Claudia Blum de Barberi (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Blum Capurro; born 9 August 1948) is a Colombian psychologist and politician who served as

foreign minister 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 relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral r ...

. A veteran

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...

, she became the first woman to serve as President of the Senate of Colombia. She also served as the 26th

Permanent Representative of Colombia to the United Nations The permanent representative of Colombia to the United Nations is the permanent representative of the Republic of Colombia to the United Nations, accredited as Concurrent Non-Resident Ambassador to the Republic of Kosovo, and Montenegro. The ...

Background

Claudia was born in

Cali Santiago de Cali (), or Cali, is the capital of the Valle del Cauca department, and the most populous city in southwest Colombia, with 2,280,522 residents estimate by National Administrative Department of Statistics, DANE in 2023. The city span ...

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. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

on 9 August 1948 to Harold Blum Mejía and Liliam Capurro Borrero. She first went to school in Cali to the prestigious bilingual school ''Colegio Colombo Británico'' until her family moved to

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 ...

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 ...

, where she finished her high school education. She returned to Colombia to study

Psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...

at the

University of Valle The University of Valle (), also called Univalle, is a public, departmental, coeducational, research university based primarily in the city of Cali, Valle del Cauca, Colombia. It is the largest higher education institution by student populatio ...

and moved on to obtain her Masters in Political Studies from 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 ...

. She has also carried out advanced studies in negotiation and conflict resolution at the

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...

. She grew up in a

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

leaning household but she briefly flirted with the Left as she became interested in politics and was influenced by the Liberal politician

Luis Carlos Galán Luis Carlos Galán Sarmiento (29 September 1943 – 18 August 1989) was a Colombian liberal politician and journalist who ran for the Presidency of Colombia on two occasions, the first time for the political movement New Liberalism that he f ...

., although she returned to the right for the rest of her political career, and has been particularly loyal to very conservative former president Álvaro Uribe Vélez. In 1982 her father, Harold Blum Mejía, was killed by the rebel forces

FARC-EP The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People's Army (, FARC–EP or FARC) was a Marxist–Leninist guerrilla group involved in the continuing Colombian conflict starting in 1964. The FARC-EP was officially founded in 1966 from peasant ...

which prompted most of her family to leave the country, she however chose to stay and continue her political aspirations. While attending a Cure concert, she met her future husband Francisco José Barberi Ospina

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

of ''Tecnoquímicas'', the biggest pharmaceutical company of Colombia and one of the 50 biggest business groups of the country. Together they have two children Mauricio and Andrea Barberi Blum.

Career

Blum worked in Cali as a journalist for the newspaper El Pueblo, she directed various cultural magazines and worked as a psychologist for the ''INEM Jorge Isaacs'' school. She was director of the art foundation ''Proartes'', between 1984 and 1989, from where she revived and organized the International Art Festival of Cali and promoted public investment for the foundation. She began her political career as a

councilor A councillor, alternatively councilman, councilwoman, councilperson, or council member, is someone who sits on, votes in, or is a member of, a council. This is typically an elected representative of an electoral district in a municipal or regio ...

for the Municipality of Cali and in her two terms, the first one from 1984 to 1986 and the second one from 1990 to 1991, she developed her record for working for public spaces, culture, and the environment.

Senator

She was first elected

Senator of Colombia The Senate of the Republic of Colombia () is the upper house of the Congress of Colombia, with the lower house being the Chamber of Representatives of Colombia, Chamber of Representatives. The Senate has 108 members elected for concurrent (non ...

for the

New Democratic Force The New Democratic Force (''Nueva Fuerza Democrática'') is a conservative political party in Colombia. At the last legislative elections An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual o ...

after the ratification of the

Colombian Constitution of 1991 The Political Constitution of Colombia of 1991 (), is the Constitution of the Republic of Colombia. It was promulgated in Constitutional Gazette number 114 on Sunday, July 7, 1991, and is also known as the Constitution of Human Rights. It re ...

. She became Vice President of the Fifth Commission of Congress in 1982, where she worked on creating the Ministry of the Environment and reorganized the work of State entities on the issue, as well as laws on energy, agriculture, and public services. She was also Vice President of the Commission of Legal Ethics, member of the Senate Commission for Peace, and starting in 1994, was a member of the First Commission, body which she presided over from mid-1999 to mid-2000. As a legislator, Blum worked on important laws and constitutional reforms related to the modernization and transparency of the State, the search for peace, the strengthening of the justice system, the fight against illicit drug trafficking, the protection of the environment, and human rights issues, in particular victims of kidnapping, human trafficking and the rights of children. Among the most important laws she authored or sponsored as a Senator in Colombia are: the reform to allow the application of

extradition In an extradition, one Jurisdiction (area), jurisdiction delivers a person Suspect, accused or Conviction, convicted of committing a crime in another jurisdiction, into the custody of the other's law enforcement. It is a cooperative law enforc ...

as an international cooperation tool against organized crime; the new criminal code; the law for the pursuit and expropriation of assets originating from illicit activities; the Justice and Peace legislation, which defines instruments for the

demobilization Demobilization or demobilisation (see American and British English spelling differences, spelling differences) is the process of standing down a nation's armed forces from combat-ready status. This may be as a result of victory in war, or becaus ...

of members of illegally armed groups within the principles of truth, justice and reparation to victims; the anti-corruption Statute, which has allowed for a more effective penalization of abuses against public administration; the reform that included in the Constitution the possibility of a one-time Presidential reelection, which in turn led to the reelection of

Álvaro Uribe Vélez Álvaro or Álvar (, , ) is a Spanish language, Spanish, Galician language, Galician and Portuguese language, Portuguese male given name and surname of Germanic Visigothic origin. The patronymic surname derived from this name is Álvarez (surname), ...

; the national strategy law for the fight against

human trafficking Human trafficking is the act of recruiting, transporting, transferring, harboring, or receiving individuals through force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of exploitation. This exploitation may include forced labor, sexual slavery, or oth ...

. She also organized political debates on the state of education in the country, on actions to improve the attention given to victims of forced displacement due to violence, and on assessments to strengthen the electoral system in Colombia.

President of the Senate

Her Senate career reached its apex in 2005 when she became the first female President of the Senate of the Republic of Colombia, by now she was a member of the

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 ...

, a

centre-right Centre-right politics is the set of right-wing politics, right-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. It is commonly associated with conservatism, Christian democracy, liberal conservatism, and conservative liberalis ...

party which had supported President Uribe. As President of the Senate, she led initiatives aimed at increasing public information on legislative work and citizen participation in the process of evaluating laws. She pushed forward the launching of a Congressional television station, as well as initiatives for the better use of technology in the Senate and the Chamber of Representatives, projects for the modernization of the Congressional Library, and actions towards guaranteeing the safety and security of the

Legislative branch A legislature (, ) is a deliberative assembly with the authority, legal authority to make laws for a Polity, political entity such as a Sovereign state, country, nation or city on behalf of the people therein. They are often contrasted with th ...

Diplomat

In 2006, Blum left the Senate at the request of President Álvaro Uribe to head the Delegation of Colombia to the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. She was sworn in as

on 28 August 2006, by President Uribe and presented her

Letter of Credence A letter of credence (, ) is a formal Diplomatic correspondence, diplomatic letter that designates a diplomat as ambassador to another sovereign state. Commonly known as diplomatic credentials, the letter is addressed from one head of state to an ...

UN Secretary-General The secretary-general of the United Nations (UNSG or UNSECGEN) is the chief administrative officer of the United Nations and head of the United Nations Secretariat, one of the United Nations System#Six principal organs, six principal organs of ...

Kofi Annan Kofi Atta Annan (8 April 193818 August 2018) was a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh secretary-general of the United Nations from 1997 to 2006. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize. He was the founder a ...

on 11 September 2006. In November 2019, she became the Colombian

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, ...

Works

Blum has also published books on Colombian Government and her career as a legislator. * * * * *

References

, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Blum, Claudia 1948 births Living people Colombian women journalists Colombian Liberal Party politicians Colombian women psychologists Colombian psychologists 21st-century Colombian women politicians 21st-century Colombian politicians Female foreign ministers Ministers of foreign affairs of Colombia Harvard Law School alumni Members of the Inter-American Dialogue Members of the Senate of Colombia New Democratic Force politicians People from Cali Permanent representatives of Colombia to the United Nations Presidents of the Senate of Colombia Radical Change politicians University of Valle people Colombian women ambassadors Pontificia Universidad Javeriana alumni