José Vicente Concha Ferreira (April 21, 1867 – December 8, 1929) was a Colombian politician who served as

President of Colombia The president of Colombia (President of the Republic) is the head of state and head of government of Colombia. The president heads the executive branch of the Government of Colombia, national government and is the commander-in-chief of the Mil ...

from 1914 to 1918. He was also a noted member of the

Colombian Conservative Party The Colombian Conservative Party () is a conservative political party in Colombia. The party was formally established in 1849 by Mariano Ospina Rodríguez and José Eusebio Caro. The Conservative Party along with the Colombian Liberal Party ...

.Arismendi Posada, Ignacio; ''Gobernantes Colombianos'', trans. Colombian Presidents; Interprint Editors Ltd., Italgraf, Segunda Edición; Page 163; Bogotá, Colombia; 1983

Biographic data

Concha was born in

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

, on April 21, 1867, during the administration of General Tomás Cipriano de Mosquera. He died in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, on December 8, 1929, while serving as Ambassador to the

Vatican City Vatican City, officially the Vatican City State (; ), is a Landlocked country, landlocked sovereign state and city-state; it is enclaved within Rome, the capital city of Italy and Bishop of Rome, seat of the Catholic Church. It became inde ...

.Arismendi Posada, Ignacio; ''Gobernantes Colombianos'', trans. Colombian Presidents; Interprint Editors Ltd., Italgraf, Segunda Edición; Page 166; Bogotá, Colombia; 1983

Early life

Concha studied jurisprudence and specialized in criminal law. He became a distinguished University professor in the fields of journalism, literature and oratory. He also stood out as a political debater, as a very skilled, eloquent and persuasive public speaker.

Political career

Concha joined the

by the end of the presidency of

Carlos Eugenio Restrepo Carlos Eugenio Restrepo Restrepo (September 12, 1867 – July 6, 1937) was a Colombian lawyer, writer, and statesman, who was elected President of Colombia in 1910.Gobernantes Colombianos, Ignacio Arismendi Posada, Interprint Editors Ltd., Ital ...

. The ''"republicanism”'' movement had come to an end, and politicians were returning to the original political parties. He was elected to Congress, and in 1898, as majority leader, he led the debate against General Rafael Reyes, causing him to resign to the presidency. Concha was appointed Minister of War in 1901, during the administration of José Manuel Marroquín. Later, Marroquín designated him as the Colombian Ambassador to the United States of America and he presented his diplomatic credential to the State Department on March 8, 1902, during the Colombian civil war ''“de los Mil Dias”'' (

Thousand Days' War The Thousand Days' War () was a civil war fought in Colombia from 17 October 1899 to 21 November 1902, at first between the Colombian Liberal Party, Liberal Party and the government led by the National Party (Colombia), National Party, and lat ...

).Arismendi Posada, Ignacio; ''Gobernantes Colombianos'', trans. Colombian Presidents; Interprint Editors Ltd., Italgraf, Segunda Edición; Page 164; Bogotá, Colombia; 1983 During the presidential election of 1914, two candidates were running for office, Nicolás Esguerra for the liberal party and Concha for the conservative party. Concha obtained 300,735 votes and Esguerra obtained 36,763.

The Presidency

Concha was inaugurated as President of Colombia on August 10, 1914. He initiated his administration in a prosperous and peaceful time, inherited from the government of

.Arismendi Posada, Ignacio; ''Gobernantes Colombianos'', trans. Colombian Presidents; Interprint Editors Ltd., Italgraf, Segunda Edición; Page 165; Bogotá, Colombia; 1983 Since Colombia had just gone through two major wars, the civil war ''“de los Mil Dias”'' and the war of session with

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

, Concha decided to maintain the country neutral during World War I, for which Congress approved and gave him extraordinary powers to rule by decree.

Diplomatic career

As mentioned earlier, Concha had served as Colombian Ambassador to the US in 1902. He also served as Minister of Foreign Affairs during the administration of President Marco Fidel Suárez. In 1925, Concha is designated as Colombian Ambassador to Italy and later to the

in Rome, where he died. In one of his last statements he said: ''“I never violated the rights of people or parties, I was impartial and neutral in every political debate or election, I kept diplomatic and cordial relations with every nation and, I never placed the country at risk”''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Concha Ferreira, Jose Vicente 1867 births 1929 deaths Presidents of Colombia Ambassadors of Colombia to the United States Ambassadors of Colombia to Italy Ambassadors of Colombia to the Holy See Colombian Conservative Party politicians Ministers of foreign affairs of Colombia Ministers of defense of Colombia Politicians from Bogotá