Juan Carlos Pinzón

Juan Carlos Pinzón Bueno (born December 22, 1972) is a Colombian diplomat, politician and economist. He is the current Ambassador of Colombia to the United States and former Minister of Defence. Pinzon comes from a military family, his father was a Colonel in the Colombian Army.

Minister of Defence


Pinzón received honourable mention for his outstanding academic performance as BSC in economics. He holds a Master’s of Science in Economics from the Pontifical Xavierian University, where In addition, he was awarded a scholarship for his Master’s in Public Policy at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. Pinzón also completed his advanced studies in international relations and strategic studies at The Johns Hopkins University, and in science and technology policy at Harvard University.

As part of his public service, Pinzón served as the Deputy Minister of Defence. In 2010, President Juan Manuel Santos Calderón appointed him as Presidential Chief of Staff. His public and private tenure also includes positions such as, Senior Advisor to the Executive Director at the World Bank, Vice President of the Colombian Banking Association, Assistant Vice President of Investment Banking at Citigroup, private Secretary and Chief of Staff for the Finance and Public Credit Ministry, and as an Economist for Colombia at Citigroup. The World Economic Forum selected him a Young Global Leader in 2011.

Pinzón has remained an active member of the International Institute for Strategic Studies since 2000. In the early 2000s, he participated in the UNDP Expert Council’s efforts to design a democratic security agenda for Colombia. While with the Ministry of Finance, he was responsible for the coordination of the Defence Ministry budget by special request of the Minister.

Pinzón taught economics at the Pontifical Xavierian University and the Universidad de Los Andes. He has also published several articles in recognised academic magazines and newspapers on financial markets, macroeconomic policy and financial policy.

2018 Colombian Presidential Election
On May 19, 2017, Juan Carlos Pinzón declared his candidacy to become Colombia's next president in the 2018 elections. Pinzón has made his criticisms of the Colombian Peace Process a key element of his campaign, claiming that the FARC guerrilla group has not completely disarmed and that the amnesty program within the peace agreements are unfair to the country's victims. Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos has rejected the criticism and attacked Pinzón personally, frankly stating that the struggle for power brings out the worst in human nature.

Pinzón built a citizen movement called 'Ante Todo Colombia' to collect signatures so he could launch his presidential campaign and after getting more than half a million signatures, he became a Presidential candidate. A month later, he became the Vice President candidate for Germán Vargas Lleras, thus withdrawing his own campaign.

Personal life
Pinzón was born on December 22, 1971 in Bogotá to Coronel Rafael Pinzón Rincón and Marlene Bueno. He is married to María del Pilar Lozano.