During the late 1980s, Vice-President Calderon taught journalism and U.S.-Latin American relations at various Colombian universities, including Universidad Central, Universidad Javeriana and Universidad Jorge Tadeo Lozano. He also served as the the editor of El Tiempo, Colombia's largest daily newspaper. In 1990, Vice President Calderon was kidnapped by Pablo Escobar, then leader of the Medellín drug cartel and held along with ten other journalist for nearly eight months.Upon his release, he spent a year at Harvard University as a Nieman Fellow. In1992, he returned to Bogotá and founded País Libre (Free Nation), an organization to assist the victims of kidnapping and their families. In March 2000, Vice-President Calderon left Colombia after receiving multiple death threats and moved to Madrid, Spain where he was a journalist for the newspaper El País. Helater returned to home and in May 2002, was elected Vice President of Colombia.