Manuel Cepeda Vargas
Encyclopedia
Manuel Cepeda Vargas was a lawyer and Senator of Colombia, gunned down in Bogotá on 9 August 1994 as part of a bloody repression of the Patriotic Union
. A Communist party politician, he had been a Member of the Chamber of Representatives of Colombia
from 1992 to 1994, and had served a sentence in prison because of his political ideology, charged for revolutionary activity.
, department of Quindío. While studying at the Universidad del Cauca, he joined the Colombian Communist Party
in 1952.
, Hernando González Acosta, Yira Castro (his future wife), Loyal Brown Jaime and Miller Chacón.
Cepeda Vargas was jailed for revolutionary activity in 1964. While imprisoned in La Modelo
, he wrote the poetry book Vencerás Marquetalia ("You will overcome Marquetalia"), a tribute to the Marquetalia Republic
.
He was a columnist for the weekly Proletarian Voice (later known as the Weekly Voice), which he later directed. The paper continuously denounced the bloody repression of the Colombian Communist Party (PCC), National Union of Opposition (UNO) and the Patriotic Union (UP).
Cepeda Vargas was named Secretary General of the Colombian Communist Party in 1992, succeeding Álvaro Vásquez. He was elected to the senate
on the Patriotic Union ticket.
A school in Bogotá and a Western Bloc of the FARC-EP front are named in his honor, although his son Iván Cepeda Castro has repudiated the use of his father's name on the part of FARC and has repeatedly condemned the actions of that guerrilla, reiterated who “a right and democratic society, like which it loved my father, is not constructed to end of indiscriminate attacks against the civil populace ".
Patriotic Union (Colombia)
The Patriotic Union or UP , was a leftist Colombian political party founded by the FARC and the Colombian Communist Party in 1985, as part of the peace negotiations that the guerrillas held with the Conservative Belisario Betancur administration...
. A Communist party politician, he had been a Member of the Chamber of Representatives of Colombia
Chamber of Representatives of Colombia
The Chamber of Representatives is the lower house of the Congress of Colombia.The Chamber has 166 elected members for four-year terms.-How the Chamber is elected:...
from 1992 to 1994, and had served a sentence in prison because of his political ideology, charged for revolutionary activity.
Early life and education
Manuel Cepeda Vargas was born April 13, 1930, in ArmeniaArmenia, Colombia
Armenia is the capital of Quindío, a department in Colombia. The city is located at coordinates 4.5170° north, 75.6830° west, 290 kilometers west of Bogotá. Armenia is a mid-size city located between Bogotá, Medellín and Cali, the 3 largest Colombian cities. The city's area code for phone calls is...
, department of Quindío. While studying at the Universidad del Cauca, he joined the Colombian Communist Party
Colombian Communist Party
The Colombian Communist Party or PCC is the legal communist party of Colombia. It was founded in 1930, as the Colombian section of the Comintern...
in 1952.
Career
In 1958, at the VIII Congress of the Colombian Communist Party, he was elected to the party's Central Executive Committee. He was put in charge of rebuilding the Colombian Communist youth, JUCO, and was made that group's general secretary. In his work with JUCO, he worked with Jaime Bateman CayónJaime Bateman Cayón
Jaime Bateman Cayón aka el flaco "Skinny" or Pablo by his fellow guerrilleros was a Colombian guerrilla leader and both founder and commander of the 19th of April guerrilla movement.- Early years :Bateman grew up in an environment of social movements, his mother Clementina Cayón was an advocate...
, Hernando González Acosta, Yira Castro (his future wife), Loyal Brown Jaime and Miller Chacón.
Cepeda Vargas was jailed for revolutionary activity in 1964. While imprisoned in La Modelo
La Modelo
La Modelo is a prison in Bogotá, Colombia. With a population of 11,000 inmates, the facility is known for its violence. The prison's north wing is filled with left-wing rebels while the south wing is filled with right-wing government supporters and paramilitaries. The area in between these two...
, he wrote the poetry book Vencerás Marquetalia ("You will overcome Marquetalia"), a tribute to the Marquetalia Republic
Marquetalia Republic
"Marquetalia Republic" was a term used to unofficially refer to one of the enclaves in rural Colombia which communist peasant guerrillas held during the aftermath of "La Violencia"...
.
He was a columnist for the weekly Proletarian Voice (later known as the Weekly Voice), which he later directed. The paper continuously denounced the bloody repression of the Colombian Communist Party (PCC), National Union of Opposition (UNO) and the Patriotic Union (UP).
Cepeda Vargas was named Secretary General of the Colombian Communist Party in 1992, succeeding Álvaro Vásquez. He was elected to the senate
Senate of Colombia
The Senate of the Republic of Colombia is the upper house of the Congress of Colombia, with the lower house being the Chamber of Representatives of Colombia...
on the Patriotic Union ticket.
Marriage and children
He married Yira Castro in 1960. (She died in 1981.) The couple had two children: Iván Cepeda Castro and María Cepeda Castro.Death and afterward
Manuel Cepeda Vargas was assassinated in the streets of Bogotá on August 9, 1994.A school in Bogotá and a Western Bloc of the FARC-EP front are named in his honor, although his son Iván Cepeda Castro has repudiated the use of his father's name on the part of FARC and has repeatedly condemned the actions of that guerrilla, reiterated who “a right and democratic society, like which it loved my father, is not constructed to end of indiscriminate attacks against the civil populace ".
Published works
- Vencerás Marquetalia (1964)
- Yira Castro : i bandera es la alegría (1983)
- Balada de los hombrecitos anónimos (Fondo Mixto de Promoción de la Cultura y las Artes del Cauca, c. 1995)