Sabas Pretelt de la Vega
PEOPLE PROFILE is published every Tuesday and describes the professional background of key people emerging in the political and economic scenario.
Who is Sabas Pretelt de la Vega?
He is the interior and justice minister in Colombia. Last November, he was plucked
from the retailers’ association, Federación Nacional de Comerciantes
(Fenalco), of which he was president, and given the most important ministry
in Colombia, dealing with the counter-narcotics and counter-insurgency campaigns
in which the country is embroiled. He replaces Fernando Londoño Hoyos.
Why watch him?
With the capture of the notorious leader of the guerrilla group Fuerzas Armadas
Revolucionarias de Colombia (Farc), Simón Trinidad, in Quito, Ecuador,
Sabas Pretelt de la Vega has made the biggest strike against the guerrillas
in four decades of war.
Born: 11 April 1946.
Place of birth: Cartagena, Colombia.
Education:
BA in Humanities from the Universidad de los Andes, and Economics from the Universidad
del Valle.
Public life:
He was a professor at the Universidad Social Católica de La Salle and
the Universidad del Valle and founded the faculty of Economics at the Universidad
de San Buenaventura. He is also the author of various publications.
Timeline:
1980: Director of social security during the administration of President
Julio César Turbay Ayala.
1980-2000: Presidential assistant and general-secretary of the Corporación
Financiera del Valle.
1980-2000: President of various private sector companies.
1980-2000: Sat on the board of directors in the public and private sector,
including the Banco Popular and Banco de la República.
2003: President of the Federación Nacional de Comerciantes, Fenalco.
2003: On 6 November he was appointed interior and justice minister by
President Alvaro Uribe.
Strong points:
He is not a politician and therefore started the job with a clean slate, unhampered
by previous involvement in politics that might have complicated negotiations
with the guerrillas.
Weak points:
The opposition has attacked his appointment on the grounds that he lacks political
experience and is more associated with the private sector than he is with public
office.
Prospects:
Pretelt de la Vega took the post amid high expectations from the most influential
sectors in Colombia, exhausted by the constant strain on the economy and their
everyday lives caused by the war against the guerrillas.
He has come under fire for the disarming of 850 paramilitaries from the Cacique Nutibara bloc of the AUC on 25 November. The men were reintegrated into society after three weeks at a government-run camp in La Ceja, Antioquia. The opposition and the press think that they should be investigated for rights violations in their fight against the guerrillas.