[11] During her time at Wellesley, she spent a year studying abroad at the Université Libre de Bruxelles in Belgium.

In 1975, she received a master's degree in city planning from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design.

[13] Barco was appointed Foreign Minister of Colombia by President Álvaro Uribe in August 2002 and remained in that post until July 2006,[14][15][16][17] when she was appointed Ambassador to the United States, replacing former Colombian president Andrés Pastrana Arango in Washington, D.C.[18][19] In September 2003, she was announced by The Miami Herald as one of the invited speakers at its annual "America's Conference."

The theme for the October program was "Rebuilding Hemispheric Relations: New Economic Perspectives and Changing Foreign Policy Realities.

"[20] In 2007, she was one of several high-ranking political figures, celebrities and prominent athletes who attended a black-tie gala for the Formula Smiles Foundation, which was hosted by NASCAR driver Juan Pablo Montoya in the art district of Miami, Florida.