María Victoria Llorente

Political scientist from the Los Andes University, expert in crime and violence, national and citizen security, peacebuilding and philanthropy for peace. Since 2006 she has been the Executive Director of the Fundación Ideas para la Paz, FIP (Ideas for Peace Foundation). Between 1998 and 2006 she was an associate researcher at the Centro de Estudios sobre Desarrollo Económico, CEDE (Center for Economic Development Studies) at Los Andes University, where she led the Paz Pública (Public Peace) research group, through which multiple research were carried out on internal armed conflict, violence, security and criminal justice policy in Colombia. Between 1988 and 1994 she was assistant to the Presidential Peace Advisor, the Presidential Advisor for Defense and National Security and the Minister of National Defense. She has been a consultant to multilateral organizations and Colombian Government on projects on peace, dialogue, citizen security, crime prevention, police reform and drug policy. She has also been part of various advisory commissions of the Colombian Government on issues of Criminal Justice Policy (2011-2012 and 2023 to the present), Drug Policy (2013-2014) and National Police Reform (2003-2004). Since 2022, she has been part of the National Conciliation Commission, an advisory body on peace matters of the Episcopal Conference of Colombia. In recent years she has promoted various multiactor dialogue initiatives and platforms. She is co-author of several books, has written multiple academic and press articles on these topics and continually participates in debate programs in the Colombian media.