María Juliana Ruiz, the intimate story of the first lady of Colombia

Maria Juliana Ruiz Sandoval He would not have imagined that dance would mark his steps in life: he enrolled in the prestigious Marymount School in Bogotá as soon as he could; on the boat where he taught salsa classes to survive while studying in the Institut Catholique de Paris; at his friend’s party where he danced, when I was 15 years old, and with whom he would join several years later, nothing less than the current president of Colombia.

That day the first lady came home, after the long party, to tell her mother that he had met the “father of his children.” The only thing that Gloria Sandoval dared to say, who was unaware of her daughter’s prophet skills, was: “don’t say idle words”, a story that Ruíz Sandoval would tell El Tiempo, three children later.

The first lady has two different geographies in her genes: her mother’s Boyaca, Gloria Sandoval, a sociologist and university professor, who she says is “deep” and “analytical” with an immense love for her children and for her; and her father’s Antioqueña, Luis Fernando Ruiz, an economist and businessman who was in the public sector and referred to as “fun” and “loyal.”

Maria Juliana did the primary school at Marymount for 13 years, where she was a cheerleader, played on the volleyball team, played theater, participated in literature competitions and met what she would consider her “sisters”. Outstanding in Social Sciences and Philosophy, her strength was never mathematics. It is a time when you remember restlessly.

Then studied law at the Javeriana University, a path that later took her to France to specialize in the Catholic of Paris. There, like many Colombian students, she had to babysit a family with four children, worked in a restaurant and served as a presenter at an opera event. The adventures to pay for the expenses of her life in Europe “made her mature”, she recalls.

Being in paris, crossed the Atlantic to Washington to continue his graduate studies, there she met, after divided paths, with that man who had been her boyfriend, her friend and her “enemy”, Iván Duque, who assured her that he would stay there.

Duque was right, since Ruiz Sandoval studied his Master of Laws with an Emphasis in International Business at the American University from this city, he married, worked in the OAS and had his three children: Luciana, Eloísa and Matías. Of the 17 years they have been married, 12 were lived by the Duque Ruiz family in the city of the White House.

At 23, ‘Maju’, as his friends call him, He entered the Organization of American States as an intern, where he would feel “his professional fulfillment”. He came to work with the general secretary after 12 years in which he went from making copies to leading commissions with an important diplomatic relevance.

The woman who loves to cook with someone, go to the sea sometimes alone, read poetry, share plans by the fireplace with her family, and watch movies or read a book, is considered by her children as the “brave of the house”. She is convinced that children are the opportunity to self-correct and improve experiences in life.

“She is a hard-working woman, with her feet on the ground, my ground pole as well, and a woman who gives herself every day to give her best as a woman and as a professional, to support this family,” she mentioned in a occasion Iván Duque to Noticias Uno.

When Iván Duque decided to run for the Senate (2014-2018) it was a difficult time for the first lady and her children. There was already roots and stability in the country where they had fulfilled, like not many, the popular “American dream”. Returning to Colombia was a momentous decision in the life of María Juliana Ruiz and her family, and despite the difficulty of the change, she gave in to her husband’s dreams and convictions. Convictions that led him to make him the fourth youngest president in the country’s history.

In the presidential campaign his main concern was keeping his family together. If she became first lady, she sensed that time would become shorter with her husband, and his, with her children, who have been an urgent priority. And she evidenced it when Iván Duque traveled the country to convince people and those who most resented her absence were her children, according to Ruiz Sandoval recalls.

Despite his two years at the Casa de Nariño, Ruiz Sandoval is rarely seen parading before the media, his initiatives are not widely publicized and he is rarely seen starring in events and inaugurations. She, who prefers to observe and support her husband from privacy, according to her account, the media covers her without much insistence.

After working as Secretary General for the Shaio Clinic, she devoted herself fully to the offices of first lady.

The initiatives he leads are not widely known, nor are they publicized much, but He is in charge of projects with children and youth on issues related to culture, health and education. In the midst of the pandemic, he has been seen in La Guajira carrying markets and aid with the initiative ‘Helping does us good’ or the ‘Great Alliance for Nutrition’, which completed its first year in March.

He has kept a low profile that has rarely been interrupted. The first time he came out of that relative anonymity was because of the pastel blue blazer that he wore on the visit of the President of the United States, Donald trump, and his wife Melania. A blazer that was a trend on social networks because of its extravagant style and that was the object of ridicule, debates on the internet, memes and countless notes from the media that were approached from different angles such as “Is the debate of the first lady? ”, per Week.

This week his low profile was interrupted again with what were, for many of his critics, some unfortunate statements he gave to Noticias Caracol. When asked if she would let her children go marching in a country like Colombia, where there is police repression, María Juliana replied:

“I want to tell you that citizen aggression scares me more than police repression. But protest is a legitimate right and I would not deny it to my children in this country. What I would keep in mind is that my children do not go out into the street in a violent way, with aggression, with hatred ”.

The words felt bad in much of the public opinion due to the recent precedent of September 9, when the murder at the hands of the police of the law student Javier Ordoñez was recorded. On the same day, in a day of protests with few precedents in Bogotá, fueled by the outrage after that fact, At least 13 people were killed, according to the Public Question portal, 581 injured, 58 of them with firearms by actions of the Police.

‘The president’s wife’ had to dance with an extremely sharp question that did not come out quite well, because from her first interview in prime-time that phrase remained that divided the audience and fueled a new controversy with her as the protagonist .

Perhaps it will be a long time before María Juliana Ruiz returns to face an appearance with those reflectors. His predecessor, ‘Tutina’ de Santos, knew of the risks of exposing herself after the experience of eight years in government. What she won’t be spared is the flood of opinions every time her name is mentioned, an experience her husband is well used to enduring.

Like all presidential families in Colombia, Duke Ruiz will be the protagonist of national life after the mandate. They will continue writing their history as they have been up to now, with a destiny drawn by sacrifices that are only made for the love of study, work, children and the country.