Margarita Cabello Blanco

Margarita Cabello Blanco
Margarita Cabello Blanco in 2022
Attorney General of Colombia
In office
January 15, 2021 – January 15, 2025
PresidentIván Duque Márquez
Gustavo Petro Urrego
Preceded byFernando Carrillo Flórez
Succeeded byGregorio Eljach
Minister of Justice and Law
In office
June 11, 2019 – August 17, 2020
PresidentIván Duque Márquez
Preceded byGloria María Borrero
Succeeded byJavier Sarmiento
President of the Supreme Court of Justice
In office
March 23, 2016 – January 25, 2017
Preceded byJosé Leonidas Bustos
Succeeded byJosé Leonidas Bustos
Personal details
BornMargarita Leonor Cabello Blanco
(1957-02-12) February 12, 1957
Barranquilla, Colombia
PartyDemocratic Centre
Alma materUniversity of the Coast
Autonomous University of Bucaramanga
Universidad Externado de Colombia

Margarita Leonor Cabello Blanco (born February 12, 1957) is a Colombian lawyer. From January 2021 to January 15, 2025, she served as Attorney General of the Nation, elected for a four-year term by the Senate from a shortlist of candidates nominated by the President of the Republic, the Supreme Court of Justice, and the Council of State. She served as Minister of Justice and Law during the government of Iván Duque, from June 2019 to August 2020, when she resigned to participate in the 2021 election for Attorney General as Duque's candidate.[1] She is the first woman elected to the highest Public Prosecutor's Office, on August 27, 2020, and assumed office on January 15, 2021.[2]

Cabello is recognized for her long judicial career and political connections; she is considered close to the Uribismo and the traditional ruling class of the Atlántico Department.[3] In 2009, Cabello was among the three candidates nominated by the Supreme Court of Justice for the position of Attorney General of the Nation, at the initiative of former President Álvaro Uribe.[4] Cabello served as President of the Supreme Court of Justice from March 2016[3] until mid-January 2017. Her election was carried out by the Plenary Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice.[5]

Biography

Studies

Margarita Cabello studied Law at the University of the Coast, in Barranquilla. She later continued her postgraduate academic training, specializing in Family Law at the Autonomous University of Bucaramanga[6] and Civil Procedural Law at the Universidad Externado de Colombia.

Career

She began his working career in the city of Barranquilla as a clerk in the 1980s. He continued his work as a criminal judge in the municipality of Sabanalarga, Atlántico. By 1983 he had become the Third Juvenile Judge, a position he held until 1985. In that same year he served as the Sixth Civil Circuit Judge in Barranquilla.

She worked as Head of Legal Affairs for two months at a company called Corporación Financiera del Norte (Cofinorte), a company of the Santo Domingo Group. After her brief stint at the financial corporation, Margarita Cabello served as a Magistrate of the Family Court until 1996 and continued as a Magistrate of the Civil-Family Court until 2009, both positions held in her hometown. She also worked for a time as coordinator of the Rodrigo Lara Bonilla Judicial School (1999 to 2002).[3] From 2009 until mid-February 2013, she served as Delegate of the Disciplinary Chamber at the Office of the Attorney General of Colombia. On February 25, 2013, she was sworn in as President of the Civil Cassation Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice, elected by the Plenary Chamber.

She has been awarded the José Ignacio de Márquez Medal by the Superior Council of the Judiciary, the highest recognition granted in the country in this branch, as well as multiple awards as best magistrate of the year.

Attorney General

In 2020, Cabello Blanco was elected by the Senate as the nation's first female Attorney General with the support of the governing parties Radical Change, Democratic Centre, Colombian Liberal Party, Colombian Conservative Party, Union Party for the People, and the Christian-based parties Mira and Colombia Justa Libres.[7]

Criticism

Cabello has been questioned about ideological bias in her decision-making as Attorney General, a situation she has dismissed. In her inaugural address, she was criticized for referring to Iván Duque's government as "our government," which, according to some analysts, cast doubt on the independence of the oversight body she leads, whose function is to monitor, among others, that government.[8]

References

  1. ↑ Las cuentas para elegir Procurador con renuncia de Minjusticia El Espectador. Consultado el 2 September 2020.
  2. ↑ Tiempo, Casa Editorial El (27 August 2020). "Margarita Cabello elegida nueva procuradora General de la Nación". El Tiempo (in Spanish). Retrieved 27 August 2020.
  3. 1 2 3 "Margarita Cabello es la nueva presidenta de la Corte Suprema". El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 5 March 2013.
  4. ↑ "Margarita Cabello, una procuradora funcional a Duque pero cercana a muchos" (in Spanish). La Silla Vacía. 27 August 2020.
  5. ↑ "Margarita Cabello, nueva magistrada de la sala civil de la Corte Suprema" (in Spanish). elpais.com. 2016. Archived from the original on 18 April 2016. Retrieved 18 April 2016.
  6. ↑ "Procuraduría General de la Nación, República de Colombia". www.procuraduria.gov.co (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 10 February 2021. Retrieved 2021-02-08.
  7. ↑ "Margarita Cabello, una procuradora funcional a Duque pero cercana a muchos". La Silla Vacía. 27 August 2020.
  8. ↑ "Margarita Cabello explica por qué dijo "nuestro gobierno" durante su posesión". Noticias Caracol. 17 January 2021.
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