Álvaro Gómez Hurtado

Álvaro Gómez Hurtado
15th Colombia Ambassador to France
In office 1991–1993
President	César Gaviria
Preceded by	Alfonso López Caballero
Succeeded by	Miguel Gómez Martínez
Colombia Ambassador to the United States
In office March 9, 1983 – December 17, 1985
President	Belisario Betancur
Preceded by	Jorge Salazar
Succeeded by	Rodrigo Lloreda
Colombia Ambassador to Italy
In office 1953–1953
President	Roberto Urdaneta
Senator of Colombia
In office 1951–1952
Member of the Chamber of Representatives
In office 1949–1951
Constituency	Cundinamarca
In office 1944–1946
Constituency	Cundinamarca
Colombia Ambassador to Switzerland
In office 1947–1948
President	Mariano Ospina Pérez
Personal details
Born	(1919-05-08)May 8, 1919 Bogotá, Colombia
Died	November 2, 1995(1995-11-02) (aged 76) Bogotá, Colombia
Political party	Conservative
Spouse	Margarita Escobar López (1946-1995)
Children	Mauricio Gómez Escobar Mercedes Gómez Escobar Álvaro José Gómez Escobar
Parent(s)	Laureano Gómez (father) María Hurtado Cajiao (mother)
Alma mater	Pontifical Xavierian University
Occupation	Journalist, politician
Profession	Lawyer

Álvaro Gómez Hurtado (May 8, 1919 – November 2, 1995) was a Colombian lawyer, politician, journalist and active member of the Colombian Conservative Party. Gómez was a son of the former President of Colombia, Laureano Gómez. He is mostly remembered for being one of the writers of the Colombian Constitution of 1991, for running three times for the presidency, without success, and for his murder at the hands of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. He served separate appointments as ambassador to Switzerland, Italy, the United States and France, beginning in the 1940s.

Álvaro Gómez Hurtado was born as the second of four children to Laureano Gómez, a newspaper publisher who later became president of Colombia. His mother was María Hurtado Cajiao. His siblings are Cecilia, Rafael and Enrique. The family grew up in La Candelaria, a traditional neighborhood of Bogotá. The children attended private schools in Brussels, Belgium and Buenos Aires, Argentina while their father served as a diplomat. After his family's return to Bogotá, Gómez went to the Colegio de San Bartolomé, a preparatory school, graduating in 1936.

He studied law at the Pontifical Xavierian University and graduated as a lawyer in 1941. His thesis was entitled Influencias del Estoicismo en el Derecho Romano ("The Influence of Stoicism in Roman Law").

He began writing for the newspaper El Siglo, which was owned by his father. He later founded a weekly business magazine called Síntesis Económica (Economic Synthesis) and created and produced a television news show called Noticiero 24 Horas ("24 Hours News").

Gómez Hurtado's first political office was as elected councilman for the city of Bogotá. He next ran for the Chamber of Representatives of Colombia and was elected for a four-year term. After finishing his term, he was elected for the Senate.

Gómez was appointed as a "plenipotentiary minister" several times. He was also appointed as Ambassador to the United Nations, Switzerland,^[1] Italy, the United States and France.

Gómez founded the National Salvation Movement. He ran (unsuccessfully) as its candidate for president three times: in 1974 against Alfonso López Michelsen, in 1986 against Virgilio Barco and in 1990 against César Gaviria.

He was elected to the Constituent Assembly, which created the new Colombian Constitution of 1991. He was elected as co-president of the Constituent Assembly along with Horacio Serpa and Antonio Navarro. After the Constitution had been written and ratified, Gómez left politics and focused on journalism and academia.

In 1988, Gómez was kidnapped by the M-19 guerrillas, and was released after the intervention of Álvaro Leyva.^[2]

Álvaro Gómez was murdered by gunmen on November 2, 1995, in Bogotá, while leaving the Sergio Arboleda University, where he was a Visiting Professor. FARC-EP claimed responsibility for his murder in letter to the Special Justice for Peace (JEP) tribunal in October 2020.^[3] In a clandestine book of letters from FARC founder Manuel Marulanda, titled Documentos y Correspondencia Manuel Marulanda Vélez (1993-1998), there are six mentions that the guerrilla committed the assassination.^[4]

However the family of Gómez Hurtado pointed out that it is a strategy to divert the attention away from the 25-year long and ongoing investigation that has been collecting evidence that might incriminate former president Ernesto Samper Pizano (1994-1998).

Gómez Hurtado was denouncing the financing of the former president Ernesto Samper's campaign by drug cartels, and they believe that the evidence shows that it was a state crime.^[5] Ernesto Samper has been a supporter of peace talks with the FARC guerrilla.

• La Revolución en América (Revolution in the Americas)
• La Calidad de Vida (The Quality of Life)
• Soy libre. (I am Free)
• Compilación de conferencias dictadas en la Universidad Sergio Arboleda. (Compilation of his lectures at Sergio Arboleda University)

Álvaro Gómez was married to Margarita Escobar López and had three children: Mauricio, Mercedes and Álvaro José.

• (in Spanish) El Diario del Otun newspaper; Alvaro Gomez Hurtado
• (in Spanish) El Colombiano newspaper; 1991
• (in Spanish) Colombialink.com: Alvaro Gomez Hurtado biography