Jose Noe Rios was appointed Deputy Minister of Labor Relations after cabinet member David Luna on Monday announced his resignation.
The outgoing deputy minister said that he hopes to focus on recuperating Colombia’s capital city of Bogota where he has previously run for mayor. Multiple sources speculate that Luna may become the director of SENA, a country-wide training institute, should the current director resign as is expected.
Jose Noe Rios, the official set to replace Luna, currently serves as the coordinator of the Center for Social Conflict. The new minister has been involved in numerous peace talks, including the M-19 negotiation. He has also played an active role in bargaining processes with the FARC and ELN guerrilla factions.