Alfonso López Pumarejo

2025-09-18T01:02:51Z

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{{Short description|President of Colombia (1934–1938, 1942–1946)}}
{{about|the 16th and 14th president of Colombia|his son, the 25th president|Alfonso López Michelsen}}
{{family name hatnote|López|Pumarejo|lang=Spanish}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2022}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific_prefix = [[His Excellency]]
| name = Alfonso López Pumarejo
| image = Alfonso Lopez Pumarejo.jpg
| imagesize = 250px
| caption =
| office = 16th and 14th [[President of Colombia]]
| term_start = 7 August 1942
| term_end = 7 August 1945
| predecessor = [[Eduardo Santos Montejo]]
| successor = [[Alberto Lleras Camargo]]
| term_start2 = 7 August 1934
| term_end2 = 7 August 1938
| predecessor2 = [[Enrique Olaya Herrera]]
| successor2 = [[Eduardo Santos Montejo]]
| order3 = 7th
| ambassador_from3 = Colombia
| country3 = United Kingdom
| term_start3 = 5 June 1959
| term_end3 = 20 November 1959
| predecessor3 = Carlos Alberto Sardi Garcés
| successor3 = [[Virgilio Barco Vargas]]
| president3 = [[Alberto Lleras Camargo]]
| order4 = 1st
| ambassador_from4 = Colombia
| country4 = United Nations
| term_start4 = 1946
| term_end4 = 1948
| predecessor4 = ''Office established''
| successor4 = [[Roberto Urdaneta Arbeláez]]
| president4 = [[Mariano Ospina Pérez]]
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1886|01|31}}
| birth_place = [[Honda, Tolima|Honda]], [[Sovereign State of Tolima|Tolima]],<br />[[United States of Colombia]]
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1959|11|20|1886|01|31}}
| death_place = [[London]], England, United Kingdom
| nationality = [[Colombian people|Colombian]]
| party = [[Colombian Liberal Party|Liberal]]
| spouse = {{Plainlist|
*{{marriage|[[María Michelsen Lombana]]|1911|1949|end=died}}
*{{marriage|Olga Dávila Alzamora|1953}}
}}
| children = {{Plainlist|
* María López Michelsen
* María Mercedes López Michelsen
* [[Alfonso López Michelsen]]
* Pedro López Michelsen
* Fernando López Michelsen
}}
| alma_mater = [[London School of Economics]]
| occupation = [[Economist]], [[journalist]], [[diplomat]], [[politician]]
}}
'''Alfonso López Pumarejo''' (31 January 1886 – 20 November 1959) was a Colombian political figure, who twice served as [[President of Colombia]], as a member of the [[Colombian Liberal Party]]. He served as President of Colombia from 1934 to 1938 and again from 1942 to 1946.

==Biography==
[[File:33 Wilton Crescent, London 02.JPG|thumb|left|33 Wilton Crescent]]
[[File:33 Wilton Crescent, London 03.JPG|thumb|left|Blue plaque, 33 Wilton Crescent]]
Alfonso López Pumarejo was born in Honda (Tolima) to Pedro Aquilino López Medina, a businessman and Rosario Pumarejo Cotes.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Alfonso López Pumarejo 38° Presidente de Colombia|url=https://www.geni.com/people/Alfonso-L%C3%B3pez-Pumarejo-38-Presidente-de-Colombia/6000000001000476933|access-date=2021-03-02|website=geni_family_tree|language=en-US}}</ref> Alfonso López Pumarejo went on to study at the [[London School of Economics]]. His son, [[Alfonso López Michelsen]], was [[president of Colombia]] between 1974 and 1978.

The first administration of Alfonso López Pumarejo (1934–38) known as the "revolución en marcha", has proven an enduring theme of historical interest.<ref>Stoller, R. (1995). Alfonso López Pumarejo and Liberal Radicalism in 1930s Colombia. Journal of Latin American Studies, 27(2), 367–397. doi:10.1017/S0022216X00010798
</ref>

He was [[1934 Colombian presidential election|elected president in 1934]] almost unopposed, and as the second participant of the so-called Liberal Hegemony in Colombia, his initial government platform became known under the name "Revolución en Marcha" (Marching Revolution), as it attempted to implement far reaching social and political reforms. López ran a campaign emphasizing reform, welfare programs, liberal democracy, constitutional reform, education reform (moving away from Church-provided education to public education), expansion of male suffrage, land reform to redistribute idle land to the landless.<ref name=":0">{{Citation |last=Abel |first=Christopher |title=Columbia, 1930–58 |date=1991 |work=The Cambridge History of Latin America: Volume 8: Latin America since 1930: Spanish South America |volume=8 |pages=585–628 |editor-last=Bethell |editor-first=Leslie |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/cambridge-history-of-latin-america/columbia-193058/C42F5AF815504D47AF92B14EBFB3DBFC |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/chol9780521266529.011 |isbn=978-0-521-26652-9 |last2=Marco |first2=Palacio|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

Several radical changes were promoted during his first administration, as the government supported the creation of labour unions and also passed the Law 200 of 1936, which allowed for the expropriation of private properties, in order to promote "social interest".<ref name=":0" />

He was supportive of free trade.<ref name=":0" /> His government dismantled exchange controls in 1935.<ref name=":0" /> His government liberalized regulations on foreign investment in Colombia, stimulating increased investment in banana and oil production.<ref name=":0" /> He signed a commercial treaty with the United States in 1935.

These actions earned López Pumarejo the backing of important rural and labour sectors, in addition to that of the [[Colombian Communist Party]], but they likewise divided his previous political allies, some of which called for moderation. The election of his successor [[Eduardo Santos Montejo]] took place in 1938.

After being [[1942 Colombian presidential election|re-elected in 1942]], the second administration of López Pumarejo faced a stronger opposition in Congress and by both the more conservative and more radical sectors within the president's own [[Colombian Liberal Party]] which resulted in the interruption of previous reforms.

When Colombia joined the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]] in declaring war against the [[Axis powers]] in July 1943, López Pumarejo strongly supported the decision and simultaneously declared that the government should take into account that the [[United States]] would always place its own interests ahead of anything else, implicitly indicating that these may not necessarily coincide with those of Colombia.

To permit López Pumarejo to travel to the United States and care for his sick wife, María Michelsen de López, [[Darío Echandía]] assumed the acting presidency of the country from 17 November 1943 to 16 May 1944. This turn of events also prevented the development of further reforms, as López himself was temporarily removed from the political arena.

After his return to the country, further political conflicts led to a failed military coup attempt in 1944 wherein López Pumarejo was briefly kidnapped,<ref name=":0" /> and López Pumarejo finally resigned in early 1945.

In 1946, he was head of the Colombian delegation to the [[United Nations]].

Alfonso López Pumarejo died on 20 November 1959 in [[London]], to which he had travelled as Colombia's ambassador to the [[United Kingdom]]. He had lived at 33 [[Wilton Crescent]] in [[Belgravia]], [[Knightsbridge]] in London with his second wife, Olga Dávila Alzamora. They married in 1953 after both their spouses had died (she had been married to Leopoldo Kopp Castello, son of well-known industrialist [[:es:Leo Kopp|Leo Kopp (es)]], founder of [[Bavaria Brewery (Colombia)|Bavaria Brewery]]). López's body was taken by horse-drawn carriage from his residency to [[Westminster Cathedral]] where a funeral mass was held in his name.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{s-start}}
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{{succession box
| before = [[Enrique Olaya Herrera]]
| title = [[President of Colombia]]
| years = 1934–1938
| after = [[Eduardo Santos Montejo]]}}
{{succession box
| before = [[Eduardo Santos Montejo]]
| title = President of Colombia
| years = 1942–1945
| after = [[Alberto Lleras Camargo]]}}
{{s-end}}
{{Expand Spanish|topic=bio|Alfonso López Pumarejo|date=March 2017}}
{{Presidents of Colombia}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lopez Pumarejo, Alfonso}}
[[Category:1886 births]]
[[Category:1959 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century diplomats]]
[[Category:20th-century Colombian male writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Colombian politicians]]
[[Category:20th-century Roman Catholics]]
[[Category:Alumni of the London School of Economics]]
[[Category:Ambassadors of Colombia to the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Burials at Central Cemetery of Bogotá]]
[[Category:Colombian Liberal Party politicians]]
[[Category:20th-century Colombian economists]]
[[Category:Colombian male journalists]]
[[Category:López family|Alfonso]]
[[Category:Permanent representatives of Colombia to the United Nations]]
[[Category:People from Tolima Department]]
[[Category:Presidents of Colombia]]
[[Category:World War II political leaders]]
[[Category:20th-century Colombian journalists]]
[[Category:Pumarejo family]]

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Alfonso López Pumarejo