Ruth Stella Correa Palacio

Ruth Stella Correa Palacio (born 13 November 1959 ) served as the 8th Minister of Justice and Law of Colombia.

Career A Law and Political Sciences graduate of the Free University of Colombia at Pereira in 1982, she pursued postgraduate studies in Labour Law and Industrial Relations in 1990 at the Externado University, with additional training studies in State Administration at the Pontifical Xavierian University in 1996, and in University Teaching at Saint Thomas Aquinas University in 2000. Correa was sworn in on 12 July 2012 by President Santos in a ceremony at the Palace of Nariño. Correa replaced Juan Carlos Esguerra Portocarrero who had submitted his resignation after the failed attempt to reform the Judicial Branch. With her appointment, President Santos fulfilled the Law of Quotas that called for at least a 30% of ministerial positions to go to women, and which had gone unfulfilled since Minister Beatriz Elena Uribe Botero was replaced as Minister of Housing, City and Territory by Germán Vargas Lleras, and two further posts had been filled by men.