Andrés Pastrana Arango

Andrés Pastrana Arango (born August 17, 1954) is a

His Excellency
Colombian politician who was the 30th President of
Colombiafrom 1998 to 2002,[1] following in the Andrés Pastrana Arango
footsteps of his father, Misael Pastrana Borrero, who
was president from 1970 to 1974.

Contents
Early years
Political career
Kidnapping by Medellín Cartel and elected Mayor
of Bogotá
First candidacy for President of Colombia
President of Colombia (1998–2002)
Ambassador of Colombia to the United States
Resignation
Other activities
Awards and honors
Foreign honours
30th President of Colombia
Popular culture In office
See also 7 August 1998 – 7 August 2002
References Vice President Gustavo Bell Lemus(1998–
Notes 2002)
Web pages Preceded by Ernesto Samper Pizano
External links Succeeded by Álvaro Uribe Vélez
30th Colombia Ambassador to the United
States
Early years In office
24 October 2005 – 11 July 2006
During his father's presidency, he was a high school
President Álvaro Uribe Vélez
student at Colegio San Carlos and graduated in 1973.
He later acquired a degree in law at the Our Lady of the Preceded by Luis Alberto Moreno
Rosary University in 1977, and attended Harvard Succeeded by Carolina Barco Isakson
University as a 1978 Weatherhead Center for
18th Secretary General of Non-Aligned
International Affairs Fellow. He founded the
Movement
magazine Guiónand a programadora known as Datos y
Mensajes, whose flagship program was the In office
newscast Noticiero TV Hoy. As a regular news anchor 7 August 1998 – 2 September 1998
he became a nationally known figure. Preceded by Ernesto Samper Pizano
Succeeded by Nelson Mandela
Political career 18th Mayor of Bogotá
In office
In 1982 he formally began his political career, gaining a 1 January 1988 – 1 January 1990
seat on the local Bogotá council. He also specialized in
press articles on the production and trafficking Preceded by Julio César Sánchez
of cocaine, for which he gained many journalistic Succeeded by Juan Martín Caycedo
awards. In 1991 he was elected Senator. Ferrer
Personal details
Kidnapping by Medellín Cartel and elected Born 17 August 1954
Mayor of Bogotá Bogotá, D.C., Colombia
Nationality Colombian
He was kidnapped on January 18, 1988 in Antioquia by
Political party Conservative
the Medellín Cartel, which was pressuring the
Colombian government into preventing the extradition Other political Great Alliance for Change
of Pablo Escobarand other drug lords to the United affiliations
States. He was found by the National Police a week Spouse(s) Nohra Puyana Bickenbach
later, and in March he was elected Mayor of Bogotá, a (m. 1981)
position he held until 1990.
Relations Misael Pastrana
Borrero (father)
First candidacy for President of Colombia Children Santiago Pastrana Puyana

In 1994 he stood for the presidency Laura Pastrana Puyana

against Liberal candidate Ernesto Samper, losing by Valentina Pastrana Puyana
only 2 points in the second round. Pastrana
Alma mater Our Lady of the Rosary
immediately accused Samper of using drug money to
finance his campaign, and provided audio recordings to University(LLB, 1977)
the authorities which subsequently attracted much Harvard
media attention and eventually led to a scandal known University(WCIA Fellow, 1978)
as 8.000 Process(Proceso 8.000).
Profession Lawyer
While this accusation underwent a parliamentary Signature
investigation, Pastrana retired into his private life. In
1998, Pastrana announced his intention to run for
president. This time he won in the Presidential
elections of 1998.

President of Colombia (1998–2002)

Bill Clinton, Andrés Pastrana
(center) and Chelsea Clinton in
Cartagena, Colombia, August
30, 2000.
His presidency is remembered first for his negotiations with the
two left-wing guerrilla groups FARC and ELN, culminating in the
grant of a demilitarized safe haven to the guerrillas the size of
Switzerland, and second for his breaking off of said negotiations.
It is also remembered for a growing degree of unpopularity in
polls as his term progressed. Some critics accused him of possibly
accepting unspecified bribes from leading FARC and ELN
members, but no concrete evidence of that was presented during
his presidency. His administration proposed and initially oversaw
the implementation of the Plan Colombia aid package and anti-
drug strategy. He was also heavily criticized for all the seemingly
pleasure trips he took around the world during his term.

Ambassador of Colombia to the United States

In 2005 President Álvaro Uribe Vélez, who had been a critic of Pastrana's peace process with the
FARC and had received criticisms from Pastrana regarding his negotiations with Colombian
paramilitary groups, surprisingly offered the former president the post of Ambassador to the
 United States in Washington DC. After consulting his family and
political supporters, Pastrana accepted.

Some political analysts theorized that Uribe considered that

US Secretary of Defense Donald
Rumsfeld meeting with Andrés
Pastrana.
Pastrana would be a useful diplomat in Washington, because he
would help to renegotiate Plan Colombia and in general to
maintain U.S. aid to Colombia, which has contributed to the
successes of the Uribe administration.
Resignation

In July 2006, a few days after President Uribe had appointed

former president Ernesto Samper, as Colombian ambassador to France, Pastrana told the President
that he was "morally impeded" from participating in a government along with ex-president
Samper. Pastrana resigned and returned to Colombia and Samper rejected his own appointment.
But this move was not well received by the Conservative Party. The Conservative Party was
committed to President Uribe (who won the presidency as an independent) and left former
President Pastrana alone.

Other activities
Pastrana is a board member in the International Foundation for Electoral Systems,[2] and the
honorary president of the Union of Latin American Parties (UPLA).[2] He is also a member of
the Fondation Chirac's honour committee,[3] and of the Club de Madrid, a group of more than 80
former leaders of democratic countries, which works to strengthen democratic leadership
worldwide.[4]Pastrana has also served on the Board of Advisors for the Global Panel
Foundation,[5] and as a counsellor for the One Young World Dublin summit in 2014, along with
four other former presidents from Latin American countries.[6]

He now maintains a distant and hostile relation with his own party, even referring to it as
"absolutely corrupt". He has also levied accusations of corruption against two of the most
prominent party leaders, Efraín Cepeda and Hernán Andrade.[7]

Awards and honors

In 2013, Pastrana was awarded the Hanno R. Ellenbogen Citizenship Award jointly by the Prague
Society for International Cooperation and Global Panel Foundation.[8]

Foreign honours
Spain:

Knight of the Collar of the Order of Isabella the Catholic (1999)[9]

Malaysia:

Honorary Recipient of the Order of the Crown of the Realm (2001)[10]

Popular culture
Pastrana was an invited star in TV Soap Opera Yo soy Betty, la fea.
 Andrés Pastrana is portrayed by the actor Andrés Ogilvie in
TV Series Escobar, el Patrón del Mal.

In TV series Tres Caínes is portrayed by Andrés Suárez as

the character of Antonio Arango.

See also
Plan Colombia

References

Notes
1. "Andrés Pastrana Arango." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2010.
Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 21 Jan. 2010 [1].
2. "Board". IFES. 2009. Archived from the original on 2009-
Coat of arms of Andrés Pastrana as
03-01. Retrieved Oct 16, 2009.
knight of the Order of the Golden
3. "Honor Committee". Fondation Chirac. Fleece
Retrieved 23 September 2015.
4. Club de Madrid. "Former Heads of State and Government".
Archived from the original on 2015-09-23.
Retrieved 23 September 2015.
5. "Global Panel Foundation - Meeting the World in Person".
Archived from the original on 2012-09-20.
Retrieved 23 September 2015.
6. "One Young World". Archived from the original on 25
September 2015. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
7. http://www.eltiempo.com/politica/partidos-politicos/el-
partido-conservador-es-absolutamente-corrupto-andres-
pastrana-122804
8. "The Prague Society - Promoting a global approach to
business, politics and academia in Central Europe through
transparent networking and off the record dialogue".
Archived from the original on 2014-09-03.
Retrieved 23 September 2015.
9. "Real Decreto 439/1999, de 12 de marzo, por el que se
concede el Collar de la Orden de Isabel la Católica a su
excelencia señor Andrés Pastrana Arango Presidente de la
República de Colombia". www.boe.es. Spanish Official
Journal.
10. "Senarai Penuh Penerima Darjah Kebesaran, Bintang dan
Pingat Persekutuan Tahun 2001" (PDF).

Web pages
(in Spanish) El Colombiano - President Pastrana's job performance
(in Spanish) El Tiempo - President Uribe and ambassador Pastrana meet
(in Spanish) El Tiempo - Ex president Pastrana accuses Constitutional Court

External links
 Media related to Andrés Pastrana Arango at Wikimedia Commons
Biography by CIDOB (in Spanish)