Ernesto Samper

Ernesto Samper (born August 3, 1950, Bogotá, Colombia) Colombian economist, lawyer, and politician who served as president of Colombia (1994–98).

Samper graduated from Javeriana University in Bogotá in 1972 with a degree in economics and earned his law degree from the same university the next year. In 1974 he joined the faculty of his alma mater, serving as a professor in the School of Law and Economics. Samper started out in politics as a Bogotá councillor and later moved to the national Senate. He served as campaign treasurer and coordinator during the unsuccessful presidential run of former president Alfonso López Michelsen in 1982.

Even when judged by the rough-and-tumble standards of Colombian politics, Samper’s political career was unusually turbulent. In 1989, as he stood talking to José Antequera, a member of the left-wing Patriotic Union (Unión Patriótica; UP), an assassin opened fire, killing Antequera and wounding Samper. The attack prevented Samper from running for president in the 1990 election, but he served in Pres. César Gaviria Trujillo’s cabinet as minister of economic development (1990–91). Samper subsequently held the post of ambassador to Spain (1991–93) before becoming leader of the Colombian Liberal Party (Partido Liberal Colombiano; PL). In the 1994 presidential election, Samper defeated the Colombian Conservative Party (Partido Conservador Colombiano; PC) candidate Andrés Pastrana Arango by a slim margin, winning 50.3 percent of the vote.

Troubles arose shortly after Samper took office, however. Rumours of the PL’s involvement with the Cali drug cartel were supported by the release of tape recordings of telephone conversations between the cartel’s leaders, in which they discussed campaign contributions to the PL and meetings with Santiago Medina, the campaign’s treasurer. In 1995 Colombia’s attorney general, Alfonso Valdivieso Sarmiento, announced that his office was beginning a large-scale investigation of the 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 also had served as Samper’s campaign manager.

In 1996, as more evidence of collaboration between the drug lords and the politicians surfaced, calls arose for Samper’s resignation. Refusing to step down, Samper continued to deny personal knowledge of the financial contributions made by the cartel. In May he received a boost when a special congressional committee recommended to the Colombian Congress that charges not be brought against him. The committee, however, was dominated by members of the PL, and Congress decided to pursue the investigation. In June the members of the House of Representatives voted to clear Samper of the charge of knowingly receiving funds from drug traffickers. This decision ensured that he could not be reinvestigated and would not be impeached.

Opposition parties labeled Samper’s acquittal as “the farce of the century” and held meetings and other protests in response. Nevertheless, Samper had proved popular with the public for what was perceived as a legitimate effort to step up the war on the drug lords. Cynics pointed out that this effort probably resulted more from the threats of political and economic sanctions by the United States than from any deeply held convictions on Samper’s part.

Samper stepped down when his term ended on August 7, 1998. In 2006 Pres. Álvaro Uribe Vélez offered Samper Colombia’s ambassadorship to France. The decision was strongly criticized by the media and political groups, and Pastrana, who had succeeded Samper as president, resigned his position as ambassador to the United States in protest. Public disapprobation forced Samper to decline the position. During the next few years, Samper led Bogotá-based Corporación Escenarios, a nonprofit public interest group. From 2014 to 2017 he served as secretary-general of UNASUR.