Óscar Iván Zuluaga

Zuluaga joined the newly formed Democratic Centre in 2013 and ran for its presidential nomination in the 2014 election against incumbent President Juan Manuel Santos Calderón. He defeated former Vice President Francisco Santos Calderón and former Interior Minister Carlos Holmes Trujillo in the Democratic Center Convention. Zuluaga then chose Holmes as his running mate.

In 2001 he became involved in Álvaro Uribe Vélez's presidential campaign. Zuluaga was elected to the Senate of Colombia in March 2002; Uribe was victorious in Presidential elections held two months later. As a Senator he backed the amendment to the Colombian Constitution permitting Presidential re-election. Along with many other supporters of Uribe, Zuluaga joined the Social Party of National Unity in 2005, led by Juan Manuel Santos. Zuluaga did not stand for election to the Senate in 2006 and was subsequently appointed the 68th Minister of Finance and Public Credit of Colombia by Uribe.

Zuluaga married Martha Ligia Martínez Giraldo on 10 October 1987 in Barranquilla; together they have three children: David, Juliana, and Esteban.

Óscar Iván Zuluaga Escobar (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈoskaɾ iˈβan suˈlwaɣa es.ko.ˈβaɾ]; born 3 February 1959) is a Colombian politician and economist who was the Democratic Center's nominee for President of Colombia in the 2014 election. He won the most votes in the first round of the election and but went on to lose to the incumbent Juan Manuel Santos Calderon in the second round.

Zuluaga was born on 3 February 1959 in Pensilvania, Caldas to Ovidio Zuluaga and Carina Escobar. He attended the Pontifical Xavierian University where graduated in 1982 as an economist. He later attended University of Exeter in the United Kingdom where he earned an M.A. in Public Finance.