Bernardo Jaramillo Ossa
| Bernardo Jaramillo Ossa | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
May 2, 1956 Manizales, Colombia |
| Died | March 22, 1990 (aged 33) Bogota, Colombia |
| Occupation | Politician, President of the patriotic union and candidate for the presidency of Colombia 1990-1994 |
| Political party | Patriotic Union (Colombia) |
Bernardo Jaramillo Ossa (born in 1956 in Manizales, Caldas, died in Bogotá, Cundinamarca on March 22, 1990) was a Colombian politician and member of the Colombian Communist Party. Jaramillo started working primarily in the Urabá Antioquia region until 1987 when he assumed the presidency of the Patriotic Union Party (UP) after the assassination of Jaime Pardo.
Bernardo Jaramillo Ossa was born into a poor family in Manizales. Not much is known of his early life, but he did graduate with degrees in law and political science.
Jaramillo joined the UP once it was founded in 1985 and later in the 1988 election won the seat of Senator of the Republic. Following the murder of Pardo Leal he took the chair of the UP.
He tried to give greater breadth to the UP, accused by its critics of being a political arm of the FARC. Jaramillo Ossa made efforts to link the movement with the Socialist International, which earned him the nickname "perestroika". Jaramillo intended to separate the suspected relationship between his party and the FARC by approaching the Socialist International. Jaramillo then ran for the presidency of Colombia. He was planning an alliance with Carlos Pizarro Leongómez, demobilized leader of the 19th of April Movement (M-19) and also a candidate for the Presidency.
Jaramillo had been very vocal in denouncing the systematic assassination of members of UP, attributing them to the rise of right-wing paramilitary forces in allegiance with drug trafficking cartels, and approved and even supported by the military and other political forces. He especifically blamed president Barco of ignoring the evidence of the collaboration between drug cartels and Colombia's military to create and fund the paramilitary forces responsible for the assassinations. Two days before his assassination, Carlos Lemos, who was the Minister of Government at the time, dismissed Jaramillo's accusations and in turn suggested that UP was the political branch of FARC. Jaramillo responded by saying that such accusation was both unfair and baseless, and that it meant essentially a death condemn for him and UP members, which proved true just two days later.
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