:quality(80)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/semana/MYCNEIIAAFBL5KGHKMV5QKCIGQ.jpg "Family members pay tribute to the life and career of Carlos Holmes Trujillo")
One of the few things that Carlos Holmes Trujillo failed to do in his life, dedicated to public service, was to become president of Colombia. At 69 years old he was infected with coronavirus, when the vaccines had not yet arrived in the country, and he fought for his life for 15 eternal days until he finally lost the battle.
Iván Trujillo, one of Carlos Holmes’ four children, remembers that “his clinical condition had been evolving positively since he was hospitalized. The saturation and oxygenation levels were improving.” But everything changed after a conversation he had with his father, which would ultimately be his last.
“It was on the 18th or 19th (January), around noon, that I had a video conference with him a few moments before the intubation. He was energetic, vigorous, calm and aware of the process. That tranquility radiated me,” says Iván.
Carlos Holmes Trujillo’s adoration was his children and grandchildren. He took advantage of every moment to share with them. | Photo: Private Archive
Iván was with Alba Lucía Anaya, wife of Carlos Holmes, and calmly hung up on that call. He was sure that they would see each other soon, because he felt his father with the strength that he always had when speaking.
Three years after his death, the family had another emotional reunion. A mass was held to remember him and that his grandchildren, Benjamín, Máximo, Filipa and Franco, always keep in his memory that loving grandfather who left before his time.
His sons, Iván, Camilo, Carlos and Rodrigo, agree that their father was the gentleman of politics. Proof of this is that, in such a polarized country, Carlos Holmes never used a bad word to refer to his political adversaries.
Carlos Holmes Trujillo with one of his grandchildren. | Photo: Private Archive
“When my father died, we received an immense number of calls, not only from his friends and close people, but from his political opponents. Everyone referred to the fact that they always remembered him for his good treatment and good manners, a person who gave full force to the debate of ideas, but always within the framework of respect and understanding that not everyone had to think the same as him. him,” recalls Iván.
“He was a great human being, a person with a democratic disposition that everyone recognized and he respectfully entered into discussions with those who did not think the same as him. “He transferred many of his values and principles to the world of politics and that is why he is known as the gentleman of politics,” he says.
Politics and public life were carried in Carlos Holmes’ veins. It was a family matter, of daily discussion, but always with respect and that was what he transmitted to his children. He was one of the most visible officials in the Government of President Iván Duque, in which as Minister of Foreign Affairs he had a recognized and critical management against the neighboring Government of Venezuela. And then, after the departure of the Minister of Defense, Guillermo Botero, he put on camouflage and assumed this position.
Carlos Holmes Trujillo with his children. | Photo: Private Archive
“He is a reminder of the good manners of politics. A provincial man who became an irreplaceable statesman. A sign of respect for opposing views and for the vocation towards public service done with neatness. It is remembering his love for reading, for ties, but, above all, his love for doing things well,” says Carlos, his other son.
Precisely because he was touring the country, Carlos Holmes became infected with covid-19. His family always insisted that he reduce his trips, but they were asking the impossible, since the former minister had a commitment to Colombia and the soldiers in the national territory. He never stopped his agenda and we already know what the consequences were.
Few politicians in the country have the career of Carlos Holmes Trujillo, who always prepared to be president of Colombia. He tried it on several occasions. First he participated in the consultation they carried out with Óscar Iván Zuluaga, former Minister of Finance, and with Francisco Santos in order to seize power from the then president Juan Manuel Santos, considered a traitor to Uribism. Carlos Holmes lost, but joined Zuluaga’s campaign as a ticket for the vice presidency. They did not win the second round, in 2014, and Santos was re-elected.
Those who know the former minister best say that he was a supremely kind person, but stubborn when it came to electoral matters. Four years later he ran again as a candidate. On this occasion his contenders were Iván Duque and Marta Lucía Ramírez. Once again, he was defeated at the polls, but faithful to the construction of Uribism he accepted the defeat and became one of the most important officials of the Duque Government, in which he was in charge of one of the thorniest issues and that today Colombia needs so much: the security and defense of the country. “As Minister of Defense, he was always accompanying the troops, giving them morale and fighting crime,” his family remember.
Carlos Holmes Trujillo. | Photo: Special for El País
Character, humanity and commitment to work were some of the many things that made Alba Lucía Anaya fall in love with Carlos Holmes. “She was a loving, gentlemanly, generous and responsible person. He was in four ministries, where he did very well. Carlos dominated the international part wonderfully. He studied in Japan and since then he learned the language, and was in six embassies. I lost the man of my life, he was the love of my life and Colombia lost a great statesman,” says his wife.
Alba is not wrong. Carlos Holmes catapulted into politics in Cali, a city of which he was mayor in 1988. He was part of the National Constituent Assembly, which he arrived in 1991; He belonged to the territorial planning commission. He was Minister of Education in the Government of César Gaviria Trujillo. In Ernesto Samper’s, he was his high advisor for peace issues. When Horacio Serpa stopped being Minister of the Interior in the midst of the turbulent 8,000th process that that administration went through, he had a short six-month stint in that portfolio.
In 1995 he returned to the diplomatic service, where he served for almost two decades. He arrived at the embassy before the Organization of American States (OAS) in Washington. Then, President Andrés Pastrana appointed him ambassador to Austria – concurrent at the UN in Vienna – and later to Russia. And the time has come for Uribe and Uribism. The head of the Democratic Center kept him in the foreign service, first as ambassador to Sweden and then to Belgium, where he also served before the European Union.
The coronavirus undoubtedly took the life of a notable figure, whose presence could have significantly influenced the country’s political history. His absence leaves a void of altruistic and constructive messages that, over the years, he had sent to elevate politics, an area that, unfortunately, has experienced increasing disappointments and has seen the arrival of individuals without adequate preparation for public service.