Alberto Lleras Camargo
Alberto Lleras Camargo ( born July 3, 1906 in Bogotá, † January 4, 1990 ) was a Colombian politician of the Partido Liberal Colombiano and two-time President of Colombia, as well as Secretary General of the Organization of American States.
Biography
Alberto Lleras Camargo was born in one of the most influential families in Colombia. After leaving school at the Colegio Mayor de Nuestra Señora del Rosario, one of the most prestigious schools of his native town, he studied law from 1925, this study was, however, soon in favor of a career as a journalist. From 1926 to 1929 he lived as editor of the newspaper La Nacion in Buenos Aires. After his return to Bogotá 1929 he was editor of El Tiempo. At the same time went into politics, joined the Liberal Party when, in 1930, its general secretary and soon became one of its leading politicians. In 1931 he was admitted to the House of Representatives ( Cámara de Representantes ) and immediately elected as its speaker (up to 1933).
In October 1935 President Alfonso López Pumarejo appointed him Minister of the Interior in the cabinet, where he remained until the end of López Pumarejos term of office in 1938. In the meantime he was from January to February 1937 Minister of National Education. After a short stint as ambassador to the United States since April 1943 President López Pomarejo called him yet again in October 1943 to the Minister of the Interior in the government. After a cabinet reshuffle, he was finally in February 1945, Secretary of State.
Following the resignation López Pumarejos he was on August 7, 1945 as the successor to the current President of Colombia and held this post until the end of the regular term of office on August 7, 1946. Between April 1948 and August 1954, he was the first Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS ).
In 1957 he was instrumental in the creation of a coalition between the Liberal Party and the conservative Partido Conservador that ended a long-term, part -violent struggle of both parties and was directed against the dictator Gustavo Rojas Pinilla in particular. This known as Frente Nacional system ultimately led to the fact that the two parties 1958-1974 alternately every four years put the president.
Lleras Camargo was then. Between August 7, 1958 with the August 7, 1962 the first President of Colombia under this Agreement During his presidency, he began with the legislation for land reform and introduced a ten-year plan for social and economic development of the country. To promote economic cooperation in the region, he was involved with the founding of the Latin American Free Trade Association ( ALALC ) 1961, which provided for the removal of import duties.
In his honor, was named the 1989 completed Alberto Lleras - dam.
Lleras Camargo married in 1931 Berta Puga Martínez, a subsidiary of Chilean General Arturo Puga, who headed one in Chile briefly ruling military junta in June 1932. Carlos Lleras Restrepo, 1966-1970 President of Colombia, was his cousin.