Gabriel Betancourt Mejía (born April 27, 1918 in

Medellín Medellín ( or ), officially the Municipality of Medellín ( es, Municipio de Medellín), is the second-largest city in Colombia, after Bogotá, and the capital of the department of Antioquia. It is located in the Aburrá Valley, a central re ...

– died March 23, 2002 in

Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city of Colombia, and one of the larges ...

) was a Colombian economist and diplomat who served as Colombia's Minister of National Education in two occasions, and Permanent Delegate to

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

Early life

Gabriel Betancourt was born in

on April 27, 1918 to Pedro Nolasco Adriano Betancur Toro and Mariana Mejía Arango as the youngest of 9 children. Betancourt was a member of the government of president

Gustavo Rojas Pinilla Gustavo Rojas Pinilla (12 March 1900 – 17 January 1975) was a Colombian Army of Colombia, Army general, civil engineer and dictator who ruled as List of presidents of Colombia, 19th President of Colombia as from June 1953 to May 1957. Rojas ...

. He later became assistant director of the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (

). He was also head of the education commission of the

Alliance for Progress The Alliance for Progress ( es, Alianza para el Progreso, links=no), initiated by U.S. President John F. Kennedy on March 13, 1961, ostensibly aimed to establish economic cooperation between the U.S. and Latin America. Governor Luis Muñoz Marín ...

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

under

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination i ...

Personal life

Gabriel Betancourt was the father of the politician and former

FARC The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People's Army ( es, link=no, Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de ColombiaEjército del Pueblo, FARC–EP or FARC) is a Marxist–Leninist guerrilla group involved in the continuing Colombian conflic ...

hostage

Íngrid Betancourt Íngrid Betancourt Pulecio (; born 25 December 1961) is a Colombian politician, former senator and anti-corruption activist, especially opposing political corruption. Betancourt was kidnapped by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) ...

. Gabriel Betancourt divorced his wife

Yolanda Pulecio Yolanda Pulecio Vélez also known as "Mamá Yolanda" (born December 31, 1939) is a Colombian former beauty queen turned politician, former member of the Congress of Colombia. Of Italian origins, Pulecio married former minister of finance and dipl ...

in 1980 and was granted custody of his daughters. Gabriel Betancourt died of heart and respiratory trouble a month after Íngrid's kidnapping, without seeing his daughter again.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Betancourt, Gabriel 1918 births 2002 deaths

Gabriel In Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam), Gabriel (); Greek: grc, Γαβριήλ, translit=Gabriḗl, label=none; Latin: ''Gabriel''; Coptic: cop, Ⲅⲁⲃⲣⲓⲏⲗ, translit=Gabriêl, label=none; Amharic: am, ገብር� ...

Colombian Ministers of National Education People from Medellín Permanent Delegates of Colombia to UNESCO