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FCG International  Lifetime Achievement Award 2003: Belisario Betancur 

Belisario Betancur received the FCG International Award For a Human Trajectory, awarded today in Valladolid, by the jury for“his permanent commitent to the peace process in Latin America, the economic, social and cultural development of the people of Latin American and for his on-going effort in the spreading of  Spanish throughout the world .” The jury was presided by: Mr. Guillermo Luca de Tena, Honorary President of the Correo Prensa Espanola Group and made up of the following members:  Mr. Francisco Javier Leon de la Riva, Mayor of the city of Valladolid; Ms. Teresa Perez Alfageme, Managing Director of Communications of RTVE; Ms. Isel Rivero Mendez, Former Director of United Nations in Spain; Mr. Jose Manuel Fernandez Santiago, President of the Parliament of Castile and Leon.

Belisario Betancur - Biography

He was born in a rural area in the northwest of Columbia into a peasant family. He studied humanities in a seminary, and got a Doctorate in Law (1947) from the Pontifical  niversity Bolivariana de Medellin. He was a Professor in Sociology and Public Law; Doctor Honoris Causa in Humanities from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. (1984) and the University of Colorado at Boulder (1989); and in Economy Management from the Autonomous University of Manizales, Columbia (1995). His first marriage was to Rosa Helena Alvarez, (deceased); three children; and his second marrige was to the Venezuelan ceramist Dalita Navarro. During the military dictatorship (1953-1957) he was in prison many times. He founded the publishing house  and book shop, Tercer Mundo (Third World) 40 years ago, and togther with his daughters, founded El Navegante Editores (The Navegating Editors) and the publishing house and book shop, Sota de Bastos, 5 years ago. He served as the Minister of Labour, (1962); Congressman and Senator, (1958);  Ambassdor in Spain (1975); President of Columbia from 1982 to 1986, he promoted the Contadora Group for peace in Latin America, through dialogue between governments and guerrilla fighters; he introduced systems of education at a distance and non-traditional schooling, which revolutionized the traditional method. He created the national instruction campaign (CAMINA) that drastically reduced the levels of illiteracy. He promoted international relations with his country, making it a member of the Movimiento de los No Alineados (Movement of the Non-Aligned). He promoted the peace processes through dialogue with the guerilla fighters. He is a member of the Columbian Academy of Jurisprudente and the Columbian Academy of the Spanish Language; President of the Santillana para Iberoamerica Foundation, with its headquarters in Bogota; President of the Comision de la Verdad (Commission of Truth), in the peace process of El Salvador (Central America). President (1998) of the IDEA Mission (of Sweden) to support the peace process in Guatemala. Together with the Presidents Carter and Sanguinetti, he participated in the Bambito Group in Panama, to  prepare the country for the reversion of the canal. He is a member of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences created in 1994 by Pope John Paul II, with its headquarters in Rome. He is a Member of the Circulo de Montevideo (Montevideo Circle) (1996) lead by the President of Uruguay, Julio Maria Sanguinetti. He has numerous medals, among them the Great Cross of  Isabel La Catolica and the Order of Carlos III, of Spain; the Great Aztec Eagle of Mexico; the Legion of Honor, of France; and other various Latin American countries. He is the author of numerous books on education, economy, politics, sociology, among them “Desde otro punto de vista” (From the other point of view), “El rostro anhelante” (The yearning face), “Desde el alma del abedul” (From the spirit of the birch), “Colombia cara a cara” (Columbia face to face), “El homo sapiens se extravió en América Latina” (The homo sapiens lost in Latin America), “Declaración de amor” (Declaration of Love); and with other authors, “La Pasión de Gobernar” (The Passion of Governing) and “Democracia en Guatemala” (Democracy in Guatemala).