Gustavo Petro announces that Alejandro Gaviria will be the next Minister of Education of Colombia

Alejandro Gaviria and Gustavo Petro (Credit: DANIEL MUNOZ/AFP via Getty Images)

(CNN Spanish) --

The elected president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, announced that Alejandro Gaviria will be the next Minister of Education.

Gaviria, a former minister and former university president, comes from being a presidential candidate for the Centro Esperanza Coalition.

"It has the challenges of achieving public and free higher education. Achieving public university centers of excellence focused on research. Substantially increasing the number of boys and girls in preschool," Petro tweeted when making his announcement.

"I promise to work for a change for life, for inclusion, the generation of opportunities and reconciliation. We are going to build together," Gaviria said on Twitter.

• Who will be the ministers of the government of Gustavo Petro?

  This is how his cabinet appointments go

Who is Alejandro Gaviria?

Gaviria, who was Minister of Health in the Government of Juan Manuel Santos (2021-2018), was fourth in the consultation of the Centro Esperanza coalition in 2022, was part of Sergio Fajardo's campaign team in the first round and in the second round supported Petro.

Gaviria highlights from his time at the Ministry of Health the regulation of drug prices, the efforts for universal coverage and the approval of the Statutory Law on health.

However, he was criticized by figures such as the one who will be the next Minister of Health, Carolina Corcho, and Senator Jorge Enrique Robledo.

In Gaviria's mandate in the Health portfolio, euthanasia, the use of cannabis derivatives for medicinal purposes and the prices of contraceptives were regulated.

In addition, he promoted the prohibition of glyphosate in aerial spraying of crops for illicit use.

advertising

Gaviria, born in Santiago de Chile and raised in Medellín, is a civil engineer from the Antioquia School of Engineering and has a master's degree in economics from the Universidad de los Andes and a doctorate in the same discipline from the University of California.

At the Universidad de los Andes he was a professor and dean of the Faculty of Economics, and then rector from 2019 to 2021, when he resigned to launch his presidential aspiration.

Alejandro Gaviria was deputy director of Fedesarrollo and the National Planning Department.

He was also director of the Center for Sustainable Development Goals (CODS) for Latin America and the Caribbean.

He worked at the Inter-American Development Bank and was a consultant to the World Bank.

He has been a columnist and author of narrative and poetry books.

Alejandro GaviriaGustavo Petro