BELISARIO BETANCUR

Date of Birth: 4 February 1923 Place: Amaga, Antioquia (Colombia) Nomination: 19 January 1994 Field: Sociology Title: Professor

Institute Address:
Fundación Santillana, Calle 80, N°9 - 75, Apartado Aéreo 3974, Bogotá (Colombia)

Most important awards, prizes and academies Acting Senator of the Republic (1958); Minister of Labour (1962); Ambassador to Spain (1975); President of the Republic of Colombia 1982-1986; President of the Commission for Truth in the El Salvador Peace Process (Central America); President of the IDEA Mission (Sweden) to foster the peace process in Guatemala; Sponsored the Contadora Group for Peace in Central America; Established distance education in Colombia; President of the Santillana Foundation for Iberoamerica; Vice President of the Club of Rome for Latin America; President of the Institute of Social Studies John Paul II in Bogotá; Member of the Colombian Academy of the Spanish Language; Member of the Colombian Academy of Jurisprudence; Member of the South American Peace Commission; Member of the Circle of Montevideo, headed by the President of Uruguay, Julio María Sanguinetti; "Cruz Isabel la Católica y la Orden de Carlos III" (Spain); "Legion d'honneur" (France); "Orden del Sol" (Peru); Gran Aguila Azteca" (Mexico); Awarded "Principe de Asturias" Prize in 1983; Implemented Colombian association and affiliation with the Movement of Non Aligned Nations; President of numerous foundations: Children's Museum (Museo de los Niños), Institute John Paul II (Instituto Juan Pablo II), Rafael Pombo Foundation (Fundación Rafael Pombo), Modern Art Museum (Museo de Arte Moderno); Member of the Club (de Expresidentes) of Madrid; Prize Cristóbal Gabarrón de Valladolid, a Una Trayectoria Humana.
Summary of scientific research The main subject of my research is violence and armed subversion in Latin America. The causes of conflict are subjective "guerrillas" or personal factors and objective dependence, absence of social infrastructure, under-development in general. A solution to the conflict, from my point of view, could be reached if those who raise their weapons against each other embraced simultaneous answers to both the subjective and objective factors.
Main publications La penitencia del poder, El Navigante, Bogotá, 1991; El Homo sapiens se extravió en America Latina, Tercer Mundo, Bogotá, 1990; Desde otro punto de vista, Tercer Mundo, Bogotá, 1976; El Cristo del desarrollo, Bogotá, 1968; El rostro anelante, Bogotá, 1977; Desde el alma del abdedul, Bogotá, 1980; Colombia cara a cara, Bogotá, 1981; Declaración de amar, Tercer Mundo, Bogotá, 1997; La pasión de gobernar, Tercer Mundo, 1999; Author of numerous articles and publications, writer-columnist in El Tiempo (Bogotá) and El Colombiano (Medellin).