Presidency
In 1982 he was elected President of the Republic and served until 1986. As President, he began the Grupo de Contadora por la Paz en Centroamérica, began democratic reforms by incorporating the principal armed movements into civil life, promoted low-cost housing and open universities, began a literacy campaign and endorsed tax amnesty.
During his term, the government approved the mayoral election law, municipal and departmental reforms, judicial and congressional reforms, the television statute, the federal holiday law, and the new Código Contencioso Administrativo. His administration began the exploration and export of coal in the Cerrejón North region and the broadcast of the regional television channels Teleantioquia and Telecaribe.
| Colombia's four failed peace talks | ||
|---|---|---|
| Year | President | Ended because |
| 1982-1985 | Belisario Betancur | Most Supreme Court Justices were killed when M-19 commandos and the Army fought for control of the building |
| 1986-1990 | Virgilio Barco Vargas | FARC ambush killed 26 soldiers in Caquetá |
| 1990-1992 | César Gaviria Trujillo | FARC attack on the Senate President. FARC kidnapping and killing of an ex-cabinet member. |
| 1998-2002 | Andrés Pastrana Arango | FARC kidnapping of Senator |
Betancur is also noted for his attempts to bring peace to his country. During his administration he initiated peace talks with several Colombian guerrilla groups. The controversial Palace of Justice siege occurred in late 1985, less than a year before the end of his presidential term.
Read more about this topic: Belisario Betancur
Famous quotes containing the word presidency:
“I once told Nixon that the Presidency is like being a jackass caught in a hail storm. You’ve got to just stand there and take it.”
—Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908–1973)
“... how often the Presidency has simply meant that a man shall be abused, distrusted, and worked to death while he is filling the great office, and that he should drop into unmerited oblivion when he has left the White House ...”
—M. E. W. Sherwood (1826–1903)
“Some of the offers that have come to me would never have come if I had not been President. That means these people are trying to hire not Calvin Coolidge, but a former President of the United States. I can’t make that kind of use of the office.... I can’t do anything that might take away from the Presidency any of its dignity, or any of the faith people have in it.”
—Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933)