed that he had known this person for ten years and was aware of the alleged criminal activities the woman had been accused with. "In a single opportunity, in early 2003, seven months before my office as Minister of Defense, I visited said person at the Good Shepherd Jail Medellin.Ministro de Defensa niega aseveraciones del Nuevo Herald http://www.elcolombiano.com/BancoConocimiento/O/olac_el_ministro_uribe_responde_colprensa_ana_16112004/olac_el_ministro_uribe_responde_colprensa_ana_16112004.asp

References

1940 births Living people Colombian businesspeople Colombian Ministers of Defense Columbian College of Arts and Sciences alumni People from Antioquia Department Culver Academies alumni George Washington University alumni Colombian expatriates in the United States Colombian expatriates in France {{Colombia-politician-stub