Mariano Ospina Pérez
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Mariano Ospina Pérez | |
 |
|
|
President of the Republic of Colombia
|
|
|---|---|
| In office August 7, 1946 – August 7, 1950 |
|
| Preceded by | Alberto Lleras |
| Succeeded by | Laureano Gómez |
|
|
|
| Born | November 24, 1891 Medellín, Antioquia  Colombia |
| Died | November 24, 1976 Bogotá, DC Colombia |
| Nationality | Colombian |
| Political party | Conservative Party |
Mariano Ospina Pérez (born in Medellín, Antioquia on November 24, 1891 - died in Bogotá on April 14, 1976) was a Colombian engineer and political figure, member of the Colombian Conservative Party. He served as the president of Colombia between 1946 and 1950. He was a member of Phi Iota Alpha. His Private secretary was Mr. Antonio Salazar Herrera.
Contents |
[edit] Early years
Mariano Ospina was son of Tulio Ospina Vasquez and Ana Rosa Pérez who were part of traditional Colombian political families he was grandson of former presidents of Colombia Mariano Ospina Rodríguez and nephew of Pedro Nel Ospina.
He studied in the Colegio San Ignasio 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 sugar cane production, economy, labor relations, cooperativism, mining production and railways.
[edit] Political career
Upon his return to Colombia in 1914 Ospina contacted the leadership of the Colombian Conservative Party and was appointed as City council for 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 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.
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 moniker of "Hombre de los Cafeteros" (the man of the coffeemakers) working for the federation for almost a decade while also working as union leader and senator.
[edit] Presidential candidate
The Conservative party was relying on candidate Laureano Gómez 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-Perez 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.
[edit] Presidency (1946-1950)
- See also: Bogotazo and La Violencia
| La Violencia |
|---|
 |
| Prelude |
| Murder of Jorge Eliécer Gaitán |
| El Bogotazo |
| Political Parties |
| Liberal Party |
| Conservative Party |
| Colombian Communist Party |
| Presidents of Colombia |
| Mariano Ospina Pérez |
| Laureano Gómez |
| Gustavo Rojas Pinilla |
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.[1]
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 through out 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).
[edit] Post-Presidency
- See also: National Front (Colombia)
In 1949, in the middle of a generalized violence Laureano Gómez 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 dictatorship of Gustavo Rojas, Ospina former Minister of Post Office and Telegraphy (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.
[edit] Personal life
He married Bertha Hernández de Ospina, one of the first women to become Senator of Colombia.
[edit] References
| Preceded by Alberto Lleras |
President of Colombia 1946–1950 |
Succeeded by Laureano Gómez |
