About

Bogotá-headquartered Inter-American Coal is one of the leading integrated entities in the Latin American coal mining, trading and distribution market. General counsel Ana Maria Echeverria Urquijo leads a team of seven (including four lawyers) and provides legal advice and strategic counsel on all legal matters affecting the companies of the group in Colombia, Venezuela and Panama. Recent challenges have come in the form of an increasingly tough regional and international regulatory landscape and dealing with the commercial consequences arising from the closure of the Colombia-Venezuela border in 2015. According to Echeverria Urquijo, her most impressive achievement was negotiating and assisting with the resettlement of a small town to protect the interests of its inhabitants while allowing the company to commence operations in a concession area near the settlement. Before joining Inter-American in 2012 she was administrative and compliance manager at the Nicaragua offices of non-profit impact investor Global Partnerships. She has held senior positions with the Colombian National Food and Drug Surveillance Institute Invima, open-pit coal mining company Carbones del Cerrejón and sustainable energy investment developer Carbocol.