Álvaro Uribe Vélez (Spanish pronunciation: ; born 4 July 1952) is the 39th President of Colombia and is currently serving his second term in office.

Before his current role in politics Uribe was a lawyer. He studied law at the University of Antioquia and completed a post-graduate management program at Harvard University.

Uribe started his politics career in his home department of Antioquia. He has held office in the Medellín Public Enterprises (Empresas Públicas de Medellín) and in the Ministry of Labor and in the Civil Aeronautic. Later he held office as the mayor of Medellín in 1982, then he was Senator between 1986 and 1994 and finally Governor of Antioquia between 1995 and 1997 before he was elected President of Colombia in 2002.