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Virgilio Barco

Virgilio Barco Vargas
President Virgilio Barco.png
Barco in 1991.
27th President of Colombia
In office
7 August 1986 (1986-08-07) – 7 August 1990 (1990-08-07)
Preceded by Belisario Betancur Cuartas
Succeeded by César Gaviria Trujillo
20th Colombia Ambassador to United Kingdom
In office
9 November 1990 (1990-11-09) – 1992
President César Gaviria Trujillo
Preceded by Fernando Cepeda Ulloa
Succeeded by Luis Prieto Ocampo
18th Colombia Ambassador to United States
In office
24 June 1977 (1977-06-24) – 11 December 1980 (1980-12-11)
President Alfonso López Michelsen
Preceded by Julio César Turbay Ayala
Succeeded by Jorge Mario Eastman Robledo
6th Mayor of Bogotá
In office
1966–1969
President Carlos Lleras Restrepo
Preceded by Jorge Gaitán Cortés
Succeeded by Emilio Urrea Delgado
15th Minister of Agriculture of Colombia
In office
23 April 1963 (1963-04-23) – 6 October 1963 (1963-10-06)
President Guillermo León Valencia
Preceded by Cornelio Reyes Reyes
Succeeded by Gustavo Balcázar Monzón
40th Minister of Finance and Public Credit of Colombia
In office
7 August 1962 (1962-08-07) – 5 September 1962 (1962-09-05)
President Guillermo León Valencia
Preceded by Jorge Mejía Palacio
Succeeded by Carlos Sanz de Santamaría
8th Colombia Ambassador to United Kingdom
In office
16 June 1961 (1961-06-16) – 1962
President Alberto Lleras Camargo
Preceded by Alfonso López Pumarejo
Succeeded by Alfredo Araújo Grau
52nd Minister of Public Works of Colombia
In office
7 August 1958 (1958-08-07) – 9 November 1960 (1960-11-09)
President Alberto Lleras Camargo
Preceded by Roberto Salazar Gómez
Succeeded by Misael Pastrana Borrero
Personal details
Born (1921-09-17)17 September 1921
Cúcuta, North Santander, Colombia
Died 20 May 1997(1997-05-20) (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
Alma mater
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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