Alberto Lleras Camargo

Alberto Lleras Camargo (1906 – 1990) was an important Colombian diplomat and political figure.

He was a member of the Liberal Party of Colombia; he served as congressman (1931–1935), Minister of Education, Minister of the Interior and Minister of Foreign Affairs, during the governments of Alfonso López Pumarejo and Eduardo Santos. He served too as acting President of Colombia between 1945 and 1946. He then served as the first secretary general of the Organization of American States from 1948 to 1954. Finally, he served as President of Colombia between 1958 and 1962. During this later term, he founded the Colombian Institute for Agrarian Reform (INCORA), with the intention of implementing a needed degree of land reform in the country.

In 1929 he was elected Alderman for Bogotá, which marked his first foray into politics. The following year he was secretary of the general direction of liberalism, and in 1931 was elected to the House of Representatives for Bogotá. That same year he became the first liberal to come to preside over the House in more than forty years. After the election of Alfonso López Pumarejo as president in 1934, was appointed by him as Secretary General of the Presidency. In 1935 he moved to the Ministry of Government, a position he held until the end of government. In 1938 he founded the newspaper El Liberal, which led to Lopez's reelection in 1941 and returned to the House of Representatives, presided over. With Lopez's return to the...
Read More