Tomás González Estrada (born 1969) is a Colombian economist. He was an Economic Counselor in the government of

Andrés Pastrana Arango Andrés Pastrana Arango (born 17 August 1954) is a Colombian politician who was the List of presidents of Colombia, 30th President of Colombia from 1998 to 2002, following in the footsteps of his father, Misael Pastrana Borrero, who was presi ...

and the Minister of Mines and Energy in the second government of

Juan Manuel Santos Juan Manuel Santos Calderón (; born 10 August 1951) is a Colombian politician who was the President of Colombia from 2010 to 2018. He was the sole recipient of the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize. An economist by profession and a journalist by trade, ...

. On 7 March 2016, his resignation from the position was accepted due to the country's energy crisis by

El Niño El Niño (; ; ) is the warm phase of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and is associated with a band of warm ocean water that develops in the central and east-central equatorial Pacific (approximately between the International Date L ...

2015-16 and the fire at Guatape power plant.

Biography

González Estrada was born 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 ...

. He holds a master's degree from the University of Los Andes, with a Master's and Ph.D. in Economics from the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

. He was a researcher and professor at the Faculty of Economics of the University of Los Andes.

Political career

Tomás González was an Economic Counselor in the government of

Andrés Pastrana Andres or Andrés may refer to: *Andres, Illinois, an unincorporated community in Will County, Illinois, US *Andres, Pas-de-Calais, a commune in Pas-de-Calais, France *Andres (name) *Hurricane Andres * "Andres" (song), a 1994 song by L7 See also ...

from 1998 to 2000. From 2000 and 2002 he was Deputy Director of National Planning under the direction of Juan Carlos Echeverry. He has been technical secretary of the National Council of Economic and Social Policy (CONPES), External Affairs Manager of BP Colombia, member of the Council of Ministers, and a board member of ISA, , FEN, IPSE, and UPME. González was appointed Deputy Minister of Mines and Energy under Ministers

Carlos Rodado Noriega Carlos Enrique Rodado Noriega (born 20 September 1943) is a Colombian engineer and politician currently serving as Ambassador of Colombia to Argentina. He served as the 28th and 9th Minister of Mines and Energy of Colombia, first in the adminis ...

, Mauricio Cárdenas, and Federico Renjifo. He was program coordinator of the Good Government Foundation. In 2014, in the second term of

, he was appointed Minister of Mines and Energy.

Minister of Mines and Energy

Among González Estrada's initiatives were the elaboration and execution of Plan 5 Caribe – seeking to improve the provision of energy service in the Colombian Caribbean coast – the expansion and coverage for interconnected and non-interconnected areas of the country, and the production of crude oil in excess of one million barrels, that the country sustained for nine consecutive months for the first time in history. His pillars of management were supply, competitiveness, and equity. In March 2016 the Inspector General of the Nation opened a formal disciplinary investigation against González for contracts made between the Presidency of the Republic and a polling company that was closed in January 2017. He later served as Alternative Executive Director at the

International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution, headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of 190 countries. Its stated mission is "working to foster globa ...

and is currently the Director of the Regional Center for Energy Studie
CREE
and teaches Energy Economics at

University of Los Andes (Colombia) The University of The Andes ( es, Universidad de los Andes), also commonly self-styled as Uniandes, is a private research university located in the city centre of Bogotá, Colombia. Founded in 1948 by a group of Colombian intellectuals led by Mar ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gonzalez Estrada, Tomas 1969 births Alumni of the London School of Economics Colombian Conservative Party politicians Colombian economists Living people Ministers of Mines and Energy of Colombia Politicians from Bogotá University of Los Andes (Colombia) alumni Academic staff of the University of Los Andes (Colombia)