Juan Francisco Antonio Hilarión Zea Díaz was a Neogranadine journalist, botanist, diplomat, politician, and statesman who served as Vice President of Colombia under then President Simón Bolívar. He was also Ambassador of Colombia to the United Kingdom where he tried in vain to gain recognition for the nascent nation of Colombia.

The vice president of Colombia is the second-highest officer in the executive branch of the national government, after the president of Colombia, and ranks first in the presidential line of succession. The vice president is indirectly elected together with the president to a four-year term of office by the people of Colombia through the Popular Vote. Since the passage of the Article 102 Amendment to the Colombian Constitution, the vice president may also be appointed by the president to fill a vacancy, upon leave of absence or death, resignation, or removal of the president. Since the 1990s, the vice president has been afforded an official residence at the Vice Presidential House of Bogotá, D.C.