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Luis Gilberto Murillo

“This candidacy comes from the regions, from many fighting people, who despite being denied almost everything, never lose faith and hope.”

Luis Gilberto Murillo Urrutia was born 56 years ago in Andagoya, Medio San Juan in Choco (Colombia). He grew up in this small municipality located in the middle of the tropical rain forest of the Pacific region of Colombia.

The relationship among people, cultural richness and diversity in the department where he grew up, made him ponder on his community and work for it from a very young age.

Now, he is Sergio Fajardo´s running mate for the Renascent Colombia Party (Partido Colombia Renaciente). He has also been encouraging the creation of the Great Popular Alliance for Colombia (Gran Alianza Popular por Colombia). With this alliance he seeks to be the president of the regions to work towards the unity of the country and create equal opportunities so that people can have a dignified life while prioritizing their dreams. His proposal is to have a government which is present in every corner of the country.

In 1983, he obtained the best ICFES score of his department, which opened up the opportunity for him to get a scholarship to study Mining Engineering at the Moscow State Geological Prospecting University.

During seven years he lived in the former capital of the Soviet Unio where he met Barno Khadjibaeva, his wife, with whom he has three children.

In 1991, back in his country, he worked as an expert in environmental control of mining areas at the Corporation for the Development of Chocó (Codechocó) and then he became the director of the corporation.

Later, in Bogotá, during the first administration of Mayor Antanas Mockus, he arrived to the Planning Subdivision of the Administrative Department of Environment (DAMA), known today as the Secretary of the Environment of the country's capital.

In 1997, he was elected governor of Chocó. In 2000, after being kidnapped by a paramilitary group, he received asylum in the United States. There he drew attention to the critical situation of the black/Afro-descendant communities in the country, the violations of human rights and the needs for inclusive development.

He served as a Foreign Policy Advisor at the Lutheran World Relief. He was also Vice President of Operations at Phelps Stokes, a foundation for the development of African American, Latino and African communities in the United States.

He was an active member of the Colombian Human Rights Committee in Washington, D.C. He served as an adviser for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), among other international agencies.

In 2011, after his return to the country, he was elected Governor of Chocó. He was in charge for 8 months and then went back to working as a Foreign Policy Advisor. In 2014 he was chosen to be the manager of the “Todos Somos Pazcífico” presidential program.

From 2016 to 2018 he held the position of Minister at The Environment and Sustainable Development Ministry (MADS), where he achieved important goals of conservation of the country's natural heritage and environmental protection, as well as the ratification of several international treaties, including the Paris Agreement on climate change, the Minamata Convention for the control of mercury pollution and the approval of important laws such as the paramos and climate change management.

Since 2019 he has been associated with the academy in the United States. He was a researcher at the Center for Latin American & Latino Studies (CLALS) of American University in Washington and since 2020 he has been a visiting scholar of the prestigious Martin Luther King Program at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), of the Environmental Solutions Initiative, which seeks models of innovation to solve problems of environmental deterioration and poverty in black/Afro-descendant communities of the continent. He is the first Colombian to be part of this program.

Awards & Distinctions:

- 1984 – 1990: ICETEX study abroad scholarship.
- 1990: Graduated with Honors. Moscow State Geological Prospecting University.
- Executive of the Year Award in 1993 and 1994 - Circle of Journalists of Choco. Colombia.
- 1994: Quibdo Chamber of Commerce Annual Award.
- Outstanding Leader of the Colombian Northwest Region – Dinero Magazine, 1998.
- 2002: Annual Award of the Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture. New York.
- 2004: Special Recognition Certificate for the Contribution to the African Diaspora in the Americas. Congressional Black Caucus of the United States.

When we signed the Peace Agreement with the FARC, we agreed to create a Peace Fund in order to provide land to people, especially in the areas affected by the armed conflict. We don't want any more land grabbing. This situation will create more violence, generate more coca cultivation and, above all, increase deforestation"

We are prepared to transform our country together, with responsibility, respect and transparency .

We will stimulate the desire for progress of a nation that does not rest, a nation which harnesses all of its resources and enhances the capacities of its regions and territories, supported by a government that is present in every corner of Colombia"

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How do you imagine a better Colombia?