Fernando Botero Zea

BodyBrite's development in China has been rapid. The operation has so far been concentrated in Shanghai province, one of the largest and most prosperous provinces in China. There are now around 80 BodyBrite locations in the province, making BodyBrite the market leader in that part of China. The company's plans for the period 2022 to 2024 are to expand activities to the cities of Beijing and Guangzhou. In the medium term, the company aims to have 2000 Bodybrite stores in China in the next 5 years.

Following the legacy of Gloria Zea -who was an important promoter of the development of opera in her country- Fernando Botero Zea has been, since his mother's death in 2019, a promotor of the opera in Colombia.

In 2016, he completed a Master's Degree in the Science of Happiness at the Universidad Tec Milenio, part of the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education.

In 2015, Botero Zea decided to buy 28% of BodyBrite Mexico with a view to integrating BodyBrite's operations in Mexico and Colombia as well as in Spain, China and other countries. This is how BodyBrite begins to emerge as a medium-sized multinational company, being a market leader in its field not only in Mexico and Colombia, but also in Shanghai, China.

In 2014, Botero Zea picked up the cultural and artistic legacy of his family and decided to create Botero-in-China, the company in charge of organizing the first exhibition of Master Fernando Botero in China. The exhibition included his father's major work and was presented in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. The Botero- in-China exhibitions attracted more than 1.5 million visitors. By 2021, the same company had organized more than 200 educational conferences in 21 different countries worldwide.

BodyBrite Colombia began operations in 2012 and achieved eighty franchises and/or own stores in 26 different cities in Colombia, serving an average of 200,000 customers per year.

In 2011, Fernando Botero Zea brought to Colombia a representation of BodyBrite, a beauty store brand that already existed in Mexico.

In 2009, due to the accumulation of sentences decreed by the Superior Court of Bogotá in the last instance, Botero Zea obtained the benefit of freedom and the end of his criminal proceedings. Since then, he has dedicated his personal and professional time between Mexico and Colombia.

In 2008 Botero Zea founded Itacate de Mexico, a company dedicated to the delivery of low-cost nutritious food as a provider of government plans at the municipal, state and federal level. Itacate's food programs were developed in important Mexican states such as Nuevo Leon, Hidalgo, Jalisco, Campeche, Quinta Roo, Chiapas, Guerrero, Michoacan, Baja California Sur, Baja California Norte, State of Mexico and Tamaulipas, among others.

In January 2007, the Supreme Court of Justice reaffirmed the ruling by the Superior Court of Bogota.

In a televised interview for Canal RCN on Tuesday, February 13, 2007, Botero presented proof of his innocence, including the deed to a property that Botero's family had sold at the time of the events, and denounced the political persecution that was allegedly the cause of the adverse rulings of justice and offered previously unknown details.

In 2002, Judge 37 of the Colombian capital assessed the prosecution's accusation, conducted an exhaustive investigation of Botero Zea's bank accounts and financial movements, and finally declared him innocent of the crimes of which he was accused. A few weeks later, in 2003, the Bogotá Superior Court, subject to political pressure from Samper and his allies, overturned the sentence of Bogotá's 37th Criminal Court.

Botero Zea founded Grupo Editorial Estilo México in 2002. This publishing group published during its existence an important number of magazines, among them Estilo México, Be, Espacio Corporativo, Destinos, Sabores, Estilo (Los Cabos, Acapulco, Riviera Maya, San Miguel de Allende, Aeromar magazine, Danhos magazine and Peyrelongue magazine, among other titles. Grupo Editorial Estilo México also edited and published the book México desde el Aire.

In the framework of Landmark Education, Botero Zea has taught seminars and various courses from 2002 to 2014 on topics such as money management, human potential, relationships and business development.

In 2001, shortly after taking up residence in Mexico, Botero Zea created Landmark Education of Mexico, focused on human potential courses. This company has also seen its expansion in Colombia since 2005.

Years later - and after his time in Colombia's politics - he returned to his passion for study. Thus, it was that in 1999 he completed a Master's Degree in Journalism from City University London. Botero's thesis was entitled "The Colombian Community in the UK: Myths and Realities". In his thesis, Botero Zea documents the particularity that nearly 80% of Colombian migrants living in the UK come from the municipality of Sevilla, Valle del Cauca and the surrounding municipalities in that corner of southwestern Colombia, working in their country of destination in legal jobs.

In 1999, another case was opened against Botero for the alleged embezzlement of more than 800 million Colombian pesos destined for the same 1994 presidential campaign. The accusation was brought by the then Attorney General Alfonso Gómez Méndez, appointed by President Samper, who was a political enemy of Botero by that time.

When Botero Zea moved to Mexico in 1999, he looked for a way to continue his teaching. Between 1999 and 2003, he taught Macroeconomic Policy at the School of Economics at the Universidad Iberoamericana and the same at the Universidad de la Américas, both in Mexico City.

As a result, numerous politicians and senior members of the government were indicted. Botero was arrested in connection with this investigation and accused of having facilitated the entry of illegal money into the presidential campaign. He was sentenced to 30 months' detention at the Escuela de Caballería, a military base located in northern Bogotá. Upon completion of his sentence, Botero Zea was released on February 12, 1998.

Fernando Botero Zea was appointed Minister of Defense on August 7, 1994. His time at the Ministry is remembered for some important reforms of the institution.

Shortly after Ernesto Samper's 1994 presidential victory, Samper's opponent and future successor, Andres Pastrana, accused Samper of having received campaign donations from the Cali Cartel in the amount of 6 million USD.

Botero Zea also played a role in the life of the Senate as the speaker and promoter of the debate against the government of President Gaviria, when notorious drug lord Pablo Escobar escaped in 1992. Those debates showed the life of luxury that Pablo Escobar had in his prison, called La Catedral and the deception that had occurred to the Colombian and international public opinion with his submission to justice. An important consequence of the debate was the resignation of the Minister of Justice at the time, Fernando Carrillo Flórez.

In 1991 Botero Zea was appointed Secretary General of the Liberal Party, under the leadership of former President Alfonso López Michelsen.

Botero's administration coincided with the development of the National Constituent Assembly of 1991 and the promulgation of the new Political Constitution of Colombia in the same year. During the deliberations of the Constituent Assembly, Botero Zea presented on several occasions the official position of the Colombian Liberal Party on key issues such as the presidential run-off, political and administrative decentralization, the royalties regime, the national constituency of the Senate and other issues of fundamental importance.

He was elected Senator of the Republic on two occasions. First, in the 1990 elections; and then again in 1991 after Congress was revoked by the National Constituent Assembly.

In addition, he was rapporteur of the 1990 Labor Reform along with Senator Álvaro Uribe Vélez and the 1990 Pension Reform again with Uribe Vélez and other members of the committee.

Botero Zea was appointed member of the State Reform Commission by President César Gaviria Trujillo in 1990. This commission was also composed of twelve experts, including Manuel José Cepeda, Marino Tadeo Lozano, Eduardo Mendoza de la Torre, Alfonso Esguerra Fajardo and several others.

The commission met between 1990 and 1991 and proposed a total of 32 bills, draft legislative acts and draft constitutional reforms that were adopted, for the most part, by the government of President Gaviria and by the National Constituent Assembly.

In 1989, Fernando Botero ran as a candidate for Mayor of Bogotá for the Liberal Party. He participated in a competition campaign with Juan Martín Caicedo Ferrer, who was the eventual winner of the race and later Mayor of the Colombian capital. At the November 1989 Liberal convention that chose the candidate, Botero won 42.3% of the delegates' votes running against Caicedo Ferrer.

Colombian Attorney General Alfonso Valdivieso Sarmiento personally led the investigation. Valdivieso is a cousin of the late Luis Carlos Galán, a charismatic presidential candidate assassinated in 1989 by the Medellín Cartel for his political views. Galán favored the extradition of drug traffickers to the United States for prosecution.

Between 1989 and 1994, he taught Finance and International Relations at the School of Economics of the Universidad Externado de Colombia.

In 1988, Botero resigned from his position as Deputy Minister of Government to run for election as Councilman of Bogotá, which he achieved in 1988 with a large vote.

Botero Zea married María Elvira Quintana in 1988. They had two sons: Fernando Botero Quintana and Felipe Botero Quintana. Botero also has a daughter, Camila Botero Llano, born from a previous relationship. In 1999, Botero married María Inés Londoño Reyes, daughter of Fernando Londoño Henao, who had 3 daughters from her previous marriage.

When Cepeda Ulloa resigned as Minister of Government in 1987, Botero Zea continued as Deputy Minister of the new Minister César Gaviria Trujillo, who was elected President of the Republic in 1990.

Simultaneous to his work at the Bogota Stock Exchange, Botero Zea developed a side business as a consultant on time management and productivity for large companies and multinationals in Colombia. In 1986, he published a cassette with the title "Efficient Time Management", which was produced in a large quantity of copies, destined to national and multinational companies, and also to be distributed through libraries in Colombia.

In 1986, Botero Zea ran for the position of Councilman of Bogotá. Botero Zea was elected but did not serve on the Bogotá City Council because a few days after his election he was appointed Deputy Minister of Government by President Virgilio Barco Vargas.

Botero was appointed Deputy Minister of Government by President Virgilio Barco on August 7, 1986. The Minister of Government at the time was Fernando Cepeda Ulloa. At the head of his post, Botero Zea developed four main functions:

Third, to coordinate the Barco administration's work on administrative decentralization. Botero was in charge of drafting the presidential decrees, bills and ministerial resolutions in the years 1986 to 1988 that led to successive reforms of the Colombian state, aimed at achieving greater administrative decentralization.

In 1984, he returned to Colombia to become president of Compañía de Servicios Bursátiles S.A., one of the brokerage firms that made part of the Bogotá stock exchange. During his tenure, from 1984 to 1988, the company moved from 17th place among the different companies on the Bogotá Stock Exchange to third place.

His first teaching experience was in the Faculty of Business Administration at the Universidad de los Andes. In that faculty, he taught Introduction to Finance from 1984 to 1994. Since 1985, Botero Zea extended his teaching activities to the Faculty of Economics at the Universidad de los Andes. In that faculty, he taught Macroeconomic Policy from 1985 to 1994.

In the summer of 1982, during his two master's degrees at Harvard University, and after graduating in 1983, Botero Zea became a consultant at McKinsey and Company. Initially assigned to the New York office, and later transferred to the Madrid office, Botero concentrated his work on one of the firm's major clients in Spain, Banco Herrero, which was based in Oviedo, Spain. The economic reforms and the new liberal policies that developed at the time, created an environment of uncertainty and great challenges for that bank.

In 1980, he began a joint program between the Business School and the School of Government at Harvard University. There he earned two master's degrees: Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School and Master of Public Finance from the John F. Kennedy School of Government in 1983.

Thanks to the work of the McKinsey team and the role of Botero Zea, Banco Herrero was able to restructure internally and position itself in the Spanish banking environment of the early 1980s, when the bank was absorbed by a larger bank, BBVA of Spain.

Botero was head of that office for a year, until he made the decision to enter electoral politics, seeking a seat in the Assembly of Cundinamarca Department in the 1980 elections. In that attempt, he was defeated and suffered his first electoral setback.

Botero's main contribution to the development of Bogotá was his book Bogotá Descentralizada and his work on new government structures for the city. Then, the capital's government structures were reformed in the late 1980s and early 1990s, burying the old centralized organization of the local mayor's offices and developing a new structure of zonal mayor's offices and zonal councils, which have served to energize the city's development, bring the government closer to the communities and make the work of the government more efficient.

The book had an impact on Bogotá's political environment and was the basis for the decentralization reforms that created Bogotá's zonal mayors and the zonal councilor and alderman organization in the 1980s and 1990s, particularly during the mayoralty of Jaime Castro.

In 1979, Botero Zea occupied the first position in his life as Coordinator of Local Mayors of Bogota, part to the Department of Government of the Bogotá City Hall. The Secretary of Government at the time was Luis Guillermo Sorzano and the Mayor of Bogota, Hernando Durán Dussán. Botero's responsibility was to coordinate the 20 Local Mayors that existed in the capital.

At the university stage Fernando Botero Zea began his process of academic formation. He first studied in Paris, France. There he obtained, in 1975, a Certificat d'Études Politiques (Certificate of Political Studies) at the Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris. Returning to Colombia in 1975, he graduated from the Universidad de los Andes (Colombia) with a degree in Economics and Political Science in 1980.

Born in Mexico City, Fernando Botero Zea is the first son of artist Fernando Botero and the cultural promoter and director for 46 years of the Museum of Modern Art of Bogotá Gloria Zea, who also served as Minister of Culture of Colombia from 1974 to 1982.

In 1973, Botero's mother Gloria Zea and her then husband Andrés Uribe Campuzano were kidnapped. The couple was released after paying ransom and being held in captivity for several weeks. But due to the risk of the kidnapping of other members of the family, they decided to leave the country.

Faced with this new and unexpected family and security situation, Botero Zea entered the Ecole Nouvelle de la Suisse Romande in 1973 where he graduated in 1974 with an International Baccalaureate.

When Botero Zea was 17 years old, he was involved in an automobile accident on the road from Seville to Madrid in southern Spain. In this accident, his younger brother Pedro Botero Zambrano was tragically killed. The Botero family was on Easter vacation in 1973, when the accident happened. In the car were Master Fernando Botero, his then wife Cecilia Zambrano, his sister Lina and his brother Pedro, as well as Botero Zea himself. In this automobile accident not only Pedro Botero lost his life, but also Master Botero himself was seriously injured in both hands.

Fernando Botero Zea's parents divorced in 1960, just five years after their marriage. Botero Zea has a sister named Lina, who is an art curator and interior designer, and a brother named Juan Carlos, who is a writer.

In New York, from 1960 to 1967, Botero studied at the Trent School and then at Trinity School. From 1967 to 1969, Botero boarded at the Fessenden School in Boston, Massachusetts. At that school, he was elected president of his class, awakening his early interest in politics.

Fernando Botero Zea (Mexico City, Mexico, August 23, 1956) is a businessman and liberal politician of dual Colombia and Mexican nationalities, mainly known for having served as Minister of National Defense of Colombia among other political posts. He is the son of Colombian figurative artist Fernando Botero and cultural promoter Gloria Zea.

In the book Conversaciones en la Cantina, Botero Zea attempts to sketch the history of the 21st century in Mexico based on the testimony of the main protagonists of Mexican political life such as Jorge Castañeda, Felipe Calderón, Vicente Fox, Carlos Salinas de Gortari, Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas, among many others; as well as the vision of leading observers and analysts of Mexican political life and history such as Héctor Aguilar Camín, Carmen Aristegui, Germán Dehesa, Denise Dresser, Carlos Loret de Mola, Andrés Oppenheimer, among others.