Samper He graduated from the Javeriana University of Bogotá in 1972 with a degree in economics and obtained his law degree from the same university the following year. In 1974 he joined the university as a professor at the Faculty of Law and Economics. Samper he began in politics as a Bogotá councilor and later served in the national Senate. He served as campaign treasurer and coordinator during former President Alfonso López Michelsen’s unsuccessful presidential campaign in 1982.
Even by the harsh standards of Colombian politics, the political career of Samper it was unusually turbulent. In 1989, while I was speaking with José Antequera, a member of the leftist Unión Patriótica (Unión Patriótica; UP), an assassin opened fire, killing Antequera and wounding Samper. The attack prevented him from running for president in the 1990 elections, but he also joined the cabinet of President César Gaviria Trujillo as Minister of Economic Development (1990-91).
He later held the position of ambassador to Spain (1991-93) before becoming leader of the Liberal Party (Partido Liberal Colombiano; PL). In the 1994 presidential election, Samper defeated Conservative Party (Colombian Conservative Party, PC) candidate Andrés Pastrana Arango by a narrow margin, winning with 50.3 percent of the vote.
Shortly after taking office, problems began for Samper. Rumors of the PL’s relations with the Cali cartel were supported by the appearance of recordings of telephone conversations with the cartel leaders, in which contributions to the PL campaign and meetings with Santiago Medina, campaign treasurer were discussed. .
In 1995, Colombia’s attorney general, Alfonso Valdivieso, announced that his office was beginning a full-scale investigation into ties between the cartel and the government. By the end of 1995, a number of party officials had been indicted, including Medina and Defense Minister Fernando Botero Zea, who had also served as director of the campaign for Samper.
In 1996, as further evidence of the collaboration between the drug lords and the politicians involved, voices arose demanding the resignation of Samper. Refusing to resign, the president continued to deny his personal knowledge about the financial contributions made by the cartel. In May he received aid when a special committee recommended to the Congress of the Republic that he not be sued. The committee, however, was dominated by PL members, and Congress decided to conduct an investigation. In June, members of the House of Representatives voted to clean up Samper of the charge of knowingly receiving funds from drug traffickers. This decision assured him that he could not be investigated and would not be subject to impeachment.
The opposition parties referred to the acquittal of Samper What “the farce of the century“and held meetings and other protests in response. However, Samper he had proven popular with the public in what was perceived as a legitimate effort to escalate the war against the drug lords. Cynics pointed out that this effort was more likely the result of threats of political and economic sanctions by the United States than of any deep conviction on the part of the United States. Samper.
Samper He retired when his mandate ended on August 7, 1998. In 2006 President Álvaro Uribe Vélez offered him the Colombian embassy in France. The decision was widely criticized by the media and political groups, and Pastrana, who had succeeded as president to Samper, resigned his position as ambassador to the United States in protest. Public disapproval forced Samper to decline the offer. For the next several years, Samper led the Bogotá-based Escenarios corporation, a non-profit public interest group.
In July 2014, he was elected Secretary General of UNASUR to preside over this international organization.