With the appointment of Gregorio Eljach as the candidate chosen by the Presidency to assume the Office of the Attorney General of the Nationthe shortlist established by law to select the replacement for Margarita Cabello.
Below is a profile of each candidate, including their experience, previous positions and academic studies.
Petro’s candidate: Gregorio Eljach
Gregorio Eljach
Eljach, considered one of the most powerful figures in Colombian politics, has been in the Senate Secretariat for twelve years and, in fact, has just been re-elected by the corporation for two more years. Although he secured his position in the Legislature, he kept alive the aspiration to be nominated by the Supreme Court of Justice to the Attorney General’s Office, and for that He registered for the call opened by that high court and was on the list of eligible candidates until the last moment..
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Since the election is held by the Senate, there was a view from several quarters that a possible candidacy of his would have little opposition in the race for the Attorney General’s Office. However, in the Supreme Court of Justicewhere he had registered, the majority of judges considered that his profile, more political than legal, was not suitable for the body in charge of disciplinary control in the country.
The candidate for the Supreme Court of Justice: Germán Varón
German Male
On September 16, the plenary chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice nominated as official candidate Former Senator and Representative to the House of Representatives, Germán Varón Cotrino.
According to his resume, he is a lawyer who graduated from the Faculty of Law of the Universidad del Rosario, specializing in Administrative Law from the same university.
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During 1995 and 2001 he served as general secretary of Corabastos and District Ombudsman of Bogotá.
In 2002 he was elected Representative to the House. In 2006 and 2010 he was re-elected as Representative to the House. He was President of the House of Representatives for the period 2008-2009.
In the 2014 Colombian legislative elections, he won a seat in the Senate of the Republic (2014-2018 period) and also for the 2018-2022 period.
The candidate for the Council of State: Luis Felipe Henao
Luis Felipe Henao
The ternary is Lawyer from the University of Rosario and has a specialization in Corporate Law. In May 2013 he was appointed as Minister of Housing during the first term of President Juan Manuel Santos, becoming the youngest minister of his government.
Before arriving at the Housing portfolio, Henao was in charge of the General Secretariat of the Ministry of the Interior and Justicebetween 18 August 2010 and 5 February 2012. Following the split of the Interior and Justice portfolios, he took office as Vice Minister for Participation and Equal Rights on 6 February 2012.
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The candidate for the Attorney General’s Office also worked in 2006 as Secretary General of the Ministry of Environment, Housing and Territorial Development, a portfolio in which he later took office as Vice Minister on September 10, 2007.
He also served as acting director of the National Penitentiary and Prison Institute (Inpec) and the National Directorate of Narcotics (DNE).
Henao’s resume also mentions that he was a professor in the undergraduate and graduate programs of the Criminal Law specialization and the Economic Criminal Law diploma at the Universidad del Rosario. He has also been a professor of the Disciplinary Law Diploma at the University of Medellín.
PORTFOLIO
*With information from EL TIEMPO – POLITICS
