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Andrés Pastrana Arango | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Pastrana in 2001 | |
| 31stPresident of Colombia | |
| In office 7 August 1998 – 7 August 2002 | |
| Vice President | Gustavo Bell Lemus |
| Preceded by | Ernesto Samper |
| Succeeded by | Álvaro Uribe |
| 30thAmbassador of Colombia to the United States | |
| In office 24 October 2005 – 11 July 2006 | |
| President | Álvaro Uribe |
| Preceded by | Luis Alberto Moreno |
| Succeeded by | Carolina Barco Isakson |
| 18th Secretary General of theNon-Aligned Movement | |
| In office 7 August 1998 – 2 September 1998 | |
| Preceded by | Ernesto Samper Pizano |
| Succeeded by | Nelson Mandela |
| 18thMayor of Bogotá | |
| In office 1 January 1988 – 1 January 1990 | |
| Preceded by | Julio César Sánchez |
| Succeeded by | Juan Martín Caycedo Ferrer |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1954-08-17)17 August 1954 (age 71) |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Other political affiliations | Great Alliance for Change |
| Spouse | |
| Relations | Misael Pastrana Borrero(father) María Cristina Arango Vega(mother) |
| Children |
|
| Alma mater |
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| Profession | Lawyer |
| Signature |  |
Andrés Pastrana Arango (born 17 August 1954) is a Colombian politician who was the31stPresident of Colombia from 1998 to 2002,[1] following in the footsteps of his father,Misael Pastrana Borrero, who was president from 1970 to 1974.
Pastrana was born on 17 August 1954 inBogotá, the largest city ofColombia, toMisael Pastrana Borrero, who later served as the 23rd President of Colombia, andMaría Cristina Arango Vega, the formerFirst Lady of Colombia.[2]
During his father's presidency, he was a high school student atColegio San Carlos where he served as president of the student council and graduated in 1973. He later acquired a degree in law at theOur Lady of the Rosary University in 1977, and attendedHarvard University as a 1978Weatherhead Center for International Affairs Fellow.[2] He founded the magazineGuión and aprogramadora known as Datos y Mensajes, whose flagship program was the newscastNoticiero TV Hoy. As a regular news anchor he became a nationally known figure.[3]
In 1982, he formally began his political career by gaining a seat on the localBogotá council. He also specialized in press articles on the production and trafficking ofcocaine for which he gained many journalistic awards. In 1991, he was electedSenator.
He was kidnapped on January 18, 1988, inAntioquia[4] by theMedellín Cartel, which was pressuring the Colombian government into preventing the extradition ofPablo Escobar and other drug lords to the United States. He was found by theNational Police a week later, and in March, he was electedMayor of Bogotá, a position that he held until 1990.
In 1994, he stood for the presidency against theLiberal candidate,Ernesto Samper, and lost by only 2% in the second round. Pastrana immediately accused Samper of using drug money to finance his campaign and provided audio recordings to the authorities that subsequently attracted much media attention and eventually led to a scandal known as8.000 Process (Proceso 8.000).
While the accusation underwent a parliamentary investigation, Pastrana retired into his private life. In 1998, Pastrana announced his intention to run for president. This time, he wonthat year's presidential election.
Former paramilitarySalvatore Mancuso, commander of theAUC, admitted in 2023 that his organisation had supported Andres Pastrana's presidential campaign in 2002.[5]
His presidency is remembered for his negotiations with the two left-wing guerrilla groupsFARC andELN, culminating in the grant of a demilitarized safe haven to the guerrillas the size of Switzerland, and for his breaking off the negotiations. It is also remembered for a growing degree of unpopularity in polls as his term progressed. Some critics accused him of possibly accepting unspecified bribes from leading FARC and ELN members, but no concrete evidence of that was presented during his presidency. He was also heavily criticized for all the seemingly-pleasure trips that he took around the world during his term.
In 1999, he and U.S. PresidentBill Clinton launchedPlan Colombia to fight the communist guerrillas with the payment by the United States of $1.6 billion over three years to the Colombian army. An amendment quickly emphasized the plan's second function: to encourage foreign investment by "insisting that the Colombian government complete the urgent reforms designed to open its economy completely to foreign investment and trade."[6]
Military counterguerrilla operations caused theforced displacement of more than one million people in four years.Cocaine production increased by 47% during that period.[7][8]
In 2005 PresidentÁlvaro Uribe Vélez, who had been a critic of Pastrana's peace process with the FARC and had received criticisms from Pastrana regarding his negotiations with Colombian paramilitary groups, surprisingly offered the former president the post of Ambassador to the United States in Washington, DC. After consulting his family and his political supporters, Pastrana accepted.
Some political analysts theorized that Uribe considered that Pastrana would be a useful diplomat in Washington because he would help to renegotiate Plan Colombia and in general to maintain U.S. aid to Colombia, which has contributed to the successes of the Uribe administration.
In July 2006, a few days after Uribe had appointed former PresidentErnesto Samper as Colombian ambassador to France, Pastrana told Uribe that he was "morally impeded" from participating in a government along with ex-President Samper. Pastrana resigned and returned to Colombia, and Samper rejected his own appointment. However, that move was not well received by the Conservative Party, which was committed to Uribe, who had won the presidency as an independent, and left Pastrana alone.
Pastrana is a board member in theInternational Foundation for Electoral Systems,[9] and the honorary president of theUnion of Latin American Parties (UPLA).[9] He is also a member of theFondation Chirac's honour committee,[10] and of the Club de Madrid, a group of more than 80 former leaders of democratic countries, which works to strengthen democratic leadership worldwide.[11] Pastrana also serves on the board of advisors for theGlobal Panel Foundation,[12] and as a counsellor for the One Young WorldDublin summit in 2014, along with four other former presidents fromLatin American countries.[13]
He now maintains a distant and hostile relation with his own party, even referring to it as "absolutely corrupt". He has also levied accusations of corruption against two of the most prominent party leaders, Efraín Cepeda and Hernán Andrade.[14]
He campaigns in 2016 against thepeace agreements signed between the Colombian government and the guerrilla.[15]
He is a signatory of the Madrid Charter launched in 2020 by the Spanish partyVox to unite the radical right in Spain and Latin America against "narco-communism, the left and organized crime."[16]
In October 2021, his name was mentioned in thePandora Papers as the owner of a company located in Panama, a country considered a tax haven, through which he makes investments in Colombia.[17]
He supported far-right candidateJavier Milei in2023 Argentine general election.[18]
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In 2013, Pastrana was awarded theHanno R. Ellenbogen Citizenship Award jointly by thePrague Society for International Cooperation andGlobal Panel Foundation.[19]
Knight of the Collar of theOrder of Isabella the Catholic (1999)[20]_-_DMN.svg)
Honorary Recipient of theOrder of the Crown of the Realm (2001)[21]
Grand Cross of theOrder of Merit of the Republic of Poland (2002)[22]
Media related toAndrés Pastrana Arango at Wikimedia Commons| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Julio César Sánchez | Mayor of Bogotá 1988–1990 | Succeeded by Juan Martín Caycedo Ferrer |
| Preceded by | President of Colombia 1998–2002 | Succeeded by |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Conservative nominee forPresident of Colombia 1994,1998 | Succeeded by |
| Diplomatic posts | ||
| Preceded by | Secretary General of theNon-Aligned Movement 1998 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Colombian Ambassador to the United States 2005–2006 | Succeeded by |
| Order of precedence | ||
| Preceded byas former President | Order of precedence of Colombia former President | Succeeded byas former President |
