Carlos Holmes Trujillo García

Carlos Holmes Trujillo García was born in Cartago, Valle del Cauca, into a prominent political family and earned a law degree from the University of Cauca followed by a master's degree in international business from Sophia University in Tokyo. In 1988, he made history as the first popularly elected Mayor of Cali under Colombia's new electoral decentralization reforms.

Trujillo served in high diplomatic postings, including Ambassador to the OAS, Austria, Russia, and the European Union, and served as Minister of Education and Interior Minister under President Ernesto Samper. In August 2018, President Iván Duque appointed him Minister of Foreign Affairs, where he led the Lima Group diplomatic efforts concerning the Venezuelan refugee crisis. Appointed Minister of National Defense in November 2019, he led operations against ELN guerrilla dissidents and drug cartels until succumbing to COVID-19 at the Military Hospital in Bogotá.