Germán Vargas Lleras

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Germán Vargas Lleras (born February 19, 1962) is a Colombian politician who most recently served as Vice President of Colombia under President Juan Manuel Santos Calderón.

He served four terms in the Senate, as a member of the Radical Change political party who was first elected in 1994.

German Vargas served in the Cabinet for two years as Interior Minister and then Minister of Housing, City, and Territory.

In 2014, he was elected Vice President of Colombia alongside Juan Manuel Santos, who was running for re-election for a second term as President.

Vargas Lleras resigned as Vice President on March 15, 2017 in order to run for President in the 2018 presidential election.

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Political career

Germán Vargas Lleras began his political career while in college, winning his election as the mayor of Bojac, Cundinamarca, in 1981 under the banners of the New Liberalism, a radical political party established by then-youth Senator Luis Carlos Galán. Galan appointed him political coordinator for the district of Los Mártires in Bogotá's capital city right after the election. Bogotá's experience during his tenure led him to a bid for city councilman in 1988. After the assassination of his political mentor in 1989, the New Liberalism began to crumble, and Vargas Lleras, then Minister of Agriculture, joined the Colombian Liberal Party ranks.

He retook his positions in Los Mártires' capital district and assembled a staff that helped him get elected for two consecutive terms as City Councilman (1990–1994). He then ran for the Colombian Senate in 1994 under the Liberal Party's auspices.

Vargas Lleras was the visible head of the opposition in the Senate to president Andrés Pastrana's government in 1999–2002, largely due to the ill-fated 1999–2002 FARC-Government peace process. In the midst of those circumstances, his unwavering opposition to continuing peace talks brought him closer to lvaro Uribe Vélez, a radical liberal candidate who was calling for the demilitarized zone of San Vicente del Caguán's del Caguán. Vargas Lleras voted to favor Uribe's candidacy, a move that required him to abandon the Liberal party and the party's official candidate for the presidency Horacio Serpa.

In 2002, he ran for his third term of office in the Senate on the ticket of the political party Colombia Always, a critic of the Liberal Party founded by Juan Lozano. He was not only re-elected, but because of the high number of votes he received, he ran alongside another candidate in the same ticket for the third time in the country. Senator Vargas Lleras was the victim of a terrorist attack five months into his third term, a bomb wrapped in gift paper. Vargas Lleras lost some fingers in his left hand as a result of the assault. Vargas Lleras, who recovered from his wounds, returned to the Senate floor in 2003, establishing himself as one of the Senate's leaders. Vargas Lleras was elected Senate President in 2003 by Vargas Lleras.

The national news journal Semana announced a study in July 2005 identifying Joaqun Vergara Mojica, an ex guerilla of the ELN terrorist group, as the one behind the bomb attack on Senator Vargas Lleras. According to the study, the accused, as well as two other "reinsertados" (deserters who had been pardoned), staged a plot to send explosive equipment to high-profile individuals, advising the CIA of the terrorist attacks before they exploded. The bomb inside the book aimed at Senator Vargas Lleras exploded shortly before the law enforcers took it to his office, according to Vergara's account.

Juan Lozano was defeated in his attempt for mayor of Bogotá by the Colombia Always campaign in October 2003. Senator Vargas Lleras went on to join the Radical Change party, climbed to the top of the party's ranks and became the Chairman and Director in 2004.

A group of Uribists led by Juan Manuel Santos formed the Party of the United States in the second half of 2005, and Senator Vargas Lleras was invited by the party to unite both groups in the run-up to the forthcoming elections. Sen. John Kerry declined the invitation, citing that both groups were represented in different political groups. The infiltration of the Party of the United States by extreme right-military groups became public less than a few weeks after the elections, sparking a storm of indignation among many Colombians.

Senator Vargas Lleras was the subject of another terrorist attack, this time with a car bomb. Vargas Lleras survived the assault unharmed, but a few of his bodyguards were seriously wounded, though a few of his bodyguards were seriously wounded. When the senator accused the FARC terrorist group for the assault, the result result resulted in a confrontation between the senator and President Uribe, the senator deny FARC terrorist involvement in the attack, disregarding facts that might point to a potential alliance between politicians and the paramilitary groups. To date, the Colombian Attorney General's Office hasn't closed the probe.

Radical Change remained a primary political party in 2006, winning 15 Senators and 22 congressmen. Senator Vargas Lleras secured the most votes for the Senate (223.330) with a 50 percent advantage over the second runner up. Vargas Lleras took a leave of absence from the Senate to study in Europe starting in 2008. Rodrigo Lara Resto had him replaced him. However, on June of the same year, he resigned his senate seat in a bid to save the political reform bill, despite the fact that Lara Restrepo could not vote it due to being accused of political bias. He was then replaced by Elsa Gladys Cifuentes, but the bill did not pass in the Senate despite Vargas Lleras' bold move.

In the Panama Papers scandal, Vargas Lleras is cited.

When rumors of og ties between the political group AUC and politicians were revealed, the Cambio Radical party was implicated in a so-called "parapolitics" scandal. Vargas reportedly "resigned from the Senate 'to investigate,' and revealed his opposition to a second re-election of Uribe, which was being led by Santos' U Party in the aftermath of the scandal. Rather, Vargas declared himself running for president himself in 2009, causing increasing tensions between the then-president and his former aide."

Inspector General Alejandro Ordoz declared that an investigation into suspected links between Vargas and imprisoned warlord Martin Llanos would be launched again in 2012.

Vargas Lleras declared his presidential campaign on June 25, 2009. He said he would remain on the ballot regardless of whether incumbent President Uribe runs for a third term during the case. The former senator's messages have always stated that he intends to stick with Uribe's policies, but not without Uribe.

Vargas Lleras began his government initiative after a lengthy campaign trail in which he visited 30 of Colombia's 32 Departments, calling for a variety of politically critical reforms. Vargas Lleras, despite the offers of alliances made by a variety of political parties, waited for the political landscape to become clear, saying that only at the right time and under the right conditions will he be able to serve in a coalition government.

Juan Manuel Santos Calderón, Uribe's chosen replacement, won the election. Vargas gained 10% of the vote and came third, and later became a minister in Santos' government in August 2010.

On August 29, 2017, German Vargas Lleras announced his presidential candidacy. In a video posted on his Facebook page, he thanks the coalition of citizens who started his presidential campaign by establishing a committee to gather signatures in order to run for president. Simón Vélez (architect and economist) and Eduardo Pacheco (President of Grupo Colpatria and economist) and Jeison Aristizábal (founder of Asodivalle and named in 2016 as a CNN Heroes of the year) chaired the Citizen Committee. To promote the presidential campaign, the citizens committee began using the hashtag #MejorVargasLLeras.

Many politicians were taken aback by this campaign's inability to run, but instead, many citizens began to collect signatures from citizens all around Colombia. A political tactic sluggish by his opponents, but embraced by the constitution. One of the campaign's tactics was to compel Colombians to reflect about their country's situation and how electing him would prevent this from happening. Vargas Lleras' decision to run by signatures could be a way to avoid his own party's bad reputation for misconduct committed by several of his constituents, including members of parliament and attorneys.

According to a Gallup poll released on August 30, 2017, Vargas Lleras began his campaign with a favorable image against a displeasable image of 48 percent. According to Cifras y Conceptos, the 2017 polls put him in first place, with 14% of the popular opinion if the presidential elections were to be held. However, the vast majority of the population is yet to determine who is going to vote for over 17%. He came in fourth place in fourth place, receiving 7.3 percent of the votes.

65% of the population polled in 2019 reported an unfavourable picture of Germán Vargas Lleras, although 25% said they had a positive image.

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