- Horacio Serpa
Infobox_Governor
name= Horacio Serpa
order=
office= Governor
of theDepartment of Santander
term_start=January 1 ,2008
term_end=December 31 ,2011
lieutenant=
predecessor=Hugo Heliodoro Aguilar Naranjo
successor=Incumbent
order2=
term_start2 =
term_end2 =
predecessor2=
successor2=
birth_date= birth date and age|1943|1|3
birth_place=Bogotá
Colombia
spouse=Rosita de Serpa
profession=Lawyer ,politician
party=Colombian Liberal Party
religion=
footnotes=Horacio Serpa Uribe (born
3 January 1943 inBucaramanga , Santander) is aColombia npolitician andlawyer . Horacio Serpa has run as theColombian Liberal Party candidate forPresident of Colombia on three occasions; in1998 ,2002 , and2006 . He previously served as congressman for Santander as Senator,Inspector General of Colombia , president of the National Constituent Assembly, Minister of the Interior, and as Ambassador of Colombia to theOrganization of American States . He was also involved in the 8000 process scandal in which money from theCali Cartel entered the presidential campaign of Liberal candidateErnesto Samper . In 2007 Serpa ran for the governorship ofSantander Department and was elected on October, 28 in the Colombian regional elections.Political career
Horacio Serpa has worked in three branches of power in Colombia. After graduating as a lawyer from the "
Universidad del Atlántico " inBarranquilla , northern Colombia, Serpa went back to his native Santander Department and became a judge for the town of Tona. He later became a Penal Judge in the town ofSan Vicente de Chucurí and then Civil Municipal Judge for the town ofBarrancabermeja . In Barrancabermeja Serpa also served as Criminal Investigator, Circuit Penal Judge and Superior Judge. During this time Serpa became interested in politics and began participating actively in theLiberal Revolutionary Movement (MRL) as member of the youths, this movement had been founded byAlfonso López Michelsen .Serpa concentrated his political efforts in the "Magdalena medio" (
Middle Magdalena Region ), a convulsioned region in which the ELN guerrilla was born. In 1970 Serpa was appointed Mayor of Barrancabermeja byAlfonso Gómez Gómez and later became Secretary of Education for the Santander Department.In the legislative branch Serpa served as councilman for the town of Barrancabermeja and later as National Chamber of Representatives representing Santander Department as replacement for congressman Rogelio Ayala in 1974. Serpa was reelected for the periods of 1978 and 1982 under a movement founded by him, the
Authentic Liberal Leftist Front ("Frente de Izquierda Liberal Auténtico", FILA) aligned with the official Liberal party.In the Chamber of Representatives Serpa became President of the Accusations Commission and President of the Congress of the Republic Plan Commission. In 1985 Serpa ran for the senate and was elected. In 1998 Serpa was appointed
Inspector General of Colombia . He also served as Minister of Government, Minister of Interior, Presidential Peace Advisor and Ministry Delegate in Presidential Functions during the Liberal presidencies ofVirgilio Barco (1986-1990) andErnesto Samper (1994-1998).Serpa was later elected for the
National Constituent Assembly in 1991 in which he shared a collegiate presidency withAntonio Navarro Wolff (former member of the M-19 guerrilla) andÁlvaro Gómez Hurtado (representative of the Conservative Party) to create theColombian Constitution of 1991 .After the creation of the new constitution Serpa continued as President of Liberal Directorate in the Santander Department and President of the Central Politics Commission of the Liberal Party. He was then prospect for presidential candidate in 1998, but was shaded by Ernesto Samper. Serpa was then elected National Director of the Liberal party for the period 1998 - 1999. During the government of
Álvaro Uribe , Serpa was appointed ambassador of Colombia to the Organization of American States (OAS) with he also disputed the presidential bids of 2002 and 2006.8000 Process involvement
In 1981 Serpa met
Ernesto Samper Pizano who was working as debate chief ofAlfonso Lopez Michelsen 's second presidential campaign and became good friends. For the presidential campaign of 1990 Samper became a candidate and Serpa collaborated with his efforts in the Santander Department, his region of influence, while being the leader of his movement: the FILA. But Samper failed the elections.In the 1994 elections Serpa became Debate Chief of Samper's presidential campaign and this time Samper was elected president of Colombia. Pm June 20, 1994 the opposing presidential candidate
Andrés Pastrana then made public the "Narcocassettes " a series of telephone recordings in which members of the Cali drug cartel mainly journalistAlberto Giraldo talked with Gilberto andMiguel Rodríguez Orejuela regarding the financing of the Samper campaign for the presidency.The
Supreme Court of Colombia then opened an investigation which was dubbed the "Proceso 8000 ". Serpa defended Samper against these allegations of drug money entering the campaign in which he was also involved. The relations with the United States government a major contributor to the drug effort in Colombia, deteriorated. Samper and most of his collaborators were absolved from any wrong doing with the exception of Fernando Botero andSantiago Medina . But the scandal involved a dozen representatives of the Colombian congress and numerous politicians and businessman with the Cali cartel. After this incident Serpa's credibility maintained a low margin within Colombians for supporting Samper, as well as responding to criticism with aggravating words.Peace negotiator
During his time as congressman, Serpa was always assisting and representing the government in conflicts between worker unions, social conflicts and the government mainly in the Santander Department where he had his political niche. Serpa has always been in favor of a peacefully negotiated solution. During the government of
Belisario Betancur , Serpa was invited to be a negotiator between the ELN guerrilla and was part of numerous peace commissions that never reached successful results.During the government of
Virgilio Barco , Serpa was appointed Minister of Government in which he collaborated in setting a demobilization timetable for the EPL, the PRT and theQuintín Lame Movement . In 1992 under the government ofCesar Gaviria Serpa led the failed negotiation attempts with the ELN guerrilla inTlaxcala ,Mexico .During the government of Samper, Serpa intended to negotiate with the FARC guerrilla. The terrorist group asked for the demilitarization of
La Uribe , Meta a region in central Colombia, but were unsuccessful. Serpa opposed to theCONVIVIR groups created by Fernando Botero, a group of self-defense groups intended to improve security in areas were the government couldn't reach. Despite his opposition the plan of the CONVIVIR was approved. He then traveled toBonn ,Germany where the Colombian government and local government of Bonn were again trying to negotiate with the ELN guerrilla, but this peace talks also failed.Presidential campaign results for Serpa
1998
"First round"
* Horacio Serpa U. (Vice:María Emma Mejía ): 3,647,007 "(34.64%)"
*Andrés Pastrana (Vice:Gustavo Bell ): 3,613,278 "(34.32%)" "Second round"
*Andrés Pastrana : 6,086,507 "(50.39%)"
* Horacio Serpa: 5,620,719 "(46.53%)"2002
*
Álvaro Uribe (Vice:Francisco Santos ): 5.862.655 "(53,048%)"
* Horacio Serpa: (Vice:José Gregorio Hernández Galindo ): 3.514.779 "(31,803%)"This elections were won by Álvaro Uribe by a majority vote of half plus one vote, which according to the
Colombian Constitution of 1991 made a secondary election unnecessary. After these negative results for his political career Serpa said that he would never run for the presidency ever again. Few years later he changed his position and after quiting his post as ambassador of Colombia to theOrganization of American States (OAS), he decided to run again for the presidency. In 2005 he was appointed vice-president of theSocialist International .2006
On March 12, 2006 Serpa was selected as candidate for the
Colombian Liberal Party for the presidency of Colombia.*
Álvaro Uribe (Vice president:Francisco Santos ): 7,397,835 "(62.35%)"
*Carlos Gaviria (Vice president: Patricia Lara): 2,613,157 "(22.02%)"
* Horacio Serpa: (Vice president :Luis Iván Marulanda Gómez): 1,404,235 "(11.83%)"Candidate for Governor of Santander
On
October 28 ,2007 Serpa was electedGovernor of Santander Department by popular vote in the Colombian regional elections. He is scheduled to take office onJanuary 1 ,2008 .ee also
*
Ernesto Samper
*8000 Process
*Cali Cartel External links
* [http://hserpa.com/ Presidential campaign 2006]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/spanish/specials/elecciones_en_colombia/newsid_1994000/1994475.stm Presidential campaign 2002]
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