Ernesto Samper

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Ernesto Samper

Ernesto Samper Pizano (born August 3, 1950 in Bogotá ) is a Colombian politician ( Partido Liberal Colombiano , PLC). From August 7, 1994 to August 7, 1998, he was President of the Republic of Colombia .

Family and education

Ernesto Samper Pizano was born on August 3, 1950 in the Colombian capital Bogotá to a family of industrialists. After graduating from high school in Bogotá, he studied law and economics at the University of Xaveriana . He then worked in the banking sector and at the university, from 1974 to 1981 he was chairman of the Colombian banking association. He is married to Jacky Strauss de Samper.

Political career

In 1974 Samper joined the Liberal Party of Colombia. In 1982, the ex-president Alfonso López Michelsen made him his campaign manager for the presidential elections in the same year; López Michelsen lost against the conservative candidate Belisario Betancur .

After this election, Samper began his political career as a member of the Cundinamarca Province (1982-1984). In addition, he was elected to the Colombian Senate for the 1982–1986 and 1986–1990 terms; from 1984 to 1986 he was a member of the Congress of Bogotá.

After Samper had made a name for himself in the liberal party, he was nominated for the internal party primaries for the presidential candidate in 1990. There he only reached third place behind César Gaviria and the former minister Hernando Durán Dussán .

Gaviria Trujillo won the presidential election in the same year and then named Samper Minister for Development. From 1991 to 1993 Samper was Colombia's ambassador to Spain . He returned to Colombia to take part in the 1994 presidential election. This time he won the primaries in the Liberal Party against his two future Vice-Presidents Humberto de La Calle (1994-1997) and Carlos Lemos Simmonds (1997-1998).

president

In the presidential elections in May 1994, Samper defeated the conservative candidate and later successor Andrés Pastrana in the second ballot . Shortly after taking office on August 7, 1994, he was accused his campaign with more than six million US dollars of the Cali cartel to have financed. During the subsequent investigation by the Colombian Constitutional Court, which became known as Trial 8,000 ( Spanish : Proceso 8,000 ), Samper denied having known about the drug money and blamed all responsibility on his defense minister and former treasurer, Fernando Botero, the son of the painter of the same name and sculptor .

Details and functioning of corruption under Samper can be read in Ingrid Betancourt's book The Wut in My Heart .

Samper's term ended on August 7, 1998.

predecessor	Office	successor
César Gaviria	President of Colombia 1994–1998	Andrés Pastrana