Federico Gutiérrez
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Federico Andrés Gutiérrez Zuluaga (born 28 November 1974) is a Colombian politician, civil engineer, who currently serves as the mayor of Medellín, having held this office previously from 2016 to 2019. Before being mayor, he had been a member of the Medellín municipal council from 2004 to 2011. A member of the Creemos Colombia party, Gutiérrez was the candidate for the
2022 Colombian presidential election Presidential elections were held in Colombia on 29 May 2022, with a Two-round system, runoff on 19 June 2022 as no candidate obtained at least 50% in the first round of voting. Iván Duque, who was elected president in 2018 Colombian presidenti ...
as the winner of the
primary Primary or primaries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Primary (band), from Australia * Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea * Primary Music, Israeli record label Work ...
of the conservative
Team for Colombia Team for Colombia, popularly known as the Experience Coalition or Coalition of the Regions, was a centre-right and right-wing political coalition in Colombia. It was formed in October 2021 for participation in the 2022 Colombian presidential elect ...
coalition.


Education, personal life and professional career

Federico Gutiérrez was born in
Medellín Medellín ( ; or ), officially the Special District of Science, Technology and Innovation of Medellín (), is the List of cities in Colombia, second-largest city in Colombia after Bogotá, and the capital of the department of Antioquia Departme ...
in 1974, to Hernán Gutiérrez Isaza and Amparo Zuluaga Gómez. He has been married to Margarita Gómez Marín since 2006 and has two children, Emilio and Pedro. He studied
civil engineering Civil engineering is a regulation and licensure in engineering, professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads ...
and senior management at the University of Medellín and
political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...
at the
Pontifical Bolivarian University The Pontifical Bolivarian University (), also referred to as UPB, is a private university in Colombia with its main campus in Medellín, where it was founded in 1936. As of 2023, the university is ranked among the top four universities in Colombia ...
. During his post-secondary studies, Gutiérrez was elected to the youth municipal council (in 1999) and served as municipal planning adviser, participating in the analysis of the city's development plan for the years 2001 to 2003. In the private sector, Gutiérrez worked as a consultant for HGI consulting and as a resident engineer for Vifasa. Between 2011 and 2015, Gutiérrez worked as a consultant on urban security for the
Autonomous City of Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...
(
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) and the municipality of
Celaya Celaya (; Otomi: ) is a city and its surrounding municipality in the state of Guanajuato, Mexico, located in the southeast quadrant of the state. It is the third most populous city in the state, with a 2005 census population of 310,413. The muni ...
(
Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
).


Political career

Gutiérrez was elected to the Medellín municipal council in the 2003 municipal elections for the New Party (''Nuevo Partido'') and reelected to the same office four years later, but for the
Party of the U The Union Party for the People (), or Party of the U (), is a liberal political party in Colombia. The Party is led by former president Juan Manuel Santos. After supporting the presidencies of Álvaro Uribe, Juan Manuel Santos and Iván Duque, ...
(''Partido de la U''). In the 2007 election, Gutiérrez received 13,932 preferential votes, which at the time was a local record. In 2008 during his second term he was president of the municipal council. In his first term, Gutiérrez was one of the few councillors who supported then-mayor
Sergio Fajardo Sergio Fajardo Valderrama (; born 19 June 1956) is a Colombian politician and mathematician. He first entered politics in 2003 when he was elected Mayor of Medellin, Medellín, the List of cities in Colombia, second-largest city in Colombia and ...
(2004–2008), and he later supported mayor
Alonso Salazar Alonso is a Spanish name of Germanic origin that is a Castilian variant of ''Adalfuns''. The original Visigothic name ''Alfonso'' suffered the phonetic change of the phoneme /f/ into the mute /h/ in the Early Middle Ages (around 9th Century), w ...
although they later distanced themselves politically. Gutiérrez ran for mayor of Medellín in the 2011 municipal elections, as the candidate of the Party of the U backed by senator Germán Hoyos. He was marginalized in a polarized race between his two main rivals, and placed third with 18.9% of the vote (120,278 votes). Gutiérrez's 2011 mayoral aspiration was supported by former
President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...
Álvaro Uribe Álvaro Uribe Vélez (born 4 July 1952) is a Colombian politician who served as the 31st President of Colombia from 7 August 2002 to 7 August 2010. Uribe started his political career in his home department of Antioquia Department, Antioquia. H ...
, although Uribe's preferred candidate, Gabriel Jaime Rico, had failed to win the Party of the U's nomination. Gutiérrez has maintained good relations with Uribism, a redoubtable political force in the city and department.


2015 mayoral election

After his defeat, Gutiérrez began planning for a second mayoral candidacy, in the 2015 municipal election. He formalized his candidacy in 2014, forming an alliance with Federico Restrepo (as gubernatorial candidate) with the support of
Sergio Fajardo Sergio Fajardo Valderrama (; born 19 June 1956) is a Colombian politician and mathematician. He first entered politics in 2003 when he was elected Mayor of Medellin, Medellín, the List of cities in Colombia, second-largest city in Colombia and ...
's political movement. Both Gutiérrez and Restrepo did not seek out a political party's nomination, and instead launched their bids independently obtaining ballot access through signatures. His candidacy was challenged by former mayor Alonso Salazar, who had been Fajardo's mayoral candidate in 2007. Salazar entered the race in February 2015 and criticized Gutiérrez for being a "
Trojan Horse In Greek mythology, the Trojan Horse () was a wooden horse said to have been used by the Greeks during the Trojan War to enter the city of Troy and win the war. The Trojan Horse is not mentioned in Homer, Homer's ''Iliad'', with the poem ending ...
" for Uribism, because of Gutiérrez's good relations with Uribe's supporters in the city and for supporting Uribe's presidential candidate
Óscar Iván Zuluaga Óscar Iván Zuluaga Escobar (; born 3 February 1959) is a Colombian politician and economist who was the Democratic Center's nominee for President of Colombia in the 2014 election. He won the most votes in the first round of the election and ...
in the 2014 presidential election. In June 2015, Restrepo – pressured by Fajardo – dropped his alliance with Gutiérrez and recreated his tandem with Salazar as his ally in the Medellín mayoral race. Nevertheless, Gutiérrez remained strong in the polls, although trailing Juan Carlos Vélez, the candidate of Uribe's Democratic Center by the end. Two weeks before the election, the
Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...
's candidate Eugenio Prieto dropped out and endorsed Gutiérrez, in an effort to unite forces against Juan Carlos Vélez. Gutiérrez was the surprise winner of the mayoral election held on 25 October 2015, narrowly defeating Juan Carlos Vélez by 9,589 votes (246,221 votes (35.81%) to 236,632 votes (34.42%)). As Mayor, he figured in the top positions of the National Ranking of Mayors, with Alejandro Char, Juan Pablo Gallo, Rodolfo Hernández Suárez and Marcos Daniel Pineda. In July 2017, his security secretary, Gustavo Villegas, was arrested for giving information to criminal organizations.


2022 presidential elections

In August 2021, Federico Gutiérrez completed the formal act to formalize his candidacy for the presidency of the Republic of Colombia independently, by collecting signatures without the support of any political party or having the backing of recognized politicians such as
Álvaro Uribe Álvaro Uribe Vélez (born 4 July 1952) is a Colombian politician who served as the 31st President of Colombia from 7 August 2002 to 7 August 2010. Uribe started his political career in his home department of Antioquia Department, Antioquia. H ...
. Even though several right-wing politicians and parties have declared they support Gutiérrez, he has been clear he has a preference for centrism, and he does not mind if he is tagged as right-wing or left-wing by those who are polarized in the political spectrum. During November 2021 Gutiérrez joined other former public servers in the Centre-Right Equipo por Colombia political coalition, along with
Enrique Peñalosa Enrique Peñalosa Londoño (born 30 September 1954) is a Colombian politician. He was Mayor of Bogotá, mayor of Bogotá from 1998 until 2001 and elected again in 2015 for the 2016–2019 term. Early life and education Peñalosa was born in ...
, Juan Carlos Echeverry,
Dilian Francisca Toro 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, and ...
, David Barguil, and
Alejandro Char Alejandro Char Chaljub (born 16 April 1966), commonly known as Alex Char, is a Colombian politician. He is Mayor of Barranquilla for the third time, having previously served two terms from 2008 to 2011 and 2016 to 2019. A civil engineer and m ...
. Gutiérrez took the second place in the polls at the end of October 2021, due to his somewhat unexpected political success he was invited to the debate of Prisa Media where he was representing one of the 3 different political sectors of Colombia, he was debating with
Gustavo Petro Gustavo Francisco Petro Urrego (; born 19 April 1960) is a Colombian politician who is the 34th and current president of Colombia since 2022. Upon inauguration, he became the Pink tide, first left-wing president in the History of Colombia, recen ...
and
Sergio Fajardo Sergio Fajardo Valderrama (; born 19 June 1956) is a Colombian politician and mathematician. He first entered politics in 2003 when he was elected Mayor of Medellin, Medellín, the List of cities in Colombia, second-largest city in Colombia and ...
, two of the most famous and favorite politicians for recent elections, during that debate Gutiérrez showed himself as clear opposition of Gustavo Petro (number one in election polls), Gutiérrez gained favoritism of those who don't see Petro as the best option for Colombia and maintained favoritism in the polls as it was confirmed by Guarumo during a new poll completed during February 2022. During the Parliamentary elections on 13 March 2022, different consultations to elect a presidential candidate also took place. Gutiérrez won first place for Equipo por Colombia with over 1.8 million votes, improving his chances to become
President of Colombia The president of Colombia (President of the Republic) is the head of state and head of government of Colombia. The president heads the executive branch of the Government of Colombia, national government and is the commander-in-chief of the Mil ...
in 2022. The major traditional parties such as the Democratic Center, the
Party of the U The Union Party for the People (), or Party of the U (), is a liberal political party in Colombia. The Party is led by former president Juan Manuel Santos. After supporting the presidencies of Álvaro Uribe, Juan Manuel Santos and Iván Duque, ...
,
Radical Change Radical Change (, CR, stylised 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 seats in the lower ho ...
, the Conservative Party and the
Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...
have all given him their support. He has campaigned on "preserving democracy and freedoms" against the left-wing candidate, Gustavo Petro, whom he accuses of representing a "populist and authoritarian project." Critics say that Gutiérrez’s campaign has had little focus on policy proposals, with some analysts suggesting that he aims to amplify fears of a Petro presidency. Furthermore, whilst Guitiérrez is well known locally, he reportedly has lower name recognition than some of his opponents on the national level. Opponents have also attempted to tie him to the controversial presidents
Iván Duque Iván Duque Márquez (; born 1 August 1976) is a Colombian politician and lawyer who served as the president of Colombia from 2018 to 2022. He was elected as the candidate from the Democratic Centre Party in the 2018 Colombian presidential ...
and Álvaro Uribe, the former of which has suffered from low approval ratings. They have attacked Gutiérrez for being the "candidate of Uribe", in part due to the endorsement Gutiérrez received from the party of Uribe and Duque, the Democratic Center Party. As a result, Gutiérrez has attempted to distance himself from Uribe; the latter himself acknowledged that his presence with him on the campaign trail would be more of a liability than an asset for Guitérrez. In May 2022, ''
El Espectador ''El Espectador'' () is a nationally circulated Colombian newspaper founded by Fidel Cano Gutiérrez in 1887 in Medellín and published since 1915 in Bogotá. It was initially published twice a week, 500 issues each, but some years later became ...
'' published a revelation exposing the connections that Gutiérrez's campaign chief, Cesar Giraldo, has to the mafia and drug traffickers. Gutiérrez finished third and supported Rodolfo Hernández Suárez for the second round, urging voters "to keep Petro out".


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gutierrez, Federico Medellín Mayors of Medellín Mayors of places in Colombia Universidad de Medellín alumni Pontifical Bolivarian University alumni 1974 births Living people Colombian anti-communists