Marta Noemí del Espíritu Santo Sanín Posada (born 6 June 1949) is a Colombian-born politician and diplomat. She was the
Conservative party candidate in the
2010 Colombian presidential election.
A lawyer from
Pontifical Xavierian University
The Pontificia Universidad Javeriana (English:
Xavierian Pontifical University) is a private university in Colombia founded in 1623. It is one of the oldest and most traditional Colombian universities, directed by the Society of Jesus, with its ...
and 2001 Fellow at the
Weatherhead Center for International Affairs,
Harvard University
Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
, she has served as
Ambassador of Colombia to the United Kingdom,
Ambassador of Colombia to Spain,
Ambassador of Colombia to Venezuela,
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Colombia, and
Minister of Communications of Colombia.
Before running in 2010 as a Conservative, Sanín ran as an
independent
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States
* Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...
candidate during the
1998 presidential election, and again during the
2002 presidential election, backed both times by the
Yes Colombia
Yes Colombia (''Sí Colombia'') was a centrist political party in Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. ...
movement.
Education
Sanín studied law at the
Pontifical Xavierian University
The Pontificia Universidad Javeriana (English:
Xavierian Pontifical University) is a private university in Colombia founded in 1623. It is one of the oldest and most traditional Colombian universities, directed by the Society of Jesus, with its ...
in
Bogotá
Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish Imperial period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city, capital and largest city ...
.
She later studied post graduate studies in Commercial law and finance and worked for several entities in the financial sector in both state and private sectors.
In 1998 Sanín moved to the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
and established herself in
Boston
Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
, where she attended
Harvard University
Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
as a
Weatherhead Center for International Affairs Fellow.
Political career
In 1976 Sanín was appointed as Vice President of Operations and Credit in the ''
Corporación de Ahorro y Vivienda, (Colmena)'' (Savings and Housing Corporation) until 1979. She was later appointed President of this institution with only 30 years of age and became the first woman in Latin America to ever manage a financial corporation.
Her most notable achievements as President of Colmena was to have financed a large portion of the low-income sector of Colombia and expanded the national network of branches from 36 to 63 until the end of her terms in 1983. She also promoted a savings culture among the corporations' clients.
Minister of Communications 1983
Sanín served as Minister of Communications between 1983 and 1986, appointed by President of Colombia,
Belisario Betancur
Belisario Betancur Cuartas (4 February 1923 – 7 December 2018) was a Colombian politician who served as the List of Presidents of Colombia, 26th President of Colombia from 1982 to 1986. He was a member of the Colombian Conservative Party. His ...
.
Among her achievements as minister of Communications Sanín helped to develop ''Law 42 of 1985'' which modernized
Television in Colombia and legalized and organized the regional TV networks.
She also helped in the approval and introductions of cable television. This law also modernized other telecommunication state owned companies such as Telecom, Caprecom and Audiovisuales.
Palace of Justice siege
On November 6, 1985 an urban commando of the
19th of April Movement
The 19th of April Movement (), or M-19, was a Colombian urban guerrilla movement active in the late 1970s and 1980s. After its demobilization in 1990 it became a political party, the M-19 Democratic Alliance (), or AD/M-19.
The M-19 tra ...
guerrilla group stormed the Palace of Justice building to demand a public prosecution of then president of Colombia, Belisario Betancur. The president ordered the
military
A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...
to retake the Palace of Justice building. Acting as minister of Communications Sanín decided not to allow the retake to be broadcast live on television or radio, instead it continued with the usual programming. 28 hours later the retake ended with 55 dead among these 11 judges of the
Supreme Court of Colombia as well as 11 people disappeared. Due to this decision she has been accused by the Colombian Truth Commission of censoring information as a way to keep in the dark the excesses undertaken by the military, which have been well known for decades and are now legally surfacing.
Peace negotiator in Casa Verde
President Betancur appointed Sanín as representative of the government in the first commission that visited ''Casa Verde'', the then headquarters of the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People's Army (, FARC–EP or FARC) was a Marxist–Leninist Guerrilla warfare, guerrilla group involved in the continuing Colombian conflict starting in 1964. The FARC-EP was officially founded in ...
(FARC) guerrilla, to negotiate a peaceful solution to the
Colombian armed conflict
The Colombian conflict () began on May 27, 1964, and is a low-intensity asymmetric war between the government of Colombia, far-right paramilitary groups, crime syndicates and far-left guerrilla groups fighting each other to increase their i ...
.
Ambassador of Colombia in Venezuela 1990
Sanín served as Ambassador of Colombia to
Venezuela
Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...
between 1990 and 1991, appointed by then President of Colombia,
César Gaviria
César Augusto Gaviria Trujillo ( ; born 31 March 1947) is a Colombian economist and politician who served as the President of Colombia from 1990 to 1994, Secretary General of the Organization of American States from 1994 to 2004 and National D ...
.
During her term as ambassador commerce exchange between Colombia and Venezuela increased from US$300 million to US$1350 million a year until the end of her job.
Minister of Foreign Affairs 1991
On 8 November 1991, President Gaviria reshuffled his cabinet and named Sanín
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and foreign relations, relations, diplomacy, bilateralism, ...
, Latin America's first female
Foreign Affairs Minister. During her term as minister she modernized the administrative structure of the ministry. She also won a seat for Colombia in the
Security Council of the United Nations and the presidency of the country in the
G-77. She also gained the presidency for the nation in the
Non-Aligned Movement
The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) is a forum of 121 countries that Non-belligerent, are not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc. It was founded with the view to advancing interests of developing countries in the context of Cold W ...
and signed the border dispute resolution
Sanín-Robertson treaty which resolved borders with
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...
. In addition she won the seat as Secretary General of
Organization of American States
The Organization of American States (OAS or OEA; ; ; ) is an international organization founded on 30 April 1948 to promote cooperation among its member states within the Americas.
Headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, the OAS is ...
for Colombia with the appointment of César Gaviria.
Ambassador of Colombia to the United Kingdom 1994
In 1994 Sanín was appointed consul of Colombia to the United Kingdom.
Sanín promoted the visit of four ministers of Great Britain to Colombia and helped to negotiate new airline routes between the United Kingdom and Colombia.
British investors and companies such as
RTZ also invested in Colombia in the mining and energy, and pharmaceutical sectors. She renounced after only one year after the then
Attorney General of Colombia formally accused President
Ernesto Samper
Ernesto Samper Pizano (born 3 August 1950) served as the President of Colombia from 1994 to 1998. From 2014 to 2017 he served as the Secretary General of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR). He is a lawyer, economist, academic and pol ...
in the Accusations Commission of the
Chamber of Representatives of Colombia
The Chamber of Representatives (Spanish: ''Cámara de Representantes'') is the lower house of the Congress of Colombia. It has 172 members elected to four-year terms.
Electoral system
According to the Colombian Constitution, the Chamber of ...
after his involvement in the "
8000 Process scandal". Upon her return, Colombia was facing an economic crisis, political and social instability without precedents and decided to prepare herself for the presidency of Colombia.
Presidential candidate 1998
In the 1998 presidential elections, Sanín supported by her founded political movement
Yes Colombia
Yes Colombia (''Sí Colombia'') was a centrist political party in Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. ...
did surprisingly well, receiving about 27% of the vote, to finish third behind leaders
Horacio Serpa and
Andrés Pastrana, who each received about 35% in the first round. Running on an anti-unemployment campaign, Sanín in fact won the most votes in the cities of
Bogotá
Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish Imperial period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city, capital and largest city ...
and
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 ...
, but fared poorly in the countryside. Her campaign later supported the
Great Alliance for Change led by Andrés Pastrana.
Presidential candidate 2002
In 2002, she ran again for president, this time as a member of her own movement, the
Yes Colombia
Yes Colombia (''Sí Colombia'') was a centrist political party in Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. ...
party.
With national security overriding the other issues in the campaign, she did far worse than in 1998 and received only 5.8% of the vote. Part of her platform was to denounce Álvaro Uribe's ties with extreme right-wing paramilitary groups.
Ambassador of Colombia in Spain 2003
In 2003, Sanín became Colombia's Ambassador to Spain. She decided not to run for the 2006
Colombian presidential elections. As Colombian ambassador to Spain Sanín had to deal with the growing discrimination against Colombians in that country, issues related to illegal Colombian immigrants in Spain and the large number of Colombian citizens imprisoned in the European country. She also promoted numerous cultural exchanges and advocated on behalf of temporary work and technical and education training for Colombians in Spain. On November 19, 2007 President Uribe announced her transfer to the United Kingdom diplomatic mission, being replaced by the
Vice President of Colombia
The vice president of Colombia (Vice president of the Republic) is the second-highest officer in the executive branch of the Government of Colombia, national government, after the president of Colombia, and ranks first in the Colombian presiden ...
,
Francisco Santos.
Ambassador of Colombia in the United Kingdom 2007
On November 19, 2007, President
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 ...
requested the
government of the United Kingdom
His Majesty's Government, abbreviated to HM Government or otherwise UK Government, is the central government, central executive authority of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. for Sanín's approval as ambassador of Colombia to the United Kingdom. The move came after the ambassador to the United Kingdom
Carlos Eduardo Medellín Becerra was transferred to the Netherlands after the Ambassador
Guillermo Fernández de Soto resigned alleging family problems. According to the Colombian newspaper ''
El Tiempo'', Sanín's ambassadorship in the United Kingdom would be temporary, as she entertained presidential aspirations. Her resignation was effective on 23 July 2009.
Presidential candidate 2010
In 2010, she ran again for president, this time as a member of the conservative party. She defeated
Andrés Felipe Arias Leiva in the preliminaries, but was unable to gain momentum and was defeated by
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 training and a journalist by trade, S ...
, and
Antanas Mockus
Aurelijus Rūtenis Antanas Mockus Šivickas (; born 25 March 1952) is a Colombian mathematician, philosopher, and politician. He has a master's degree in philosophy from the National University of Colombia, and a Honoris Causa PhD from the Un ...
among others.
Personal life
Sanín was born on 6 June 1949 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 ...
,
Antioquia to Jaime Sanín Echeverri and Noemí Posada Saldarriaga, their third child out of fifteen children. Her father was a hardline conservative writer, journalist and a vice-president of the
Colombian Language Academy; her mother a teacher and housewife.
She married young at the age of 19 to Diego Durán Cabal, and together they had one daughter, María Jimena. She divorced in 1975 and remarried to Mario Alberto Rubio Caicedo, a lawyer from Bogotá, but the marriage ended in 1999 leaving no children.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sanin, Noemi
1949 births
Living people
People from Medellín
Pontificia Universidad Javeriana alumni
20th-century Colombian lawyers
Colombian women lawyers
Colombian Conservative Party politicians
Yes Colombia politicians
Ministers of foreign affairs of Colombia
Ministers of communications of Colombia
Ambassadors of Colombia to Venezuela
Ambassadors of Colombia to Spain
Ambassadors of Colombia to the United Kingdom
Recipients of the Order of Isabella the Catholic
Naturalised citizens of Spain
Female foreign ministers
Women government ministers of Colombia
Colombian women ambassadors
Sanín family
20th-century women lawyers