after a controversy about an alleged disciplinary sanction against him when he first became governor, back in the nineties. After that Murillo started a tough journey to clarify his legal situation. Finally, in 2013 the office of the Colombian general Inspector, Alejandro Ordoñez Maldonado, freed Luis Murillo from any disciplinary sanction. In 2014, Mr. Murillo worked for the re-election campaign of Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, as campaign officer for Pacific region. After winning, President Santos appointed Mr. Murillo as Director of the Pacific Initiative, the special presidential program directed to boost the social and economic development of that region of Colombia. The program is called "Todos Somos Pacifico" and its principal office is in Bogota but with offices in Buenaventura, Quibdo, Guapi and Tumaco. Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development In May 2016, Luis Gilberto Murillo Urrutia became the first Afro-Colombian to hold the position of Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development of Colombia. As Minister, led efforts that in two years increased the environmental rainforest and marine protected areas in Colombia from 57 million acres to 107 million acres. In addition, implemented fiscal and market-based environmental policy that led to the creation of the carbon market that went from USD $5 million to USD $20 million, and the creation of the national carbon tax, increasing the funding for community-led protection of the environment. Equally important, the implementation of a national plastic bag tax that decreased the use of plastic bags by 35% in its first year alone. During his time as Minister, Murillo led the creation of a system of payment for environmental services to rural communities, to provide incentives for the protection of the rainforest, wetlands and paramo ecosystems (high mountain moorlands). As a measure of environmental justice, this program benefits 100,000 families and over 2.4 million acres. Lastly, in addition to ensuring Colombia was on the path to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement, often referred to as the Paris Accords or the Paris Climate Accords, Murillo also chaired the Environmental Ministerial Forum of Latin America and the Caribbean that led to the agreement on a regional environmental agenda proposed at the 2017 United Nations Environment Assembly. 2022 presidential election News outlets considered Murillo to be a likely contender for the presidential nomination of the Hope Center Coalition. However, on 21 January 2022, he opted to run for the presidency as a candidate for the