Mariano Ospina Pérez
Encyclopedia
Luis Mariano Ospina Pérez (November 24, 1891- April 14, 1976) was a Colombian engineer and political figure, member of the Colombian Conservative Party
. He served as President of Colombia
between 1946 and 1950.
, Antioquia
on November 24, 1891. He died in Bogotá
, Cundinamarca
, on April 14, 1976, at the age of 84.
Ospina was son of Tulio Ospina Vasquez and Ana Rosa Pérez, who were members of the traditional Colombian political families. He was the grandson of former president of Colombia Mariano Ospina Rodríguez
and nephew of president Pedro Nel Ospina
.
in Medellín, Antioquia the city were he grew up and also studied engineering in the Escuela de Minas de Antioquia (Mining School of Antioquia) where he graduated as mining engineer
. After graduating Ospina travelled for two years in which he toured and studied in Louisiana
, London
and Paris
. He took some courses on gold mining, sugar cane production, economy, labor relations, cooperativism, civil engineering and railways systems.
Ospina, who studied engineering at the Escuela de Minas de Medellín and Louisiana State University, served as the executive administrator of the National Federation of Coffee Growers and was a prominent businessman in other sectors before becoming president in 1946.
, the first regional committee was established as “el Comité de Cafeteros de Antioquia”. Ospina was its first President, and the first registered member of the association.
The first Board of Directors of the newly organized Federación Nacional de Cafeteros de Colombia assembled in Bogotá, on August 3, 1929. Its first members were Mariano Ospina Vásquez, Alberto Camilo Suárez, Gabriel Ortiz Williamson, Carlos Caballero, Jesús del Corral and Mariano Ospina Pérez, the greatest dignitary in the History of the Federation, for whom the organization of the national coffee industry was one of his most serious and ambitious concerns.
In December 1930, the Fourth National Congress of Coffee Growers convened in Bogotá. Due to the vast knowledge and experience acquired by Ospina in the coffee industry, as a result of running his own coffee business, he was summoned by the Minister of Industry Francisco J. Chaux and by President Rafael Olaya Herrera to preside over this Congress. Ospina was elected President of this Fourth Congress. At the adjournment of this Congress, Ospina was elected, by the unanimous vote of the delegates, as “Gerente de la Federación” (General Director). He served in this position for four years, until 1934.
In 1954, during the election of members of the Board of Directors (of the National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia), Ospina, who served as President of the Republic from 1946 to 1950, was elected and installed as President of the Board of Directors. His return to the Federation marked the reappearance of one of Colombia's greatest coffee names, in an active role, in the History of Colombia's coffee industry.
Ospina, grandson of Mariano Ospina Rodríguez
, not only was one of the founders of the National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia, but was later elected as General Director of the Coffee Federation, and served in such capacity from 1930 to 1934. His main objective was to assist, finance, and educate the coffee growers while implementing an aggressive program to penetrate the world market and to successfully capture a substantial share of it.
Under Ospina's aegis, the National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia successfully consolidated the nation's coffee industry and promoted it in the world markets to great effect. Colombia became the largest producer of prime Coffea arabica coffee in the world. He laid a very solid corporative foundation, and today, the Colombian Coffee Federation congregates and supports over 500,000 independent coffee growers and small farmers.
and was nominated to run for the office of Counselor to the City Council of Medellín
, representing the Conservative Party. In 1915 Ospina was elected as councilman and later for a second term in 1917. This same year he was elected Deputy for Antioquia
. In 1919 Ospina was appointed Railway Superintendent of the Ferrocarril de Antioquia.
In 1921 he ran once again for the Assembly of Antioquia resulting elected. After his father's death in this same year Ospina took over his father's job as Director of the Mining School. He was later elected as MP, first as Representative to the House of Representatives and then as Senator.
In 1922, his uncle Pedro Nel Ospina
was elected president and he was also elected as senator of Colombia for a four year period. In 1926 the new elected president Miguel Abadía
appointed Ospina as Minister of Public Works but he only lasted eight months in office until 1927. Between 1930 and 1934 he was manager of the Federación Nacional de Cafeteros de Colombia
and since then he acquired the nickname of "Hombre de los Cafeteros" (the man of the coffee growers) working for the Coffee Federation for almost a decade while also working as union leader and senator.
to become the official candidate for the presidency of Colombia. Ospina's name was suggested for the 1946 elections to take advantage of the division the opposing Colombian Liberal Party
was having within its lines between Jorge Eliécer Gaitán
and Gabriel Turbay. With only three weeks remaining for the main election Ospina was appointed as the official conservative party candidate for the presidency of Colombia. Ospina defeated his liberal political contenders with less than 40% of the votes due to a large abstention.
During his presidency the country was facing a political struggle between the conservative political forces, the liberal political forces the development of the Colombian Communist Party
in the Boyacá
, Nariño
, Norte de Santander and Santander
Departments
against the conservative government. The communist and liberals blamed president Laureano Gómez
for directly interfering with the presidential election of 1946, by calling off one million eight hundred liberal votes as invalid. Ospina was dubbed by the communists as Laureano Gómez successor with the mission of perpetuating the Conservative party in power.
During his presidency on April 9, 1948 the liberal leader Jorge Eliécer Gaitán
was running for the presidency of Colombia for a second time, this time Gaitán had won his party's primaries and had a large support from the masses when he was assassinated in confusing circumstances by Juan Roa
. The confusion and anger triggered by Gaitán's assassination provoked the Bogotazo
a massive riots that extended throughout the Colombian capital Bogotá
and extended later to the rest of the country to generate a ten year period of violence known as La Violencia
. The government forces supported by the conservative started a repression campaign against the liberals after a failed attempt to establish a government of national unity with a shared responsibility in the government. Ospina was heavily criticized by the liberals, especially in the National Congress
where in 1948 the opposing party tried to impeach him, but Ospina closed congress before they achieved their goals and generated a decade of civil-military dictatorship (lasted until 1958 when the National Front
was created).
Ospina created the Colombian Petroleum Company ECOPETROL (Empresa Colombiana de Petroleos), the Telecommunications Company TELECOM, the Social Security Administration ISS (Instituto de Seguro Social), the petroleum pipeline from Barrancabermeja
and Puerto Berrío
, the hydroelectric dams of Sisga, Saldaña and Neusa, and established the Colombian Economic Development Plan under the direction of the Economic Mission of Professor Lauchlin Currie
. He also fomented, financed and increased the production and exports of coffee.
was elected as president of Colombia. Later on both conservative leaders became political enemies and created divisions in the Conservative party. Ospina fomented a moderate wing of conservatives while Laureano Gómez supported extreme conservative politics. Ospina ultimately supported the coup d'etat
against Gómez that established the military administration of Gustavo Rojas
, Ospina's former Minister of Post and Telegraph (Nowadays the Colombian Ministry of Communications).
Ospina later had political differences with Rojas and withdrew his support from him, choosing instead to encourage the creation of the National Front
. Ospina was later considered as presidential candidate for the party elections of 1962 and 1974 but was replaced by Misael Pastrana
who replaced him as head of the moderate conservatives.
.
He was a member of Phi Iota Alpha
, the oldest inter-collegiate Greek-letter organization established for Latino Americans. His private secretary was Mr. Antonio Salazar Herrera.
Colombian Conservative Party
The Colombian Conservative Party , is a conservative political party in Colombia. The party was unofficially founded by a group of Revolutionary Commoners during the Revolutionary War for Independence from the Spanish Monarchy and later formally established during the Greater Colombia...
. He served as President of Colombia
President of Colombia
The President of Colombia is the head of state and head of government of the Republic of Colombia. The office of president was established upon the ratification of the Constitution of 1819, by the Congress of Angostura, convened in December 1819, when Colombia was part of "la Gran Colombia"...
between 1946 and 1950.
Biographic data
Ospina was born in MedellínMedellín
Medellín , officially the Municipio de Medellín or Municipality of Medellín, is the second largest city in Colombia. It is in the Aburrá Valley, one of the more northerly of the Andes in South America. It has a population of 2.3 million...
, Antioquia
Antioquia Department
Antioquia is one of the 32 departments of Colombia, located in the central northwestern part of Colombia with a narrow section that borders the Caribbean Sea. Most of its territory is mountainous with some valleys, much of which is part of the Andes mountain range...
on November 24, 1891. He died in Bogotá
Bogotá
Bogotá, Distrito Capital , from 1991 to 2000 called Santa Fé de Bogotá, is the capital, and largest city, of Colombia. It is also designated by the national constitution as the capital of the department of Cundinamarca, even though the city of Bogotá now comprises an independent Capital district...
, Cundinamarca
Cundinamarca Department
- Origin of the name :The name of Cundinamarca comes from Kundur marqa, an indigenous expression, probably derived from Quechua. Meaning "Condor's Nest", it was used in pre-Columbian times by the natives of the Magdalena Valley to refer to the nearby highlands....
, on April 14, 1976, at the age of 84.
Ospina was son of Tulio Ospina Vasquez and Ana Rosa Pérez, who were members of the traditional Colombian political families. He was the grandson of former president of Colombia Mariano Ospina Rodríguez
Mariano Ospina Rodríguez
Mariano Ospina Rodríguez was a Colombian politician, journalist and lawyer, founder of the Colombian Conservative Party and later President of Colombia between 1857 and 1861 during the Granadine Confederation.- Biographic data :...
and nephew of president Pedro Nel Ospina
Pedro Nel Ospina
Pedro Nel Ospina Vázquez was a Colombian general and political figure. He served as president of Colombia between 1922 and 1926.- Biography:...
.
Early years
Ospina studied in the Colegio San IgnacioColegio San Ignacio
Colegio San Ignacio may refer to*Colegio San Ignacio de Loyola, a school in San Juan, Puerto Rico, founded in 1952.*Colegio San Ignacio , a school founded in 1856*Colegio San Ignacio, Medellín, Colombia...
in Medellín, Antioquia the city were he grew up and also studied engineering in the Escuela de Minas de Antioquia (Mining School of Antioquia) where he graduated as mining engineer
Mining engineering
Mining engineering is an engineering discipline that involves the practice, the theory, the science, the technology, and application of extracting and processing minerals from a naturally occurring environment. Mining engineering also includes processing minerals for additional value.Mineral...
. After graduating Ospina travelled for two years in which he toured and studied in Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. He took some courses on gold mining, sugar cane production, economy, labor relations, cooperativism, civil engineering and railways systems.
Ospina, who studied engineering at the Escuela de Minas de Medellín and Louisiana State University, served as the executive administrator of the National Federation of Coffee Growers and was a prominent businessman in other sectors before becoming president in 1946.
The National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia
In 1928, after the Second National Congress of Coffee Growers had created the Federación Nacional de Cafeteros de ColombiaFederación Nacional de Cafeteros de Colombia
The Federación Nacional de Cafeteros de Colombia , often abbreviated Fedecafé, is a non-profit business association, popularly known for its "Juan Valdez" marketing campaign. The federation was founded in 1927 as a business cooperative that promotes the production and exportation of Colombian coffee...
, the first regional committee was established as “el Comité de Cafeteros de Antioquia”. Ospina was its first President, and the first registered member of the association.
The first Board of Directors of the newly organized Federación Nacional de Cafeteros de Colombia assembled in Bogotá, on August 3, 1929. Its first members were Mariano Ospina Vásquez, Alberto Camilo Suárez, Gabriel Ortiz Williamson, Carlos Caballero, Jesús del Corral and Mariano Ospina Pérez, the greatest dignitary in the History of the Federation, for whom the organization of the national coffee industry was one of his most serious and ambitious concerns.
In December 1930, the Fourth National Congress of Coffee Growers convened in Bogotá. Due to the vast knowledge and experience acquired by Ospina in the coffee industry, as a result of running his own coffee business, he was summoned by the Minister of Industry Francisco J. Chaux and by President Rafael Olaya Herrera to preside over this Congress. Ospina was elected President of this Fourth Congress. At the adjournment of this Congress, Ospina was elected, by the unanimous vote of the delegates, as “Gerente de la Federación” (General Director). He served in this position for four years, until 1934.
In 1954, during the election of members of the Board of Directors (of the National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia), Ospina, who served as President of the Republic from 1946 to 1950, was elected and installed as President of the Board of Directors. His return to the Federation marked the reappearance of one of Colombia's greatest coffee names, in an active role, in the History of Colombia's coffee industry.
Ospina, grandson of Mariano Ospina Rodríguez
Mariano Ospina Rodríguez
Mariano Ospina Rodríguez was a Colombian politician, journalist and lawyer, founder of the Colombian Conservative Party and later President of Colombia between 1857 and 1861 during the Granadine Confederation.- Biographic data :...
, not only was one of the founders of the National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia, but was later elected as General Director of the Coffee Federation, and served in such capacity from 1930 to 1934. His main objective was to assist, finance, and educate the coffee growers while implementing an aggressive program to penetrate the world market and to successfully capture a substantial share of it.
Under Ospina's aegis, the National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia successfully consolidated the nation's coffee industry and promoted it in the world markets to great effect. Colombia became the largest producer of prime Coffea arabica coffee in the world. He laid a very solid corporative foundation, and today, the Colombian Coffee Federation congregates and supports over 500,000 independent coffee growers and small farmers.
Political career
Upon his return to Colombia in 1914 Ospina contacted the leadership of the Colombian Conservative PartyColombian Conservative Party
The Colombian Conservative Party , is a conservative political party in Colombia. The party was unofficially founded by a group of Revolutionary Commoners during the Revolutionary War for Independence from the Spanish Monarchy and later formally established during the Greater Colombia...
and was nominated to run for the office of Counselor to the City Council of Medellín
Medellín
Medellín , officially the Municipio de Medellín or Municipality of Medellín, is the second largest city in Colombia. It is in the Aburrá Valley, one of the more northerly of the Andes in South America. It has a population of 2.3 million...
, representing the Conservative Party. In 1915 Ospina was elected as councilman and later for a second term in 1917. This same year he was elected Deputy for Antioquia
Antioquia Department
Antioquia is one of the 32 departments of Colombia, located in the central northwestern part of Colombia with a narrow section that borders the Caribbean Sea. Most of its territory is mountainous with some valleys, much of which is part of the Andes mountain range...
. In 1919 Ospina was appointed Railway Superintendent of the Ferrocarril de Antioquia.
In 1921 he ran once again for the Assembly of Antioquia resulting elected. After his father's death in this same year Ospina took over his father's job as Director of the Mining School. He was later elected as MP, first as Representative to the House of Representatives and then as Senator.
In 1922, his uncle Pedro Nel Ospina
Pedro Nel Ospina
Pedro Nel Ospina Vázquez was a Colombian general and political figure. He served as president of Colombia between 1922 and 1926.- Biography:...
was elected president and he was also elected as senator of Colombia for a four year period. In 1926 the new elected president Miguel Abadía
Miguel Abadía Méndez
Miguel Abadía Méndez was the 17th President of Colombia . A Conservative party politician, Abadía was the last president of the period known as the Conservative Hegemony, running unopposed and forming a one party Cabinet.- Political career :Abadía, as a young lawyer, was a professor and MP...
appointed Ospina as Minister of Public Works but he only lasted eight months in office until 1927. Between 1930 and 1934 he was manager of the Federación Nacional de Cafeteros de Colombia
Federación Nacional de Cafeteros de Colombia
The Federación Nacional de Cafeteros de Colombia , often abbreviated Fedecafé, is a non-profit business association, popularly known for its "Juan Valdez" marketing campaign. The federation was founded in 1927 as a business cooperative that promotes the production and exportation of Colombian coffee...
and since then he acquired the nickname of "Hombre de los Cafeteros" (the man of the coffee growers) working for the Coffee Federation for almost a decade while also working as union leader and senator.
Presidential candidate
The Conservative party was relying on candidate Laureano GómezLaureano Gómez
Laureano Eleuterio Gómez Castro was President of Colombia from 1950 to 1953, and long time leader of the Colombian Conservative Party.-Pre-election:...
to become the official candidate for the presidency of Colombia. Ospina's name was suggested for the 1946 elections to take advantage of the division the opposing Colombian Liberal Party
Colombian Liberal Party
The Colombian Liberal Party is a center-left party in Colombia that adheres to social democracy and social liberalism.The Party was founded in 1848 and, together with the Colombian Conservative Party, subsequently became one of the two main political forces in the country for over a century.After...
was having within its lines between Jorge Eliécer Gaitán
Jorge Eliécer Gaitán
Jorge Eliécer Gaitán Ayala was a politician, a leader of a populist movement in Colombia, a former Education Minister and Labor Minister , mayor of Bogotá and one of the most charismatic leaders of the Liberal Party.He was assassinated during his second presidential campaign in 1948, setting off...
and Gabriel Turbay. With only three weeks remaining for the main election Ospina was appointed as the official conservative party candidate for the presidency of Colombia. Ospina defeated his liberal political contenders with less than 40% of the votes due to a large abstention.
The Presidency
Ospina was elected as the 43rd President of Colombia in 1946. During his administration, Colombia reached the highest level of coffee exports in number of bags and as a percentage of the gross domestic product (GDP). He was determined to fortify the nation's infrastructure and created Ecopetrol (Colombian Petroleum Company) and Acerias Paz del Río (the country's largest steel mill). He was also committed to social responsibility and, to that effect, he created a financial institution (La Caja Agraria), the Social Security Administration, the Department of Labor and the Housing Credit Agency to help meet the credit, educational and social needs of blue collar workers, coffee growers, and other small farmers and peasants.During his presidency the country was facing a political struggle between the conservative political forces, the liberal political forces the development of 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 the Boyacá
Boyacá Department
Boyacá is one of the 32 Departments of Colombia, and the remnant of one of the original nine states of the "United States of Colombia".Boyacá is centrally located within Colombia, almost entirely within the mountains of the Eastern Cordillera to the border with Venezuela, although the western end...
, Nariño
Nariño Department
Nariño is a department of Colombia named after Antonio Nariño. It is in the west of the country, bordering Ecuador and the Pacific Ocean.Its capital is Pasto, other important cities include Tumaco, Ipiales.-Municipalities:# Albán# Aldana# Ancuya...
, Norte de Santander and Santander
Santander Department
Santander is a department of Colombia. Santander inherited the name of one of the nine original states of the United States of Colombia. It is located in the central northern part of the country, east of the Magdalena River, bordered to the south and southeast by Boyacá, to the northeast by Norte...
Departments
Departments of Colombia
Colombia is an unitary republic formed by thirty-two departments and a Capital District . Each department has a Governor and a Department Assembly , elected by popular vote for a four-year period. The governor cannot be re-elected in consecutive periods...
against the conservative government. The communist and liberals blamed president Laureano Gómez
Laureano Gómez
Laureano Eleuterio Gómez Castro was President of Colombia from 1950 to 1953, and long time leader of the Colombian Conservative Party.-Pre-election:...
for directly interfering with the presidential election of 1946, by calling off one million eight hundred liberal votes as invalid. Ospina was dubbed by the communists as Laureano Gómez successor with the mission of perpetuating the Conservative party in power.
During his presidency on April 9, 1948 the liberal leader Jorge Eliécer Gaitán
Jorge Eliécer Gaitán
Jorge Eliécer Gaitán Ayala was a politician, a leader of a populist movement in Colombia, a former Education Minister and Labor Minister , mayor of Bogotá and one of the most charismatic leaders of the Liberal Party.He was assassinated during his second presidential campaign in 1948, setting off...
was running for the presidency of Colombia for a second time, this time Gaitán had won his party's primaries and had a large support from the masses when he was assassinated in confusing circumstances by Juan Roa
Juan Roa Sierra
Juan Roa Sierra was a Colombian known for assassinating Colombian Liberal leader and presidential candidate Jorge Eliécer Gaitán on April 9, 1948. After he shot Gaitán three times, mortally wounding him, a mob chased him down and killed him...
. The confusion and anger triggered by Gaitán's assassination provoked the Bogotazo
Bogotazo
El Bogotazo refers to the massive riots that followed the assassination in Bogotá, Colombia of Liberal leader and presidential candidate Jorge Eliécer Gaitán on April 9, 1948 during the government of President Mariano Ospina Pérez...
a massive riots that extended throughout the Colombian capital Bogotá
Bogotá
Bogotá, Distrito Capital , from 1991 to 2000 called Santa Fé de Bogotá, is the capital, and largest city, of Colombia. It is also designated by the national constitution as the capital of the department of Cundinamarca, even though the city of Bogotá now comprises an independent Capital district...
and extended later to the rest of the country to generate a ten year period of violence known as La Violencia
La Violencia
La Violencia is a period of civil conflict in the Colombian countryside between supporters of the Colombian Liberal Party and the Colombian Conservative Party, a conflict which took place roughly from 1948 to 1958 ....
. The government forces supported by the conservative started a repression campaign against the liberals after a failed attempt to establish a government of national unity with a shared responsibility in the government. Ospina was heavily criticized by the liberals, especially in the National Congress
Congress of Colombia
The Congress of the Republic of Colombia is the name given to Colombia's bicameral national legislature.The Congress of Colombia consists of the 102-seat Senate , and the 166-seat Chamber of Representatives ...
where in 1948 the opposing party tried to impeach him, but Ospina closed congress before they achieved their goals and generated a decade of civil-military dictatorship (lasted until 1958 when the National Front
National Front (Colombia)
National Front was a period in the history of Colombia in which the two main political parties; Liberal Party and Conservative Party agreed to let the opposite party govern, intercalating for a period of four presidential terms....
was created).
Ospina created the Colombian Petroleum Company ECOPETROL (Empresa Colombiana de Petroleos), the Telecommunications Company TELECOM, the Social Security Administration ISS (Instituto de Seguro Social), the petroleum pipeline from Barrancabermeja
Barrancabermeja
Barrancabermeja is a city and municipality in Santander Department, in northeastern Colombia. It is located on the banks of the Magdalena River in the Middle Magdalena region, 110 km west of Bucaramanga. Founded in 1536, Barrancabermeja is home of the biggest petroleum refinery in Colombia,...
and Puerto Berrío
Puerto Berrío
Puerto Berrío is a municipality and town in the Colombian department of Antioquia.-Geography:Puerto Berrío is located in a region of Antioquia known as the Middle Magdalena...
, the hydroelectric dams of Sisga, Saldaña and Neusa, and established the Colombian Economic Development Plan under the direction of the Economic Mission of Professor Lauchlin Currie
Lauchlin Currie
Lauchlin Bernard Currie was a Canadian-born U.S.economist from New Dublin, Nova Scotia, Canada, and allegedly an agent of espionage for the Soviet Union....
. He also fomented, financed and increased the production and exports of coffee.
Post-Presidency
In 1949, in the middle of a generalized violence Laureano GómezLaureano Gómez
Laureano Eleuterio Gómez Castro was President of Colombia from 1950 to 1953, and long time leader of the Colombian Conservative Party.-Pre-election:...
was elected as president of Colombia. Later on both conservative leaders became political enemies and created divisions in the Conservative party. Ospina fomented a moderate wing of conservatives while Laureano Gómez supported extreme conservative politics. Ospina ultimately supported the coup d'etat
Coup d'état
A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...
against Gómez that established the military administration of Gustavo Rojas
Gustavo Rojas Pinilla
Gustavo Rojas Pinilla was a Colombian politician, military officer, General of the Army and President of Colombia between 1953 and 1957.- Biographic data :...
, Ospina's former Minister of Post and Telegraph (Nowadays the Colombian Ministry of Communications).
Ospina later had political differences with Rojas and withdrew his support from him, choosing instead to encourage the creation of the National Front
National Front (Colombia)
National Front was a period in the history of Colombia in which the two main political parties; Liberal Party and Conservative Party agreed to let the opposite party govern, intercalating for a period of four presidential terms....
. Ospina was later considered as presidential candidate for the party elections of 1962 and 1974 but was replaced by Misael Pastrana
Misael Pastrana Borrero
Misael Pastrana Borrero , was a Conservative Party politician and President of Colombia from 1970 to 1974, the last presidential period of the National Front. Misael Pastrana became President after a close election campaign against Gen. Gustavo Rojas Pinilla, a former dictator. Mr...
who replaced him as head of the moderate conservatives.
Personal life
Ospina married Bertha Hernández de Ospina, one of the first women to become Senator of ColombiaSenate 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...
.
He was a member of Phi Iota Alpha
Phi Iota Alpha
Phi Iota Alpha , established December 26, 1931, is the oldest Latino fraternity still in existence, and works to motivate people, develop leaders, and create innovative ways to unite the Latino community. The organization has roots that stem back to the late 19th century to the first Latino...
, the oldest inter-collegiate Greek-letter organization established for Latino Americans. His private secretary was Mr. Antonio Salazar Herrera.