Consuelo Araújo Noguera | |
---|---|
4th Colombian Minister of Culture | |
In office 18 July 2000 – 11 March 2001 |
|
President | Andrés Pastrana Arango |
Preceded by | Juan Luis Mejía Arango |
Succeeded by | Araceli Morales López |
Personal details | |
Born |
Valledupar, Cesar, Colombia |
1 August 1940
Died | 30 September 2001 Valledupar, Cesar, Colombia |
(aged 61)
Nationality | Colombian |
Spouse(s) | Hernando Molina Céspedes Edgardo Maya Villazón |
Relations |
Álvaro Araújo Castro (nephew) María Consuelo Araújo (niece) |
Children |
Hernando César Molina Araújo
María Mercedes Molina Araújo Rodolfo Augusto Molina Araújo Ricardo Mario Molina Araújo Andrés Alfredo Molina Araújo Edgardo José Maya Araújo |
Occupation | Journalist, politician |
Nickname(s) | La Cacica |
Consuelo Araújo Noguera, also known as "La Cacica",(August 1, 1940 in Valledupar – September 30, 2001) was a Colombian politician, writer and self-taught journalist,. Her nickname was given by a fellow journalist colleague for her tenacity and determination to achieve goals and leadership.
Her most notorious achievement was the creation of one of the most important cultural and musical events of Colombia, the Vallenato Legend Festival, which promoted her beloved Vallenato music.
She was kidnapped by the FARC September 24, 2001 in the outskirts of Valledupar and was killed six days later when the Colombian Army attempted a rescue on September 30, 2001.
She was the youngest of nine siblings. Her father, Santander Araújo, was a respected politician, militant and regional leader of the Liberal Party around Valledupar, whose firm character largely influenced his daughter.
She went to in a government public nursery school and subsequently attended Escuela Tercera para Niñas. She then transferred to the Colegio Nariño Middle School and later to the Nuestra Señora del Carmen. She attended high school at the Colegio de la Sagrada Familia.
At the age of fifteen, she dropped out of high school and started to work as a bankteller to help pay for the schooling of three of her older brothers. During this period she also spent her spare time reading and self-educating.
Largely self-educated, she was committed to become a freelance journalist and writer. She started as a writer for a national newspaper El Espectador, also writing a column called "La Carta Vallenata" (The Vallenata letter), published for 22 years in the same newspaper. She also collaborated with RCN Radio and RCN TV networks, and El Heraldo, a Barranquilla newspaper between 1988 and 1989. Between 1984 and 1985 she worked as a reporter in Valledupar for the Noticiero del Medio Día, a national news show. She also and predominantly worked as a radiohost for her own show La Cacica Contesta on Radio Guatapuri, a radio station in Valledupar owned by her family.