Maria P. Correa, Former Chief of Staff of President Duque, Presents ‘The Last Line’

Maria Paula Correa, former chief of staff of President Ivan Duque, presented her book The Last Line (Planeta) in the Colombian capital last Thursday. In the anti-memoir, as the book is subtitled, the figure once considered the most powerful woman in the country reviews her childhood and early youth, the years of politicization and especially describes crucial moments of her work as President Duque’s right-hand woman (2018-2022).

In the library of the prestigious and traditional Gimnasio Moderno school in Bogota, Correa summoned practically the entire former cabinet, with former President Duque at the head, including a large representation of the Colombian civil society, representatives of the Democratic Center party, such as senators Miguel Uribe and Paloma Valencia, and the former mayor of the capital, Enrique Peñalosa.

In a one-on-one conversation with the popular TV news anchor, Jorge Alfredo Vargas, Maria Paula Correa reviewed the highlights of her book, interacting with various people present in the room, such as her mother, with whom she had public confidences about her youth, or President Duque himself, who recalled various moments, such as the difficult speech of July 20, 2021, Colombia’s National Day, during which there were strong protests in the streets against the government’s economic policy.

Anti-memoirs of a chief of staff

According to the term coined by French novelist Andre Maulraux, anti-memoirs are the skeptical approach to the possibility of giving an account of oneself. That is why Maria Paula Correa has pointed out that they are not memoirs, since the one who was Duque’s main advisor during the four years of his presidential mandate tells the confessable intimate details of a woman who was in the front line of power, without nostalgia.

As Correa stated in her talk, the idea is to give testimony to future people, men and women, who face the challenge she experienced when she was appointed to bring order to the Colombian cabinet in 2018.

In the presentation of the book, Maria Paula Correa recounted what for her are “the four triumphs of President Duque“. According to the former cabinet chief, Duque has the merits of having won the support of his party, the Democratic Center, to head a presidential candidacy; winning the consultation with the pre-candidate Alejandro Ordoñez; and winning the two rounds of the 2018 presidential elections, which ended up making him the head of Colombia.

“Power is about making things happen”

Similarly, Correa made mention of what it means for a young woman to be so close to power, even to participate in it. “Power is to make things happen,” she said at one point in her speech. In addition, the author of The Last Line stressed that the three best characteristics of a good chief of staff are discretion, knowing how to say “no” when you need to, and surrounding yourself with a good team.

Correa said that her main mission in those years was to “reorganize the house”, referring to the coordination of the Presidential Palace and the government. “When the Palace works, the country works,” she said, pointing out the importance of the organization of the country’s presidency.

All in all, the protagonist of the evening acknowledged that she would not do the same thing again with another president, because, she said, “it is impossible to repeat the degree of understanding and trust” she achieved working with President Duque with a different person.

The post-truth war

One of the aspects of which Maria Paula Correa was most critical was the outbreak of post-truth. “We failed to be more prepared for the post-truth war”, she said, recognizing the government’s failures in that aspect.

In that context, she referred to situations of high tension in the government which she lived through, referring to the social protests of 2019 and 2021 concerning government proposals for tax reforms, and a very painful personal episode when, through social networks, rumors began to spread that she was the president’s “lover”.

Correa dedicated several minutes to recall that sad episode, in which she felt falsely attacked for being a woman. The former chief of staff extolled and thanked the role and support she had from Ivan Duque’s wife, Maria Juliana Ruiz, who accompanied her husband in the front row of those attending the event. “Being a woman and the chief of staff of a young president made me an easy target,” Correa acknowledged, while clarifying that “I am not writing the book to victimize myself.”

“The conflict does not let the government follow through”

Asked about the current leftist government, Correa pointed out that the permanent noise and the “conflict has not allowed the government to follow through”. Regarding Laura Sarabia, a young woman who occupies a place of power in the government of Gustavo Petro, similar to the one she had with President Duque, she stated that she had a good dialogue with her.

In addition, she stressed that with the publication of her book, she seeks to “continue opening the way for others to know how a central government works internally, what it is like to accompany a president and how decisions are made”.

In this way, Correa wants to leave a testimony to “serve as an inspiration for women and men who want to reach” a position as relevant as the one she held for four years.