Germán Vargas Lleras | |
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Vice President of Colombia | |
Assumed office 7 August 2014 |
|
President | Juan Manuel Santos Calderón |
Preceded by | Angelino Garzón |
Succeeded by | Oscar Naranjo (Designate) |
2nd Minister of Housing, City and Territory of Colombia | |
In office 17 May 2012 – 5 June 2013 |
|
President | Juan Manuel Santos Calderón |
Preceded by | Beatriz Elena Uribe Botero |
Succeeded by | Luis Felipe Henao Cardona |
9th Minister of the Interior of Colombia | |
In office 11 August 2011 – 17 May 2012 |
|
President | Juan Manuel Santos Calderón |
Preceded by | Fernando Londoño Hoyos |
Succeeded by | Federico Renjifo Vélez |
5th Minister of the Interior and Justice of Colombia | |
In office 7 August 2010 – 11 August 2011 |
|
President | Juan Manuel Santos Calderón |
Preceded by | Fabio Valencia Cossio |
Succeeded by |
|
Senator of Colombia | |
In office 20 July 1994 – 3 August 2008 |
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Personal details | |
Born | February 19, 1962 (age 54) Bogotá, Colombia |
Nationality | Colombian |
Political party | Radical Change |
Other political affiliations |
Liberal Party (1994-2002) Colombia Always (2002-2006) |
Relations | Carlos Lleras Restrepo (grandfather) |
Children | Clemencia Vargas Umaña |
Alma mater |
Our Lady of the Rosary University Complutense University of Madrid |
Profession | Lawyer |
Religion | Roman Catholic |
Signature | |
Website | www |
Germán Vargas Lleras (born February 19, 1962) is a Colombian lawyer and politician and is currently the Vice President of Colombia. He served in the Administration of President Juan Manuel Santos Calderón from 2010 to 2013 as the 2nd Minister of Housing, City and Territory, as the 9th Minister of the Interior, and as the 5th Minister of the Interior and Justice. From 1994 to 2008, he served as Senator of Colombia having been elected for four consecutive terms. In March 2016 German Vargas will vacate the Vice Presidency in order to announce his candidacy for President in 2018.
Germán was born on 19 February 1962 in Bogotá to Germán Vargas Espinosa and Clemencia Lleras de la Fuente. Vargas Lleras graduated from Our Lady of the Rosary University where he received his Bachelor of Laws, and went to Spain to get his Ph.D in Government and Political Science at the Ortega and Gasset Institute of the Complutense University of Madrid. He comes from one of the country's most prominent political families as he is a grandson of former President Carlos Lleras Restrepo, and nephew of the former presidential candidate Carlos Lleras de la Fuente.
Germán Vargas Lleras began his political career while in college at 19 years of age in a successful campaign that got him elected as councilman of Boyacá, Cundinamarca in 1981 under the flags of the New Liberalism, a dissident political movement founded by the then young Senator Luis Carlos Galán. Right after the election, Galan appointed him political coordinator for the district of Los Mártires in the capital city of Bogotá. The experience he acquired during his tenure led him to run for city councilman of Bogotá in 1988. After the assassination of his political mentor in 1989, the New Liberalism began to crumble, and Vargas Lleras, who was then Private Secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture, joined the ranks of the Colombian Liberal Party.