Virgilio Barco
| Virgilio Barco Vargas | |
|---|---|
Barco in 1991.
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| 27th President of Colombia | |
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In office 7 August 1986 – 7 August 1990 |
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| Preceded by | Belisario Betancur Cuartas |
| Succeeded by | César Gaviria Trujillo |
| 20th Colombia Ambassador to United Kingdom | |
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In office 9 November 1990 – 1992 |
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| President | César Gaviria Trujillo |
| Preceded by | Fernando Cepeda Ulloa |
| Succeeded by | Luis Prieto Ocampo |
| 18th Colombia Ambassador to United States | |
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In office 24 June 1977 – 11 December 1980 |
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| President | Alfonso López Michelsen |
| Preceded by | Julio César Turbay Ayala |
| Succeeded by | Jorge Mario Eastman Robledo |
| 6th Mayor of Bogotá | |
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In office 1966–1969 |
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| President | Carlos Lleras Restrepo |
| Preceded by | Jorge Gaitán Cortés |
| Succeeded by | Emilio Urrea Delgado |
| 15th Minister of Agriculture of Colombia | |
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In office 23 April 1963 – 6 October 1963 |
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| President | Guillermo León Valencia |
| Preceded by | Cornelio Reyes Reyes |
| Succeeded by | Gustavo Balcázar Monzón |
| 40th Minister of Finance and Public Credit of Colombia | |
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In office 7 August 1962 – 5 September 1962 |
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| President | Guillermo León Valencia |
| Preceded by | Jorge Mejía Palacio |
| Succeeded by | Carlos Sanz de Santamaría |
| 8th Colombia Ambassador to United Kingdom | |
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In office 16 June 1961 – 1962 |
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| President | Alberto Lleras Camargo |
| Preceded by | Alfonso López Pumarejo |
| Succeeded by | Alfredo Araújo Grau |
| 52nd Minister of Public Works of Colombia | |
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In office 7 August 1958 – 9 November 1960 |
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| President | Alberto Lleras Camargo |
| Preceded by | Roberto Salazar Gómez |
| Succeeded by | Misael Pastrana Borrero |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
17 September 1921 Cúcuta, North Santander, Colombia |
| Died | 20 May 1997 (aged 75) Bogotá, D.C., Colombia |
| Resting place | Central Cemetery of Bogotá |
| Nationality | Colombian |
| Political party | Liberal |
| Spouse(s) |
Carolina Isakson Proctor (1950–1997) |
| Children |
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| Alma mater |
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| Profession | Civil Engineer |
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
Virgilio Barco Vargas (17 September 1921 – 20 May 1997) was the 27th President of Colombia serving from 1986 to 1990.
Barco was born in Cúcuta, Norte de Santander Department, in the home of Jorge Enrique Barco Maldonaldo and Julieta Vargas Durán lived in north-eastern Colombia. Studied Civil Engineering at the National University of Colombia and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he graduated in 1943, He entered politics in 1943 when he became a city council member in the town of Durania for the Liberal Party. He was then elected to the lower house of Congress, but went into exile in the late 1940s because of violence between liberals and conservatives. He lived in the United States, where his daughter, Carolina Barco Isakson (who would later become a Colombian politician herself) was born.
Barco returned to Colombia in 1954 to help negotiate the peace process which allowed the formation of the National Front between liberals and conservatives, which lasted two decades. He became a member of the Senate, the upper house of Congress in 1958, left become the ambassador to Britain in 1961, and returned to Colombia in 1962. He served another term in the Senate until 1966, when he was elected mayor of Colombia's capital, Bogotá. He served in that position until 1969, when he became a director of the World Bank until 1974. He then served as ambassador to the United States from 1977 until 1980.
Barco was elected president of Colombia with 58% of the vote in 1986. He supported anti-poverty programs, renewed dialogue with leftist guerillas and fought drug traffickers. Though he was popular within the international community, he became less popular in Colombia because the drug traffickers became more violent after he started to move against them. His restrictive economic policies at first doomed the country. After two years of this, The Economic Openness program was initiated by his administration, which would open Colombian markets to the world and recharge the country's economy. He served one 4-year term.
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