Iván Duque

Iván Duque Márquez ODB ODSC OSP GOM CYC OSC OMDSM GColIH (Latin American Spanish pronunciation: [iˈβan ˈduke ˈmaɾkes]; born 1 August 1976) is a Colombian politician and lawyer who served as the president of Colombia from 2018 to 2022. He was elected as the candidate from the Democratic Centre Party in the 2018 Colombian presidential election. Backed by his mentor, former president and powerful senator Álvaro Uribe, he was elected despite having been relatively unknown a year before the election. He ran on a platform that included opposing Juan Manuel Santos' peace agreement with the FARC guerrilla group. After Duque's term came to an end, he was succeeded by Gustavo Petro on 7 August 2022, after Petro won the runoff round in the 2022 Colombian presidential election.

Despite personally opposing the peace agreement with the FARC, Duque did not cancel it when in office. During the Venezuelan refugee crisis, Duque had an open door policy toward Venezuelans, allowing them to settle in the country and allowing around 1.7 million refugees to gain protected status in Venezuela. Another major issue that spanned part of his term was the COVID-19 pandemic in Colombia. His rule was marked by protests, the 2019–2020 Colombian protests caused by those who opposed corruption and income inequality, as well as the 2021 Colombian protests against a proposed tax measure. His approval rating had declined, being as low as 30% in his last year in office.

Duque was born in Bogotá to a wealthy political family originally from the Colombian town of Gómez Plata, Antioquia. He is the son of Juliana Márquez Tono (born 1950), a political scientist and Iván Duque Escobar (1937–2016), a powerful local political leader who was Governor of Antioquia, auditor in the United Nations, Minister of Mines and Energy, and head of the National Registry of Civil Status in the Government of Andrés Pastrana. Duque's siblings are Andrés and María Paula Duque.

Duque attended Colegio Rochester but obtained his high-school diploma from Colegio Winston-Salem in Bogota. He graduated in 2000 with a law degree from Sergio Arboleda University in Bogotá. He holds a LLM in International economic law from American University and a Masters in Public Policy Management from Georgetown University, Washington D.C.

He began his professional career in 1999 as a consultant in CAF – Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean and later served as an advisor at the Colombian Ministry of Finance and Public Credit during the government of Andrés Pastrana (1998–2002).

Subsequently, he was appointed by Juan Manuel Santos, future president and then-Minister of Finance, as one of Colombia's representatives at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), a post he held between 2001 and 2013. There he served as chief of the Division of Culture, Solidarity, and Creativity.

Duque also served as international advisor of former President Álvaro Uribe Vélez. Between 2010 and 2011, he was a consultant at the United Nations (UN) in the Panel of Inquiry appointed by the Secretary-General for the Incident of the Gaza Flotilla that occurred on 31 May 2010, between Israel and Turkey, known as Mavi Marmara.

Duque returned to Colombia to become a candidate for the Senate in the legislative elections of 2014, for the Partido Centro Democrático (Democratic Center Party) which split away from the ruling governing party after Juan Manuel Santos opened peace negotiations with the FARC. This new party campaigned against the new peace agreement and the Santos Government, and was led by right wing former president Uribe.