María Ángela Holguín, partner of presidential candidate Sergio Fajardo, officially entered the campaign of the Esperanza Center Coalition: this is their love story

Presidential candidate Sergio Fajardo campaigned this Sunday with his favorite pair, he said. He was referring to Maria Angela Holguín, the former foreign minister, who “jumped into the water” to support him in his campaign and accompanied him to hand out flyers to travelers arriving on 80th Street in Bogotá on the return plan.

Both have a relationship that began three years ago, which is striking among the marriages of the candidates who are currently aspiring to the Casa de Nariño. Fajardo and Holguín met in their last public office to date.

As Fajardo told Blu Radio, his first contact was when he was governor of Antioquia and Holguín was the chancellor during the administration of Juan Manuel Santos. But it wasn't until several years later that they had meetings outside the political sphere.

The former governor of Antioquia was married to Ana Lucrecia Ramírez from 2001 to 2019, when he divorced. After leaving office, participating in the presidential campaign and Holguín leaving the government, they started formal meetings outside the political arena, Fajardo said.

Little by little they got closer until they started a relationship that, although they described as an adult, has been carried on as a courtship, which began in mid-June 2019. One of the soundtracks that makes them think of the other is Remamos, by Natalia Lafourcade, which talks about a new beginning. “She is undoubtedly a very attractive woman, wherever she is, however she is and the lucky one is me,” she said on Blu Radio.

The truth is that although the relationship has helped Fajardo's critics to call him the candidate of former President Santos, both agree that beyond private conversations, the former foreign minister does not play a central role in her current campaign.

After leaving office, as she told Diners magazine, Maria Angela Holguín decided to take a break from politics. He traveled to the Middle East for several months and returned to start a cosmetics company.

But she also took the opportunity to resume work in the field, to cook because she enjoys doing so, as well as to advance the writing of the book that she published in July 2021 The Venezuela I lived, as the foreign minister who had to witness the change from Hugo Chávez to Nicolás Maduro and resume fractured relations of the previous government and keys to the Peace Agreement that was signed later.

“Sergio is a loving person, my dear, who is very supportive. He's very companion. But I don't get involved in his subjects. It would be bad. Of course I tell her things about foreign policy, but I don't get involved in who helps her or what she is in,” the former foreign minister told Diners magazine.

Holguín has an extensive political career working with governments from César Gaviria to Ernesto Samper and Álvaro Uribe. In addition, her experience in foreign relations makes her recognized as a key political figure, but she had stayed out of the campaign.

Even the newspaper La República, when confirming the relationship in 2019, said that “it will give a lot to talk about in the Paisas and Bogotá social circles, but rather it is a high-karat political key for the next elections.”

Although it wasn't until this Sunday that the former chancellor appeared next to Fajardo to help him hand out flyers. His “launch into the water” was a trend and divided opinions, as expected in the middle of the campaign. While some celebrated the company that a government of the Centro Esperanza Coalition would have with Holguín as first lady, others recalled some of the controversies that marked their work in the Foreign Ministry.

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