(Barranquilla, February 1, 1957) A Colombian historian, journalist, lawyer and politician. A graduate in Law from the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana de Bogotá. He completed his doctoral studies in Modern History at the University of Oxford. He was Governor of the Department of Atlántico between 1992 and 1994, Vice-president of Colombia between 1998 and 2002, and Minister of Defence between 2001 and 2002. Editor of the newspaper El Heraldo, Barranquilla (2005-2009) and Colombian Ambassador in Cuba between 2011 and 2016. He has published Cartagena de Indias, De la colonia a la república; Cartagena de Indias, la historia pendiente and Historia de la Universidad de Los Andes.