(Bloomberg) — President Gustavo Petro will appoint top aide, 30-year-old Laura Sarabia, as Colombia’s next foreign affairs minister, one the youngest-ever officials to assume the role.
Sarabia, widely considered to be Petro’s right-hand woman, has gained prominence in the administration as a mediator between the public and private sector. She’ll replace Luis Gilberto Murillo.
On Tuesday, Colombia’s presidency published Sarabia’s resume on its website as an applicant for the foreign minister role, a common procedure before senior public officials take on a new role.
A political scientist, Sarabia will navigate the nation’s relationship with newly-inaugurated US president Donald Trump, who has pledged to step up the war against drugs as Colombia’s cocaine production reaches historic highs. She will also play a key role in advancing political talks in Venezuela, which faces a political crisis following Nicolás Maduro’s 2024 reelection in a vote that was widely regarded as fraudulent.
Petro is reshuffling his cabinet as his administration struggles to rein in the fiscal deficit following lower-than-expected tax revenue and higher public spending. The government is now being forced to carry out significant budget cuts, hurting Petro’s promises to boost social spending and increase subsidies which helped him get elected as Colombia’s first leftist leader.
Before joining Petro’s campaign, Sarabia worked for former Colombia ambassador to Venezuela Armando Benedetti. She survived a scandal in 2023 when a woman Sarabia employed as a nanny said she had been improperly subjected to a polygraph near the presidential palace over missing money. Sarabia temporarily left the government before Petro brought her back in 2024.
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