Alfonso López Pumarejo

Alfonso López Pumarejo

Alfonso López Pumarejo (born January 31, 1886 in Honda , Tolima , † November 20, 1959 in London ) was a Colombian politician of the liberal Partido Liberal Colombiano and two-time President of Colombia .

biography

López Pumarejo came from an economically and politically influential family in Colombia. His grandfather Ambrosio López was an entrepreneur and a supporter of various political representatives such as José Hilario López , while his father Pedro Aquilino López Medina was Minister of the Treasury ( Ministro del Tesoro ), Senator and Minister of Agriculture.

After attending school, he studied at the London School of Economics and Political Science . After his return to Colombia he began his political career in 1915 as a member of the House of Representatives ( Cámara de Representantes ), in which he represented the liberal Partido Liberal Colombiano.

In 1930 he was one of the main supporters of Enrique Olaya Herrera , who was elected Colombia's first liberal president since 1886. He then appointed him ambassador to the United Kingdom , where he began a personal friendship with Oscar R. Benavides , the former president and then ambassador of Peru in London .

In 1934 López Pumarejo was elected President of Colombia for the first time as a candidate of the Liberals and was able to prevail clearly against his only opponent, the communist Estiquio Timote . The personal friendship between him and Oscar R. Benavides, who was re-elected President of Peru in 1933, led to the end of the Colombian-Peruvian War due to a territorial dispute over the city of Leticia on the Amazon through a peace and friendship protocol. In 1936, his government passed a law to implement land reform , which made it possible to expropriate private property in the "social interest". Out of disappointment with the behavior of the representatives of the Liberal Party and the conservative Partido Conservador , he offered his resignation in Parliament ( Congresso ) in 1937 , which was rejected by the two chambers of parliament.

Due to the constitution in force at the time , he was unable to run for the presidency again in 1938. However, he was re-elected President of Colombia in 1942 and was able to prevail in the presidential election against Carlos Arango Vélez , a former mayor of Bogotá . Between November 1943 and May 1944 he was almost continuously in the United States for medical treatment for his wife . Upon his return, he intended to resign again, but decided not to resign after the Senate rejected the resignation. In July 1944 he was kidnapped by the insurgent military in an attempted military coup and held for some time. In July 1945 he finally resigned. Subsequently, until the end of the regular term of office on August 7, 1946, the previous Foreign Minister Alberto Lleras Camargo took over the office of President of Colombia.

In 1945, 1948 and 1958 he was Colombia's first ambassador to the United Nations, President of the Delegations to the General Assemblies of the United Nations . Most recently, López Pumarejo held the post of ambassador to the United Kingdom again from June 1959 until his death a few months later.

In retrospect, his presidencies were seen as a time of great reform and he himself was seen as one of the best presidents of Colombia in the 20th century . It was in honor of Valledupar airport in Aeropuerto Alfonso López Pumarejo named.

One of his sons, Alfonso López Michelsen , was also President of Colombia from 1974 to 1978.

Web links

• rulers.org

predecessor	Office	successor
Enrique Olaya Herrera	President of Colombia 1934–1938	Eduardo Santos
Eduardo Santos	President of Colombia 1942–1945	Alberto Lleras Camargo