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Colombia: Death of former President Betancur
Aged 95, former president of Colombia between 1982 and 1986, Belisario Betancur died Friday in Bogota.
Belisario Betancur has always regretted not having succeeded in bringing regarding peace during his mandate.
Former Colombian President Belisario Betancur (1982-1986) died Friday, announced the clinic where he had been admitted. He was 95 years old. “I deeply regret the death of a great friend, a great Colombian, ex-president Belisario Betancur. Its political, historical and cultural heritage is an example for all future generations”, reacted the head of state Ivan Duque on Twitter.
The Santa Fe Foundation in Bogota, where the former leader had been hospitalized for kidney problems, said in a statement that the death occurred at 2:32 p.m. local time (9:32 p.m. in Luxembourg). On Thursday, the vice-president of Colombia Marta Lucia Ramirez had mistakenly announced in a tweet the death of the former leader, before deleting it and apologizing. Several media then took up the message.
This conservative, who governed Colombia from 1982 to 1986, was the first head of state to open a dialogue with the leftist rebellions that emerged in the 1960s. thing” that he would have liked, but had not been able to achieve.
During his tenure, the ex-president faced an upsurge in violence derived from drug trafficking and the deadliest attack in Colombia’s history: the seizure of the Palace of Justice that ended by a hundred dead and 11 missing, in the heart of Bogota.