 A longtime Liberal party politician, she left the party in 2005 to form the Social Party of National Unity, a national political party formed by members of both mainstream parties in support of then President Álvaro Uribe Vélez.She first entered politics in 1975, when she was first appointed Mayor of Pereira during the administration of President Alfonso López Michelsen and the following year was appointed Governor of Risaralda.She first ran for office in 1977 as a Liberal party candidate for a seat in the Municipal Council of Pereira, which she won, and years later successfully ran for a seat in the Departmental Assembly of Risaralda.