AUWCL Alumnus Ivan Duque LL.M.'04 Wins Colombian Presidential Election
On Sunday, Colombia elected a new president, Iván Duque Márquez, a 2004 graduate of American University Washington College of Law’s (AUWCL) L.L.M. Program in International Legal Studies (ILSP). Duque’s wife, and now Colombian First Lady, Maria Juliana Ruiz, is also a graduate of the ILSP with concentration in international business law in 2006. The 41-year old Duque will take office in August and will be Colombia’s youngest president in over a century. Before running for office, Duque spent several years in Washington, D.C., including studying at AUWCL from 2003-2004. After graduating, Duque worked for the Washington-based Inter-American Development Bank, the United Nations, and has served as a senator for Colombia’s Democratic Center Party. As a graduate of the International Legal Studies Program (ILSP) at WCL, which is committed to social justice and human rights, we wish President Duque the best and hope and trust that he will follow through on his pledge to support and consolidate the peace process, to guarantee truth, justice, and reparations to all victims, and to uphold and respect the human rights of all Colombians.