Virgilio Barco Vargas

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Virgilio Barco Vargas
Barco in 1991
27th President of Colombia
In office 7 August 1986 (1986-08-07) – 7 August 1990 (1990-08-07)
Preceded by	Belisario Betancur
Succeeded by	César Gaviria
20th Colombia Ambassador to the United Kingdom
In office 9 November 1990 (1990-11-09) – 1992
President	César Gaviria
Preceded by	Fernando Cepeda Ulloa
Succeeded by	Luis Prieto Ocampo
18th Colombia Ambassador to the United States
In office 24 June 1977 (1977-06-24) – 11 December 1980 (1980-12-11)
President	Alfonso López Michelsen
Preceded by	Julio César Turbay
Succeeded by	Jorge Mario Eastman
6th Mayor of Bogotá
In office 1966–1969
President	Carlos Lleras Restrepo
Preceded by	Jorge Gaitán Cortés
Succeeded by	Emilio Urrea Delgado
Minister of Agriculture
In office 23 April 1963 (1963-04-23) – 6 October 1963 (1963-10-06)
President	Guillermo León Valencia
Preceded by	Cornelio Reyes Reyes
Succeeded by	Gustavo Balcázar Monzón
Minister of Finance and Public Credit
In office 7 August 1962 (1962-08-07) – 5 September 1962 (1962-09-05)
President	Guillermo León Valencia
Preceded by	Jorge Mejía Palacio
Succeeded by	Carlos Sanz de Santamaría
8th Colombia Ambassador to the United Kingdom
In office 16 June 1961 (1961-06-16) – 1962
President	Alberto Lleras Camargo
Preceded by	Alfonso López Pumarejo
Succeeded by	Alfredo Araújo Grau
Minister of Public Works
In office 7 August 1958 (1958-08-07) – 9 November 1960 (1960-11-09)
President	Alberto Lleras Camargo
Preceded by	Roberto Salazar Gómez
Succeeded by	Misael Pastrana Borrero
Personal details
Born	Virgilio Barco Vargas (1921-09-17)17 September 1921 Cúcuta, North Santander, Colombia
Died	20 May 1997(1997-05-20) (aged 75) Bogotá, Colombia
Resting place	Central Cemetery of Bogotá
Political party	Liberal
Spouse	Carolina Isakson Proctor ​ ​ (m. 1950)​
Children	María Carolina Barco Isakson Julia Barco Isakson Diana Barco Isakson Virgilio Barco Isakson
Alma mater	National University of Colombia (Lic, 1942) Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MScCE, 1943; PhD 1953) Boston University (MScS, 1952)
Profession	Civil engineer
Website	Official website

Virgilio Barco Vargas (17 September 1921 – 20 May 1997) was a Colombian politician and civil engineer who served as the 27th President of Colombia serving from 7 August 1986 to 7 August 1990.

Barco was born in Cúcuta in the Norte de Santander Department of Colombia to Jorge Enrique Barco Maldonado and Julieta Vargas Durán. He studied Civil Engineering at the National University of Colombia and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from which he graduated in 1943.^[1] He entered politics in 1943 when he became a city council member for the Liberal Party in the town of Durania. He was then elected to the lower house of Congress, but went into exile to the US in 1950 because of violence between liberals and conservatives. His daughter, Carolina Barco Isakson (who would later become a Colombian politician herself) was born there. He obtained an M.A. in economics at MIT, where he took classes under Nobel prize winners Robert Solow and Paul Samuelson in 1952. In 1954 he obtained a PhD in economics from Boston University.^[2]

Barco is the grandson of Colombian General Virgilio Barco M., who developed one of the country's largest oil concessions in 1905.

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Barco returned to Colombia in 1954 to help negotiate the peace process which allowed the formation of the National Front between liberals and conservatives, which lasted two decades. He became a member of the Senate, the upper house of Congress in 1958, left to become the ambassador to Britain in 1961, and returned to Colombia in 1962. He served another term in the Senate until 1966, when he was elected mayor of Colombia's capital, Bogotá. He served in that position until 1969, when he became a director of the World Bank until 1974. He then served as ambassador to the United States from 1977 until 1980.

Barco was elected president of Colombia with 58% of the vote in 1986. He supported anti-poverty programs, renewed dialogue with leftist guerillas and fought drug traffickers. Though he was popular within the international community, he became less popular in Colombia because the drug traffickers became more violent after he started to move against them. His restrictive economic policies at first doomed the country. After two years of this, The Economic Openness program was initiated by his administration, which would open Colombian markets to the world and recharge the country's economy. He served one 4-year term.

When he left the Presidency in 1990, he served as ambassador to Britain again until 1992.

Barco was diagnosed with cancer and he died on May 20, 1997, in Bogotá when he was 75. He is now buried in the Central Cemetery of Bogotá.

• Barco is portrayed by the colombian actor Jorge Zúñiga as the character of Ramiro Vargas in TV series Pablo Escobar, The Drug Lord.

• Biography and tenure of Virgilio Barco by CIDOB