Barco Vargas, Virgilio

▪ 1998

      Colombian politician (b. Sept. 17, 1921, Cúcuta, Colom.—d. May 20, 1997, Bogotá, Colom.), served as president of Colombia from 1986 to 1990 after having won the election by the largest margin in the country's history. During his term his ambitious plans for social reform were interrupted when he was forced to combat the powerful Medellín-based drug cartel, which was waging terror on public officials. Born to a wealthy oil family, Barco attended the National University of Colombia in Bogotá and graduated (1943) from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with a degree in civil engineering. He earned (1952) a master's degree in social sciences from Boston University and a doctorate in economics from MIT. His political career began in 1943 when he became a Liberal councillor in the town of Durania, and he later was elected to the lower house of Congress. During a volatile period in the late 1940s and early 1950s, known as La Violencia, in which the Liberal and Conservative factions waged a brutal war against one another and in which hundreds of thousands of people died, Barco was forced into exile in the U.S. He returned to Colombia in 1954 and was instrumental in negotiating an agreement that led to interparty peace. Over the next 40 years, he held a variety of ministerial and diplomatic offices, enjoyed two terms in the Senate (1958-66), and served as ambassador to Britain (1961-62 and 1990-92) and the United States (1977). Barco was appointed mayor of Bogotá in 1966 and served as a director of the World Bank from 1969 to 1974. His career peaked in 1986, when he was elected to the presidency. Barco campaigned for social reform, but violence—first by leftist guerrilla groups and then by drug lords—plagued his term as president. Barco had marginal success at controlling guerrilla violence, but his efforts to combat "narcoterrorism," including extradition of drug criminals to the U.S. and seizure of their estates, escalated the violence. Though lauded by the international community for his actions, he was denounced in Colombia. Barco retired from political life in 1992.

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