Humberto De la Calle

Humberto de la Calle Lombana (umˈbeɾto ðe la ˈkaʝe lomˈbana; born 14 July 1946) is a Colombian lawyer and politician. He served as Vice President of Colombia from 1994 to 1997. De La Calle served in the cabinet as Interior Minister under two Presidents, Andrés Pastrana and César Gaviria. He also served as Ambassador to Spain and the United Kingdom. After 2003, De La Calle worked at his own Law firm which specialises in advising and representing international clients in Colombia. In October 2012 he was appointed by President Juan Manuel Santos as the chief negotiator in the peace process with the FARC. During his high school years, De La Calle was a known activist of Nadaism and an admirer of Colombian poet Gonzalo Arango. He studied at the University of Caldas where he earned a law degree and met his future wife and mother of his three children. De La Calle then went on to study International Law at the Inter-American Judicial Committee in 1979. De la Calle is an atheist. De la Calle became a professor while practicing his law profession under private law firms. He started teaching in 1978 and became Dean in the universities of Caldas and Manizales until 1980. He also taught in prestigious universities from Bogotá, such as Andes University and Our Lady of the Rosary University. For almost a decade De la Calle served in the Judicial Branch; he was appointed National Civil Registrar in the late 1980s during the administration of President Belisario Betancur. In 1986 De la Calle also served as an Associate Justice on the Supreme Court. In 1990 he was appointed to the Ministry of Government during the administration of President César Gaviria until 1992. In 1993 followers of President Gaviria from the Liberal Party suggested De la Calle as a possible presidential candidate. De la Calle resigned as minister to pursue the presidency, but in the party primaries he was defeated by Ernesto Samper. Samper then invited De la Calle to be his vice president. In the 1994 Presidential election, Samper and De La Calle were elected.