Dilian Francisca Toro Torres (born 6 January 1959) is a Colombian physician and politician, she served as Senator of Colombia from 2002 to 2013. She was investigated by the Supreme Court of Justice of Colombia on charges of

money laundering Money laundering is the process of concealing the origin of money, obtained from illicit activities such as drug trafficking, corruption, embezzlement or gambling, by converting it into a legitimate source. It is a crime in many jurisdictions ...

, and remained under preventive detention from 25 July 2012 to 1 August 2013 at the Police Centre for Higher Studies (Cespo) in Bogotá. She currently serves as Governor of Valle del Cauca Department.

Personal life

Dilian Francisca was born on 6 January 1959, in

Guacarí Guacarí is a town and municipality located in the Department of Valle del Cauca, Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's ...

, Colombia. When she was 15 years old, she co-founded ''Casa de la Cultura of Guacarí'', a non-profit cultural organization working with at-risk groups. She studied Medicine at the Free University of Colombia, at Cali, where she graduated as

Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery ( la, Medicinae Baccalaureus, Baccalaureus Chirurgiae; abbreviated most commonly MBBS), is the primary medical degree awarded by medical schools in countries that follow the tradition of the United King ...

; she latter attended Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, in Brazil, where she specialized in Rheumatology. Upon returning to Colombia, she was elected councilwoman for the Municipality of Guacarí, and in 1992 she became Mayor of Guacarí post which she occupied until 1994. In 1996, she married former Senator Julio César Caicedo Zamorano in a religious ceremony officiated in the ''San Juan Bautista de Guacarí'' church, that same year she was named Secretary of Health for the Department of Valle del Cauca. Toro inherited the political support once held by the former liberal party leader in Valle del Cauca Carlos Abadía who was jailed as part of the 8000 process scandal, in which members of the Cali Cartel financed the political campaigns of numerous politicians including the presidential campaign of Ernesto Samper who resulted elected.

Senator of Colombia

Toro was first elected to Congress as a Liberal Party candidate in the 2002 Legislative Elections receiving a total of 71,721 votes. Because of her support for 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 ...

and his bid for re-election, Toro was sanctioned by the Liberal Party in 2004, which prompted to join a splinter group of Congresspersons from different parties who joined to form the Social National Unity Party and backed President Uribe. In 2006 Toro was re-elected senator, and elected by her peers as

President of the Senate of Colombia The President of the Senate of Colombia ( es, Presidente del Senado de la República de Colombia) is the leader of the Senate and the Congress of the Republic of Colombia. The Presidency of Congress is assumed by the person elected as President ...

Presidential band incident

During the inauguration ceremony of President Uribe for his second term, as president of the Congress of Colombia, she became the first woman to ever administer the

oath of office An oath of office is an oath or affirmation a person takes before assuming the duties of an office, usually a position in government or within a religious body, although such oaths are sometimes required of officers of other organizations. Such ...

to the President of Colombia. There was a controversy however, Toro made a mistake and placed the presidential band backwards, with the Colombian flag colors inverted. When Toro was interviewed about this, she explained that "it was to bring good fortune to the new government... ...because you are supposed to wear your panties inverted for good luck".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Toro, Dilian Francisca 1959 births Living people People from Valle del Cauca Department Free University of Colombia alumni Colombian rheumatologists Colombian women in politics Mayors of places in Colombia Colombian Liberal Party politicians Social Party of National Unity politicians Presidents of the Senate of Colombia Women rheumatologists 20th-century women physicians 21st-century women physicians