Carolina Barco

María Carolina Barco Isakson (born 1951) is a Colombian-American diplomat, who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Colombia from 2002 to 2007,[1][2][3][4] and then as Ambassador of Colombia to the United States from 2006 to 2010.[5][6]

Carolina Barco Isakson
Ambassador Barco speaking before a TradeRoots forum on the US-Colombia Free Trade Agreement.
Colombia Ambassador to the United States
In office
26 August 2006 – 1 October 2010
PresidentÁlvaro Uribe Vélez
Preceded byAndrés Pastrana Arango
Succeeded byGabriel Silva Luján
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office
7 August 2002 – 7 August 2006
PresidentÁlvaro Uribe Vélez
Preceded byGuillermo Fernández de Soto
Succeeded byMaría Consuelo Araújo
Personal details
Born
María Carolina Barco Isakson

1951 (age 71–72)
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
NationalityColombian-American
Alma materWellesley College
Harvard University
ProfessionDiplomat

She served as the Colombian ambassador to Spain in 2019 and 2020.[7]

Personal life

Carolina Barco Isakson is a daughter of Virgilio Barco Vargas, a former mayor, senator, ambassador, President of Colombia and director to the World Bank Board. Her mother, Carolina Isakson Proctor, an American-born former First Lady of Colombia, helped to create, and then direct, Colombia's national anti-poverty program, "Bienestar," which was established in February 1987 to provide food and day care for Colombian's poorest children.[8][9]

Carolina Barco was born in Boston, Massachusetts while her father, Virgilio Barco Vargas, was there studying at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.[10] In 1973, Barco received her bachelor of arts degree in Sociology and Economics from Wellesley College in Massachusetts.[11] During her time at Wellesley, she spent a year studying abroad at the Université Libre de Bruxelles in Belgium. In 1975, she received a master's degree in city planning from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. In 1984, she received a master of business administration at IE Business School in Madrid, Spain. From 1990 to 1991, she was a visiting scholar at her father's alma mater, MIT.[12]

Carolina Barco was married to Mauricio Botero Caicedo, with whom she had three daughters. Her brother, Virgilio Barco Isakson, founded one of Colombia's largest gay civil rights NGOs, Colombia Diversa.

Career

Barco conducted research from 1988 to 1999 at the University of the Andes. Assessing the growth of Bogotá and its neighboring towns and cities, she generated information which helped to formulate future urban and territorial growth policies to improve sustainability.[13]

Carolina Barco (right) with Condoleezza Rice

Barco was appointed Foreign Minister of Colombia by President Álvaro Uribe in August 2002 and remained in that post until July 2006,[14][15][16][17] when she was appointed Ambassador to the United States, replacing former Colombian president Andrés Pastrana Arango in Washington, D.C.[18][19]

In September 2003, she was announced by The Miami Herald as one of the invited speakers at its annual "America's Conference." The theme for the October program was "Rebuilding Hemispheric Relations: New Economic Perspectives and Changing Foreign Policy Realities."[20]

In 2007, she was one of several high-ranking political figures, celebrities and prominent athletes who attended a black-tie gala for the Formula Smiles Foundation, which was hosted by NASCAR driver Juan Pablo Montoya in the art district of Miami, Florida. Montoya's BeLive Gala raised funds for six Colombian charities.[21]

One of twenty-five women stationed in Washington, D.C. as ambassadors from their respective nations in 2010, Barco was the only female ambassador representing Latin America that year.[22]

In 2019 and 2020, she served as the Colombian ambassador to Spain.[23]

References
  1. Adams, Lisa J. "OAS Talks End with Security Pact." Tampa, Florida: The Tampa Tribune, October 29, 2003, p. 16 (subscription required).
  2. Toro, Juan Pablo. "Prueban que guerrilleros viven en Venezuela." Miami, Florida: El Nuevo Herald, January 21, 2005, p. 21 (in Spanish, subscription required).
  3. OAS leadership role will go to Chilean." Ventura, California: The Star, April 30, 2005, p. 61 (subscription required).
  4. Bachelet, Pablo. "Controversial bill gains U.S. support." Miami, Florida: The Miami Herald, July 21, 2005, p. 542 (subscription required).
  5. Bachelet, Pablo. "Uribe's good U.S. vibes turn." Miami Florida: The Miami Herald, July 4, 2007, p. 45 (subscription required).
  6. Barco, Carolina. "Getting better every day," in "Other Views." Miami, Florida: The Miami Herald, July 13, 2010, p. 13 (subscription required).
  7. "Allies and Diplomats: A conversation between friends with Dr. Condoleezza Rice and Former Colombian Minister Carolina Barco." Washington, D.C.: Embassy of Columbia in the United States, April 5, 2021 (retrieved online March 16, 2023).
  8. Heller, Karen. "For a Latin first lady, it all began in York." Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: The Philadelphia Inquirer, March 28, 1988, p. 45 (subscription required).
  9. Geyer, Georgie. "Day-care is changing society." Gettysburg, Pennsylvania: The Gettysburg Times, September 4, 1987, p. 4 (subscription required).
  10. Bachelet, "Uribe's good U.S. vibes turn, The Miami Herald, July 4, 2007.
  11. Kelly, Amita arashar. "The Art (and Life) of Diplomacy." Wellesley, Massachusetts: Wellesley Magazine, Spring 2019.
  12. Bogardus, Kevin. "Colombian ambassador maintains steady course." Washington, D.C.: The Hill, October 6, 2008.
  13. "Allies and Diplomats: A conversation between friends with Dr. Condoleezza Rice and Former Colombian Minister Carolina Barco," Embassy of Columbia in the United States, April 5, 2021.
  14. Adams, "OAS Talks End with Security Pact," The Tampa Tribune, October 29, 2003.
  15. Toro, "Prueban que guerrilleros viven en Venezuela," El Nuevo Herald, January 21, 2005.
  16. OAS leadership role will go to Chilean," The Star, April 30, 2005.
  17. Bachelet, "Controversial bill gains U.S. support," The Miami Herald, July 21, 2005.
  18. Bachelet, "Uribe's good U.S. vibes turn," The Miami Herald, July 4, 2007.
  19. Barco, "Getting better every day," in "Other Views," The Miami Herald, July 13, 2010.
  20. "The Miami Herald Presents Rebuilding Hemispheric Relations: New Economic Perspectives and Changing Foreign Policy Realities." Miami, Florida: The Miami Herald, September 29, 2003, p. 101 (subscription required).
  21. Fryer, Jenna. "Montoya shares home country at gala." Saint George, Utah: The Spectrum & Daily News, November 17, 2007, p. 38 (subscription required).
  22. "Female diplomats to U.S. on the rise." Richmond, Virginia: Richmond Times-Dispatch, January 17, 2010, p. A4 (subscription required).
  23. "Allies and Diplomats: A conversation between friends with Dr. Condoleezza Rice and Former Colombian Minister Carolina Barco," Embassy of Columbia in the United States, April 5, 2021.
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