The President of Colombia Alvaro Uribe,
was born in Medellin, and has had a very positive influence on Colombia's
Airports
And he also
served as the Federal Director of Civil Aeronautics,
and for this reason www.MedellinInfo.com
honors his work in AIRLINES/AIRPORTS.
Information in bold maroon
relates to Uribe's work involving Medellin, and as Governor of Antioqua,
the Department (State), where Medellin is the capital and largest city.
Señor Presidente de la República
de Colombia
ÁLVARO URIBE VÉLEZ
CURRICULUM VITAE
 |
Álvaro
Uribe was born in Medellin, the capital of the department of Antioquia
on July 4th, 1952. He has been married to Lina Moreno, a philosopher,
for 22 years. They have two children, Tomás and Jerónimo. |
In 1993, he got a degree in Administration and Management, as well as in Conflict Negotiation from Harvard University.
In 1998 he was awarded the Simón Bolivar fellowship by the British Council and named Senior Associate Member at Saint Anthony's College at Oxford University.
ACHIEVEMENTS
HEAD of the Real Estate Department of Medellín's Public Works,
where he was in charge of the acquisition of the properties needed to
build the El Peñol dam as well as of the relocation of the population
of El Peñol.
GENERAL SECRETARY OF THE LABOR MINISTRY under President Alfonso
Lopez Michelsen and for Labor Ministers Oscar Montoya and Juan Gonzalo
Restrepo, time during which he pushed through in Congress the Decree
numbered 1468 of 1978, on labor union liberties.
DIRECTOR OF CIVIL AERONAUTICS under President
Julio Cesar Turbay, with the following achievements:
·
He hired and oversaw the
construction of 60% of Rionegro's Jose
Maria Córdoba
airport which cost 30 million dollars in a negotiation which
for the first time was.
·
Supervised by the local community
under the direction of Medellín's
Chamber of
Commerce.
·
He
was responsible for finishing the construction of the Barranquilla airport
building.
·
He
devised the closing steps for the Development Plan for Cartagena's airport.
·
Was
responsible for the construction of Avianca
airline's terminal. The airline took
charge of its administration.
·
Decentralized the administration of
the Cali and Medellín airports in agreement
with
both cities' Chambers of Commerce.
·
Ordered
important investments towards improving the airports of some of
the country's
cities and faraway regions, such
as night operations
in the Bucaramanga and
Cúcuta airports and jet operations in those
of Valledupar and Arauca.
·
Wrote
and put into effect Decree 2303 under which
the operation of all runways in the
country must be approved by the military and drug enforcement
agencies.
·
He
gave a boost to regional air operations. Aces airline aircraft went
from 6 airplanes to
19. And Aires, a new regional airline which serves the
departments of Tolima and Huila
was created.
·
He
hired and oversaw the design for
Bogotá's Eldorado airport second runway as the
updating of the airport's passenger terminal.
·
He
privatized the operation designed to
collect airport and exit taxes. Evasion and
corruption went down and the
tax provision went from $ 2.184 million pesos to $ 4.600
million in a year as a direct consequence of this measure.
·
He
acquired specialized aircraft to monitor radio signals
AS MAYOR OF MEDELLIN: Under President Belisario Betancur
Started city companies such as "Metroseguridad" and "Metromezclas". Completed the studies and obtained the needed nation's funds for the Medellín metro system. Closed down the old city dump and got private contractors for the new sanitary refill at Curva de Rodas. Designed the plans for urban renewal of the Moravia sector in the surroundings of the old city dump. Got the central government's approval for improvement plans in the underprivileged sectors of Medellin called "comunas" looking to create job opportunities and a better quality of life. Jump-started the so-called Intermediate Health Units. Created civic organizations for joint work with the town's administration, one of which carried out the city's tree-planting program. Suppressed bureaucracy.
PARLIAMENTARY WORK: As part of his work as a senator, he presided
over the Senate's Seventh Committee which put through the following
laws:
Law
11/1988 by which housemaid work was included in the national health
insurance System.
Law 71/1988 or the so-called " Reforma Pensional" ( a revision
of the country's retirement plans).
Law79/ 1988 An update of the cooperative banking system.
Law 16/ 1990 Democratic funding of soccer clubs.
Law 40/1990 Protection and development of "panela" ( raw sugar)
production.
Law 91/1990 Jumpstarted the national Teacher's Work Benefits Fund.
Law 50/ 1990 or Labor Reform Law.
Law 100/ 1993 Social Security System.
Law 82/ 1993 Protection for women heads of one-parent families.
Awards
for senatorial service:
- "Star Senator" in 1990
- One of 5 best senators in 1992
- Elected "Senator with the Best Projects" in 1992 by the
media and his fellow congressmen.
- Best Senator of 1993
AS GOVERNOR OF ANTIOQUIA (1995-1997)
As the department of Antioquia's governor his goals were a reduction
of public spending, putting an end to politicking, placing strict controls
over the department's public funds, encouraging savings and generating
more investment funds on behalf of the community.
He scaled down bureaucracy in Antioquia while strengthening the state. On January 2nd 1995 there were 14.061 government jobs, by December 1997 the number had gone down to 5, 499.
This reduction notwithstanding, he confirmed in their jobs, 348 women heads of single parent families and 70 pre-retirement age and 45 handicapped people received special benefits.
In 1995, the department's government office had 409 cars whose maintenance cost the nation 12.432 million pesos a year. After the reform the number of official cars was set at 149 which meant earnings for 7.320 million pesos. A sum which went into paving the Fredonia-Puente Iglesias highway with left-over funds to spare.
In 1994 official spending on office supplies was 10.000 million pesos. In 1995, it had gone down to 7.191 millions, in 1996 to 2.461 million pesos and in 1997 to 1.580 million. Total savings in office supply spending between 1995 and 1997, was 8.420 million pesos.
Savings in other areas such as fuel, insurance, travel allowance, maintenance and security reached 2.778 million pesos.
IN EDUCATION
As governor of Antioquia, Alvaro Uribe created 102.161 new openings
in primary and secondary schools, 16.000 of which were used by students
in rural areas who benefited from the SAT, "Sistema de Apendizaje
Tutorial" ( Tutorial Learning System) and created 3.500 new jobs
as well.
Alvaro Uribe created 13.180 new openings in higher education as well as 62 in the fields of high technology and craftsmanship.
In conjunction with several savings banks he brought credit to 46 municipalities. In 1997, 58,317 people had savings for $22.022 millions and credit for 26,835 millions.
The department of Antioquia which up till then had 49,956 telephone lines, got 85,648 additional ones during the Uribe administration. And now the whole of the department's municipalities have digital plants and 80 among them, have Internet connections.
HEALTH SERVICES
The poorest sector of the department, some million 20,000 people, were
included in the national subsidized health insurance system. The so-called
"Servicio Seccional de Salud" (local health services) became
the country's most efficient and won the race for productivity.
The Uribe administration eliminated 1,355 bureaucratic jobs. By December 1997, the department had only 342 public workers and the number of official vehicles went down from 51 to 3, such savings were later used for investments in the health sector.
ROADS
The number of paved roads during the Uribe administration was the highest
in the history of the department. Paved roads went from 305 kilometers
to 939 in only three years.
AGRICULTURE
During his three-year tenure, Governor Uribe greatly boosted agriculture
by creating 22 community sugar cane mills, 6 fish breeding farms and
40 community tanks.
In order to stimulate the production of rubber, the Agriculture Department planted 170 hectares in the town of Tarazá and 70 more in the town of Mutatá.
The Uribe administration also greatly boosted farmer associations as well as storage centers. Six dairy centers were built and five more were updated. Plus encouraging the building of 11 storage centers for different products. An additional thirty-eight farmer groups received production and marketing support for their products.
As governor, Uribe urged the cattle farmers of the regions of Urabá and Magdalena Medio to rent 10% of their land to farmer community groups for cultivation and as a way to create jobs. In an act of reconciliation, they agreed to giving 650 hectares in Urabá and 900 in Magdalena Medio. The Agriculture Department gave the farmers the necessary technical assistance.
HOUSING
The Uribe administration also gave technical assistance to low-cost
housing projects in the department. One-hundred five projects in 74
municipalities which meant 3,463 new houses were given technical assistance
and 17, 315 people got new homes. An additional 21 such projects in
an equal number of municipalities benefited 4.272 people.
INDIGENOUS GROUPS
The department's different indigenous groups were given special attention
during Uribe's three-year tenure. Governor Uribe created the "Consejería
Indigena" (Indian Council) which was especially designed to contribute
to the well-being of several indigenous groups. A 3.000 million peso
investment was made in the acquisition of land and land reform projects
on their behalf plus health benefits for 14,000 of their members.
One of the Uribe administration's flagship programs was the Juvenile Music Bands Program for the department's youth. A young people's musical band was created in each of the department's municipality and 20,000 young people were enrolled in what was deemed to be a program to keep them away from violence.
PEACEFUL NEGOTIATION OF CONFLICTS
This program's initial goal was to train 40.000 people in Harvard University's
professor Roger Fisher's program. But by 1997, 82,756 people had received
training and most of them were in turn, to become the program's instructors.
http://www.presidencia.gov.co/presidente/hvingles.htm