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Colombia: Names of presidential and vice-presidential candidates who ran in the 1994 election, along with their places and dates of birth and other biographical information

The first round of the 1994 presidential election was contested by 18 slates of candidates (Center on Democratic Performance n.d.). A second round, contested by Ernesto Samper Pizano and Andrés Pastrana Arango, the two front-runners in the previous round, was held on 19 June 1994 and won by Samper (ibid.).

Please find below the names and party affiliations of all candidates who participated in the first round of the election. Additional information on the candidates, including dates and places of birth, is provided in all cases where it could be found by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response.

The Ecological Outlook Movement (Movimiento Orientación Ecológica) fielded Guillermo Alemán as presidential candidate (Base de Datos Políticos de las Américas 1999; Colombia 24 Sept. 2004) and José Vicente Molano Fernandez as vice-presidential candidate (ibid.). They received 0.4 per cent of the popular vote (Base de Datos Políticos de las Américas 1999).

While no information on Alemán could be found among the sources consulted, Molano is reportedly a sociologist of international stature (de talla internacional) born in Bogotá, who subsequently stood as a candidate for mayor of that city (Calle22.com 9 July 2000).

The National Progressive Movement (Movimiento Nacional Progresista, MNP) fielded Luis Eduardo Rodriguez Orjuela as presidential candidate (Base de Datos Políticos de las Américas 1999; Colombia 24 Sept. 2004) and Plinio Lopez Apontes as vice-presidential candidate (ibid.). They received 0.1 per cent of the popular vote (Base de Datos Políticos de las Américas 1999).

The Civic Christian Commitment (Compromiso Civico Cristiano) fielded José Antonio Cortés Huertas as presidential candidate (Base de Datos Políticos de las Américas 1999; Colombia 24 Sept. 2004) and Estella Torres Rubio as vice-presidential candidate (ibid.). They received 0.2 per cent of the popular vote (Base de Datos Políticos de las Américas 1999).

The Moral Front (Frente Moral) fielded José Galat as presidential candidate (Base de Datos Políticos de las Américas 1999; Colombia 24 Sept. 2004) and Manuel Narciso Rodríguez as vice-presidential candidate (ibid.). They received 0.16 per cent of the popular vote (Base de Datos Políticos de las Américas 1999).

Galat and Rodríguez are respectively rector and head of the governing council (consiliatura) of the University of Greater Colombia (Universidad La Gran Colombia, UGC) (UGC n.d.a), a Bogotá-based institution founded in 1953 (ibid.; ibid. n.d.b). Galat, a self-described Roman Catholic and believer (creyente) (El Espectador 24 Nov. 2002), led a campaign against attempts in 2002 to legalize abortions and same-sex unions in Colombia (El País 23 Dec. 2002; Semana 18 Nov. 2002), and published a document outlining a nine-point plan to end the country's civil war, that was allegedly supported by at least (al menos) 100 members of congress (El País 23 Dec. 2002).

The Social Conservative Party (Partido Social Conservador, PSC) fielded Andrés Pastrana Arango as presidential candidate (Center on Democratic Performance n.d.; Colombia 24 Sept. 2004) and Luis Fernando Ramírez Acuña as vice-presidential candidate (ibid.). They received 44.98 per cent of the popular vote (Center on Democratic Performance n.d.).

Pastrana was born in Bogotá on 17 August 1954 (Colombia n.d.a; CIDOB 20 Aug. 2002), the son of Misael Pastrana Borrero, president between 1970 and 1974, and grandson of Carlos Arango Vélez, a former Liberal Party (Partido Liberal, PL) leader and unsuccessful presidential candidate in 1942 (ibid.). He is married to Nohra Puyana de Pastrana and has three children, Santiago, Laura and Valentina (Colombia n.d.a). Pastrana was first elected under the PSC banner in 1982, when he became a Bogotá municipal councillor, subsequently serving as president of the council between November 1984 and January 1985 (CIDOB 20 Aug. 2002). In January 1988 he was reportedly kidnapped at the behest of the Medellín drug cartel, but was freed by police a week later (ibid.). Two days after his defeat in the 1994 election, Pastrana publicly accused Samper of allowing his campaign to be tainted by funds derived from drug trafficking, a charge that damaged Pastrana's image as a responsible politician (ibid.). However, despite this, he later went on to win the 1998 presidential election (ibid.).

Ramírez, born in the Municipality of Oiba, Santander (Colombia n.d.b), served as minister of defence between 1999 and 2001 (ibid. n.d.c) under the Pastrana presidency. He is also a former minister of labour and of defence (ibid. n.d.b).

The Movement for a Democratic Alternative (Movimiento Alternativa Democrática, MAD) fielded Enrique Parejo González as presidential candidate (Base de Datos Políticos de las Américas 1999; Colombia 24 Sept. 2004) and Rubén Darío Utria Grosser as vice-presidential candidate (ibid.). They received 0.5 per cent of the popular vote (Base de Datos Políticos de las Américas 1999).

Parejo, who lived in a northern Bogotá neighbourhood as recently as March 2004 (Terra 22 Mar. 2004), served as minister of justice during the 1982-1986 presidency of Belisario Betancur and subsequently as Colombian ambassador to Hungary (Colombia: A Country Study Dec. 1988; OnWar.com 16 Dec. 2000) and Switzerland (Canada Oct. 1991). While in Hungary, Parejo was "seriously wounded in an assassination attempt in Budapest in December 1986" that was carried out by individuals allegedly working for the Medellín cartel (Colombia: A Country Study Dec. 1988). On 22 March 2004, Terra stated that Parejo had listed his home as the headquarters of the National Democratic Reconstruction Movement (Movimiento Reconstrucción Democrática Nacional).

Very little information on Utria could be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate. However, he is identified in a Prensa Latina news agency report as a professor and member of the Colombian Society of Economists (Sociedad Colombiana de Economistas) (11 Feb. 2004). Utria was among more than 1,000 experts and public figures (expertos y personalidades) who participated in the Sixth International Meeting of Economists on Globalization and Development Problems (VI Encuentro Internacional de Economistas sobre Globalización y Problemas del Desarrollo), held in Havana in February 2004 (ibid.).

The Jorge Eliécer Gaitán Movement (Movimiento Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, JEGA), founded as a result of a 1987 split within the Popular Liberation Army (Ejército Popular de Liberación, EPL) (Leftist Parties of the World 1999), fielded Gloria Gaitán as presidential candidate (Base de Datos Políticos de las Américas 1999; Colombia 24 Sept. 2004) and Victor Mieles as vice-presidential candidate (ibid.). They received 0.3 per cent of the popular vote (Base de Datos Políticos de las Américas 1999).

Gaitán, daughter of assassinated political leader Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, was born in Bogotá on 20 September 1937 (El País 7 Apr. 2004; Centro Cultural COMFAMILIAR 21 Jan. 2000). She studied philosophy, literature and economics at the University of Los Andes (Universidad de Los Andes) and has served as a leader of a number of political groups as well as a municipal councillor in towns in Risaralda, Quindio and Meta (ibid.). In April 2004 Gaitán sought asylum in Venezuela, claiming that she feared reprisals on the part of the Colombian authorities as a result of her decision to speak publicly about a plan allegedly developed by the government to invade Venezuela (El País 7 Apr. 2004; Temas Venezuela 6 Apr. 2004). The foreign ministry announced on 30 April 2004 that President Hugo Chávez would allow Gaitán to remain in Venezuela, although not as an asylee (Cadena Global 30 Apr. 2004).

Very little information on Victor Mieles could be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate. However, a man identified as Victor Mieles Ospina, a member of the National Food Industry Workers Union (Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de la Industria de Alimentos, SINALTRAINAL), was assassinated together with another individual on 23 July 1999 in the Department of Cesar (ILO Nov. 1999). The perpetrators were allegedly linked to illegal paramilitary groups (ANNCOL 18 July 2004).

The Independent Christian Movement (Movimiento Cristiano Independiente, MCI) fielded Doris de Castro as presidential candidate (Base de Datos Políticos de las Américas 1999; Colombia 24 Sept. 2004) and William Cifuentes García as vice-presidential candidate (ibid.). They received 0.1 per cent of the popular vote (Base de Datos Políticos de las Américas 1999).

A party known as Believe: No to War (Crea: No a la Guerra) fielded Efraín Torres Plaza as presidential candidate (Base de Datos Políticos de las Américas 1999; Colombia 24 Sept. 2004) and Luis Alberto Barbosa Lizcano as vice-presidential candidate (ibid.). They received 0.05 per cent of the popular vote (Base de Datos Políticos de las Américas 1999).

The Liberal Party fielded Ernesto Samper as presidential candidate (Base de Datos Políticos de las Américas 1999; Colombia 24 Sept. 2004) and Humberto de la Calle as vice-presidential candidate (ibid.). They received 45.3 per cent of the popular vote (Base de Datos Políticos de las Américas 1999).

Samper was born in Bogotá on 3 August 1950 (Colombia n.d.d; CIDOB 20 Mar. 2001). Hailing from a family of industrialists, he worked in the banking sector from 1974 to 1981, when he launched his political career with the Liberal Party (ibid.). He occupied a variety of elected posts in the 1980s, and was shot four times on 3 March 1989 by Medellín Cartel assassins, who were allegedly targeting José Antequera, a leftist political leader in whose company he was at the time of the attack (ibid.). During his presidency, Samper was dogged by accusations of having links with drug traffickers (ibid.). He moved to Spain at the end of his term in 1998, returning to Colombia in 2000 (ibid.). Samper is married to Jacquin Strouss Lucena, and has three children, Andrés, Felipe and Miguel (Colombia n.d.d).

Humberto de la Calle was born on 14 July 1946 in Manzanares, Caldas (Manzanares Virtual n.d.). Married to Rosalba Restrepo, de la Calle studied law at the University of Caldas (Universidad de Caldas) and subsequently served as a judge and civil servant in his home department before relocating to Bogotá in the early 1980s (La Nota n.d.). Posts occupied by de la Calle include supreme court magistrate from 1986 to 1987, minister of interior between 1990 and 1992 and again in 2001, ambassador to the United Kingdom from 1998 to 2000, and ambassador to Spain from 1996 to 1998 (IADB n.d.).

The Organization for National Peace (Organización para la Paz Nacional) fielded Jorge Guillermo Barbosa Millan as presidential candidate (Base de Datos Políticos de las Américas 1999; Colombia 24 Sept. 2004) and Silvino Yatel Selix as vice-presidential candidate (ibid.). They received 0.07 per cent of the popular vote (Base de Datos Políticos de las Américas 1999).

National Convergence (Convergencia Nacional) fielded Alberto Mendoza Morales as presidential candidate (Base de Datos Políticos de las Américas 1999; Colombia 24 Sept. 2004) and Antonio Puentes Rodríguez as vice-presidential candidate (ibid.). They received 0.59 per cent of the popular vote (Base de Datos Políticos de las Américas 1999).

A party known as "We are Free" (Somos Libres) fielded Oscar Rojas Maffo as presidential candidate (Base de Datos Políticos de las Américas 1999; Colombia 24 Sept. 2004) and Luis Alberto Arias Pelaez as vice-presidential candidate (ibid.). They received 0.08 per cent of the popular vote (Base de Datos Políticos de las Américas 1999).

In 2003, Arias ran as a candidate for Bogotá municipal councillor under the banner of the National Democratic Reconstruction Movement (Colombia 27 Oct. 2003). He received 0.01 per cent of the popular vote (ibid.).

A party known as "Christian CGT" (CGT Cristiana) fielded Mario Diaz Granados as presidential candidate (Base de Datos Políticos de las Américas 1999; Colombia 24 Sept. 2004) and Juan Ramón González Pérez as vice-presidential candidate (ibid.). They received 0.06 per cent of the popular vote (Base de Datos Políticos de las Américas 1999).

The National Civic Gathering Movement (Movimiento Concentración Civica Nacional) fielded Miguel Alfredo Maza Marquez as presidential candidate (Base de Datos Políticos de las Américas 1999; Colombia 24 Sept. 2004) and José Raymundo Vojo Zambrano as vice-presidential candidate (ibid.). They received 0.95 per cent of the popular vote (Base de Datos Políticos de las Américas 1999).

Maza, a retired general born in Santa Marta (Wall Street Journal 2 Oct. 1990; La Jornada 15 Oct. 1999), served as head of the Administrative Department of Security (Departamento Administrativo de Seguridad, DAS) between 1985 and 1991 (El Espectador 2 Nov. 2003). During that time, he spearheaded efforts to combat the Medellín Cartel (ibid.; La Jornada 15 Oct. 1999). The cartel responded by offering a US$1.9 million bounty on his life (Wall Street Journal 2 Oct. 1990), resulting in a number of attempts on his life (ibid.; El Espectador 2 Nov. 2003).

The Democratic Alliance-April 19 Movement (AD-M-19) fielded Antonio Navarro Wolff as presidential candidate (Center on Democratic Performance n.d.; Colombia 24 Sept. 2004) and Jesús Enrique Piñacue as vice-presidential candidate (ibid.). They received 3.79 per cent of the popular vote (Base de Datos Políticos de las Américas 1999).

Navarro was born on 9 July 1948 in Pasto, Nariño (Votebien.com n.d.). A former member of the central command of the M-19, he has occupied various elected positions, including member of the National Constituent Assembly (Asamblea Nacional Constituyente) in 1991, mayor of Pasto between 1995 and 1997 and unaffiliated senator since 2002 (ibid.). He is reportedly widely seen as an honest politician (ibid.).

Piñacue was born in approximately 1964 in Resguardo de Calderas, Cauca (Popayán, el Cauca y Colombia n.d.). Piñacue, currently a senator (Colombia n.d.e), is a member of the Páez indigenous people (Popayán de mis Amores n.d.; Country Reports 1994 Feb. 1995).

The Metapolitical Unitarian Movement (Movimiento Unitario Metapolítico), a "populist-occultist party" (UK Oct. 2003), fielded Regina Betancourt de Liska as presidential candidate (Base de Datos Políticos de las Américas 1999; Colombia 24 Sept. 2004) and Jesús Enrique Avila Ebratt as vice-presidential candidate (ibid.). They received 1.11 per cent of the popular vote (Base de Datos Políticos de las Américas 1999).

Betancourt, also known as "Regina 11" was born on 16 December 1936 in Concordia, Antioquia (Regina11 n.d.). According to her Website, she is a "mentalist" and clairvoyant and the only person in the world with the power of levitation (ibid.).

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim for refugee protection. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

References

Agencia de Noticias Nueva Colombia (ANNCOL). 18 July 2004. Betsey Piette. "In Colombia, Union Busters Come in the Night." <http://www.anncol.org/side/716> [Accessed 30 Sept. 2004]

Base de Datos Politicos de las Américas. 1999. "Colombia: 1994 elecciones presidenciales, primera vuelta, resultados nacionales." Georgetown University and Organización de Estados Americanos <http://www.georgetown.edu/pdba/Elecdata/Col/pres94_1.html> [Accessed 29 Sept. 2004]

Cadena Global [Caracas]. 30 April 2004. "Chávez facilitará estadía de Gloria Gaitán en Venezuela." <http://www.cadenaglobal.com/Imprimir.asp?Not=67977> [Accessed 30 Sept. 2004]

Calle22. 9 July 2000. Angela Riaño. "Cartoons al poder." <http://www.calle22.com/articulos/1292/> [Accessed 30 Sept. 2004]

Canada. October 1991. Canadian Security Intelligence Service. "Terrorism and the Rule of Law: Dangerous Compromise in Colombia." <http://www.csis-scrs.gc.ca/eng/comment/com13_e.html> [Accessed 30 Sept. 2004]

Center on Democratic Performance (CDP) [Binghamton, New York]. n.d. "Colombia 1994 Presidential Election." <http://cdp.binghamton.edu/era/elections/col94pres.html> [Accessed 29 Sept. 2004]

Centro Cultural COMFAMILIAR [Barranquilla]. 21 January 2000. "Gloria Gaitán." <http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Agora/8197/HV/Ggaitan.html> [Accessed 29 Sept. 2004]

Centro de Investigación, Docencia, Documentación y Divulgación de Relaciones Internacionales y Desarrollo (CIDOB) [Barcelona]. 20 August 2002. "Andrés Pastrana Arango." <http://www.cidob.org/bios/castellano/lideres/p-015.htm> [Accessed 29 Sept. 2004]
_____. 20 March 2001. "Ernesto Samper Pizano." <http://www.cidob.org/bios/castellano/lideres/s-048.htm> [Accessed 29 Sept. 2004]

Colombia. 24 September 2004. Registraduría Nacional del Estado Civil. Telephone interview with the director of the Dirección de Gestión Electoral.
_____. 27 October 2003. Registraduría Nacional del Estado Civil. "Concejo municipal." <http://elecciones.caracol.com.co/defcon.htm> [Accessed 29 Sept. 2004]
_____. n.d.a Presidencia de la República de Colombia. "Andrés Pastrana A." <http://www.presidencia.gov.co/historia/24.htm> [Accessed 29 Sept. 2004]
_____. n.d.b Presidencia de la República de Colombia. "Conservatismo destapa sus cartas para la gobernación de Santander." <http://sigob.presidencia.gov.co/snol/noticia_anterior.asp?ID=24272> [Accessed 29 Sept. 2004]
_____. n.d.c Ministerio de Defensa Nacional. "Historia." <http://www.mindefensa.gov.co/nuevoweb/ministerio/Min_Historia.html> [Accessed 29 Sept. 2004]
_____. n.d.d Presidencia de la República de Colombia. "Ernesto Samper P." <http://www.presidencia.gov.co/historia/23.htm> [Accessed 29 Sept. 2004]
_____. n.d.e Senado de la República. "H.S. Jesús Enrique Piñacue Achicue." <http://www.senado.gov.co/scripts/idts.idc?registro=69.0> [Accessed 29 Sept. 2004]

Colombia: A Country Study. December 1988. Library of Congress, Area Handbook Series. <http://countrystudies.us/colombia/82.htm> [Accessed 29 Sept. 2004]

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1994. February 1995. "Colombia." United States Department of State. Washington, DC. <http://www.cpsr.org/cpsr/privacy/privacy_international/country_reports/State_Department_1994/Colombia.txt> [Accessed 29 Sept. 2004]

El Espectador [Bogotá]. 2 November 2003. "Sabuesos de antaño." <http://www.elespectador.com/2003/20031102/la_revista/nota13.htm> [Accessed 29 Sept. 2004]
_____. 24 November 2002. "'Los homosexuales no vamos a dejar de serlo porque se apruebe o no un proyecto de ley'." <http://www.elespectador.com/2002/20021124/la_revista/nota3.htm> [Accessed 29 Sept. 2004]

Inter-American Development Bank (IADB). n.d. "Humberto de la Calle Lombana." <http://www.iadb.org/sds/doc/sgc-delacalle-S.pdf> [Accessed 29 Sept. 2004]

International Labour Organization (ILO). November 1999. "319.º informe del Comité de Libertad Sindical." <http://www.ilo.org/public/spanish/standards/relm/gb/docs/gb276/gb-7-2.htm> [Accessed 29 Sept. 2004]

La Jornada [Mexico City]. 15 October 1999. "Prevén en Colombia una reacción violenta del narco." <http://www.jornada.unam.mx/1999/oct99/991015/mun4.html> [Accessed 29 Sept. 2004]

Leftist Parties of the World. 4 August 2004. "Colombia." <http://www.broadleft.org/co.htm> [Accessed 29 Sept. 2004]

Manzanares Virtual. n.d. "Humberto de la Calle Lombana." <http://www.manzanaresvirtual.com/ilustres.htm> [Accessed 29 Sept. 2004]

La Nota [Bogotá]. n.d. "Perfiles de Colombia: Humberto de la Calle Lombana." <http://www.lanota.com/perfiles/?id=119&pais=co> [Accessed 29 Sept. 2004]

OnWar.com. 16 December 2000. "The Drug War in Colombia 1978-Present." <http://www.onwar.com/aced/data/cite/colombia1978.htm> [Accessed 29 Sept. 2004]

El País [Cali]. 7 April 2004. "Hija de Gaitán pide asilo en Venezuela." <http://elpais-cali.terra.com.co/historico/abr072004/NAL/A607N4.html> [Accessed 29 Sept. 2004]
_____. 23 December 2002. "Laicos se convierten en 'defensores de la heredad'." <http://elpais-cali.terra.com.co/historico/dic232002/NAL/A323N1.html> [Accessed 29 Sept. 2004]

Popayán, el Cauca y Colombia. n.d. Guillermo Alberto González Mosquera. "Jesús Piñacue." <http://www.geocities.com/pachajoa2000/pinac.htm> [Accessed 29 Sept. 2004]

Prensa Latina. 11 February 2004. "Economistas del mundo evalúan en Cuba fracaso Consenso de Washington." <http://www.prensalatina.com.mx/Article.asp?ID=%7B1E9F41E6-B07B-4AC9-905C-1FE46353D743%7D&language=ES> [Accessed 29 Sept. 2004]

Regina11. n.d. "Quienes somos." <http://www.metafisicaregina11.net/html/quienesomos.htm> [Accessed 29 Sept. 2004]

Semana [Bogotá]. 18 November 2002. Andrés Alberto Vásquez Moreno. "La estrategia de la derecha o el juego político de algunas personalidades en contra del reconocimiento de las uniones de parejas del mismo sexo." <http://semana2.terra.com.co/archivo/articulosView.jsp?id=66600> [Accessed 29 Sept. 2004]

Temas Venezuela [Caracas]. 6 April 2004. "Gloria Gaitán denunció que Colombia planea invadir Venezuela." <http://www.temas.com.ve/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=607> [Accessed 29 Sept. 2004]

Terra. 22 March 2004. "Los colombianos aportarán este año 22.600 millones de pesos para sostener 72 grupos políticos." <http://www.terra.com.co/actualidad/nacional/22-03-2004/nota150980.html> [Accessed 29 Sept. 2004]

United Kingdom (UK). October 2003. Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND). "Colombia Country Report." <http://www.ecoi.net/pub/panja1_col0007.htm> [Accessed 29 Sept. 2004]

Universidad La Gran Colombia. n.d.a. "Reseña histórica." <http://www.ulagrancolombia.edu.co/rector.htm> [Accessed 29 Sept. 2004]
_____. n.d.b. "Bienvenido." <http://www.ugrancolombia.edu.co> [Accessed 29 Sept. 2004]

Votebien.com. n.d. "Senado 2002-2006: Antonio Navarro Wolff." <http://www.terra.com.co/elecciones_2002/congreso_2002_2006/14-07-2002/nota62600.html> [Accessed 29 Sept. 2004]

Wall Street Journal [New York]. 2 October 1990. José de Córdoba. "When Gen. Miguel Maza Marquez boarded a flight..." on Library of Congress Website. <http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/F?r101:1:./temp/~r101R6IYqY:e0> [Accessed 4 Oct. 2004]

Additional Sources Consulted

Internet sites, including: Compromiso Cívico Cristiano, Consejo Nacional Electoral (CNE), Radio Caracol [Bogotá], Revista Cambio [Bogotá], Semana [Bogotá].