UN appoints María Ángela Holguín Cuéllar as envoy

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has appointed María Ángela Holguín Cuéllar of Columbia as his envoy for Cyprus, it was announced at the UN regular briefing in New York.

“The SG has asked Ms Holguin to assume a Good Offices role on his behalf to search for Common Ground on the way forward and to advise him on the Cyprus issue,” Stephanie Tremblay, Associate Spokesperson for the Secretary-General said.

She added that the new envoy “has extensive diplomatic experience at the highest levels including as Foreign Affairs Minister of Colombia between 2010 and 2018.”

According to her CV, as announced by the UN, Holguin also served as delegate of the President of Colombia in the Peace Process Negotiation in Havana, Cuba (2015-2016) and was a member of the Cabinet for Post-Conflict (2017-2018).

Previous posts in her diplomatic career include the position of Permanent Representative of Colombia to the United Nations, Ambassador to Venezuela and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs.

She holds a degree in Political Science from the Universidad de Los Andes in Bogotá. She also studied at the Centre d´Études Diplomatiques et Stratégiques and the Université Paris–Sorbonne in Paris. In addition to Spanish, she speaks English and French.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third. Repeated rounds of UN-led peace talks have so far failed to yield results. The latest round of negotiations, in July 2017 at the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana ended inconclusively.