Fuad Ricardo Char Abdala (born 5 October 1937) is a

Senator of Colombia The Senate of the Republic of Colombia ( es, Senado de la República de Colombia) is the upper house of the Congress of Colombia, with the lower house being the House of Representatives. The Senate has 108 members elected for concurrent (non-r ...

serving his fifth term in Congress, albeit not all consecutively. He is the founder of .

Family

Fuad was the son of Ricardo Char Zaslawy, an immigrant from

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

who arrived in Colombia in 1926, and Erlinda Abdala a daughter of Lebanese immigrants. He is the eldest out of seven children, his other siblings were Jabib, Farid, Simón, and, Ricardo His uncle, Nicólas had started a business that quickly grew profitable, and the family moved to Barranquilla in 1952, where they started what would become , a conglomerate that would make his family one of the most influential in the Colombian Caribbean Coast. It grew into a conglomerate that included Supermercados Olimpicos, the radio station Olímpica Stéreo, and the ownership of

Junior Barranquilla Junior or Juniors may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * ''Junior'' (Junior Mance album), 1959 * ''Junior'' (Röyksopp album), 2009 * ''Junior'' (Kaki King album), 2010 * ''Junior'' (LaFontaines album), 2019 Films * ''Junior'' (1994 ...

. Fuad, married his

first cousin Most generally, in the lineal kinship system used in the English-speaking world, a cousin is a type of familial relationship in which two relatives are two or more familial generations away from their most recent common ancestor. Commonly, " ...

Adela Chaljub Char, daughter of Antonio Chaljub, an immigrant from

and Rosa Char Zaslawy, his aunt from Syria. Together they had three children: Antonia, Arturo, and Alejandro. After becoming a widower in 1994, he remarried in 2004 to Maria Mercedes de la Espriella. Currently, the Char family is considered one of the most influential families in Colombia, with Alejandro (Fuad's son) being major of Barranquilla in two non-consecutive times, and Arturo being Senator of Colombia during the period 2018-2022. Nevertheless, The Char family has been accused multiple times of corruption acts that involve all types of electoral crimes. Recently, the Char family was on the public eye as Aida Merlano (Former senator and Fugitive), affirmed that the Char family arranged her cinematographic escape from jail and her posterior attempt of murder.

References

1937 births People from Córdoba Department Living people

Fuad Fuad (Arabic: فؤَاد ''fū’ād, fou’ād'') (also spelled Fouad, Foud, Fuaad or Foad) is a masculine Arabic given name, meaning "heart" - the beating circulating heart, the concept of "mind and spirit". Its root word is the Arabic verb ' ...

Colombian people of Lebanese descent Members of the Senate of Colombia Colombian Ministers of Economic Development Governors of Atlántico Department Ambassadors of Colombia to Portugal {{colombia-politician-stub

Family

See also

References