Ernesto Samper Pizano
37th President of Colombia
In office 7 August 1994 – 7 August 1998
Vice President	Humberto De la Calle (1994-1996) Carlos Lemos Simmonds (1996-1998)
Preceded by	César Gaviria
Succeeded by	Andrés Pastrana
17th Secretary General of Non-Aligned Movement
In office October 18, 1995 – August 7, 1998
Preceded by	Suharto
Succeeded by	Andrés Pastrana Arango
Colombia Ambassador to Spain
In office 1991–1993
President	César Gaviria Trujillo
Preceded by	William Jaramillo Gómez
Succeeded by	María Emma Mejía Vélez
1st Minister of Economic Development
In office 7 August 1990 – 28 October 1991
President	César Gaviria Trujillo
Succeeded by	Jorge Ospina Sardi
Personal details
Born	(1950-08-03) 3 August 1950 (age 61) Bogotá, D.C., Colombia
Nationality	Colombian
Political party	Liberal
Spouse(s)	Jacquin Strouss Lucena (1979-present)
Children	Andrés Samper Arbelaez Felipe Samper Strouss Miguel Samper Strouss
Alma mater	Pontifical Xavierian University Columbia University
Profession	Lawyer, Economist
Religion	Roman Catholic

This article may be unbalanced towards certain viewpoints. Please improve the article by adding information on neglected viewpoints, or discuss the issue on the talk page. (September 2010)

Ernesto Samper Pizano (born 3 August 1950)^[1] is a Colombian politician. He served as the President of Colombia from August 7, 1994 to August 7, 1998, representing the Liberal Party. He was involved in the 8000 process scandal, which takes its name from the folio number assigned to it by the chief prosecutor's office. The prosecutor charged that money from the Cali Cartel was funneled into Samper's presidential campaign to gain his success in what would have been a very close race after he failed to win by a majority during the first round (Colombia has 2 rounds of elections, unless the first round yields a majority winner).

Campaign Scandal[link]

In 1993, when the presidential campaign was in its early stages, it became increasingly clear that the race was going to be close, particularly between Samper and Andrés Pastrana, the candidate of the Colombian Conservative Party: opinion polls were sharply divided. Presidential elections took place on May 29, 1994. The results of the first electoral round showed Ernesto Samper winning with a slight 0.32% lead over Andrés Pastrana. Colombian electoral law states that if no candidate wins more than 50% + 1 vote in the first round, a second round between the two candidates who achieved the highest number of votes in the first round shall take place to identify a winner.

The results of the first round threw the Samper campaign team into a frenzy to secure additional funding to widen the margin over the opposing candidate. They had assumed that Ernesto Samper would win the election easily in the first round and had spent all of their campaign funds to achieve this. With the campaign financials running in the red, the campaign managers were faced with the need to rally support for an additional three weeks against a strong, well-funded opponent. In what can be described as a desperate attempt to win at all cost, the campaign turned to the Cali cartel, receiving cash donations in excess of $6 million US dollars. These donations were delivered in large colourful paper bags normally used for birthday gifts.

After three weeks of arduous campaigning, Ernesto Samper was elected president, once again by a narrow 2% margin.^[2]

Shortly after his presidential victory, Samper was accused by his opponent and future successor, Andrés Pastrana, of having received campaign donations from the Cali cartel in excess of $6 million US dollars. Samper initially denied the allegations and deemed his political adversary a sore loser. Soon afterwards a series of damaging tape recordings were released to the public, the "narco-cassettes".^[3] Years later, the DEA's Joe Toft would claim ownership of the recordings as he was set to depart for Texas where he would retire soon after. The Chief Prosecutor at the time, Alfonso Valdivieso Sarmiento, personally led the investigation. Valdivieso was a cousin of the late Luis Carlos Galán, a charismatic Liberal party presidential candidate assassinated in 1989 by the Medellín Cartel for his political views, particularly for favoring the extradition of drug lords to the United States. Valdivieso discovered connections between the Cali drug cartel and top figures of Colombia's society, including politicians, journalists, athletes, army and police officers, and artists, among others.

Fernando Botero, who had been one of the campaign managers for Samper, was named Minister of Defense. Horacio Serpa, another of Samper's political allies during campaigning, was named Minister of Interior. When news of the investigation were leaked to the press, Samper appointed them to face the media and aggressively deny the possibility that drug money entered the finances of the presidential campaign. The message was clear: if money from the Cali drug cartel found its way into the campaign's finances, Samper had no notion of this. During a press conference in which both men referred to and disqualified key elements of the investigation, one of the journalists asked them how they had obtained this document, since it was a confidential document that only the prosecutor had the authority to release once the evidence was collected. Serpa said it was given to them by an "anonymous source".

After many months numerous politicians and top members of the government were indicted, but only scapegoats were convicted.^{[citation needed]} Botero was arrested in connection to the investigation and charged with conspiracy to illicitly gain wealth. Santiago Medina, the campaign's treasurer, was arrested, convicted and sentenced to prison as a result of the investigation. Other political figures, such as Alberto Santofimio Botero, Eduardo Mestre, journalist Alberto "el loco" Giraldo, were also imprisoned under the same investigation. Giraldo spoke on behalf of the Cali cartel in many of the tape recordings. The prosecutor also charged Samper, who insisted on his innocence. He said that if drug money had entered the presidential campaign, it had done so "behind his back".

Cardinal Pedro Rubiano, a leader of Colombia's Catholic Church, stated in an interview that not knowing that drug money financed part of the presidential campaign was similar to not noticing an elephant entering one's living room.^[4][5] Since then, the events that led to drug money financing the "Samper for President" campaign have been referred to as "The Elephant".

As outlined by the Colombian Constitution, only Congress can serve as the President's natural judge. So, once the Prosecutor General presented the case and delivered the evidence to the Congress, it was in the hands of the latter to evaluate the evidence and determine if Samper was also directly involved in this scandal. Congress is a political institution and at the time the majority of its members were political allies of Samper, many of whom had also been implicated in dealings with the Cali Cartel. It was no surprise that despite the evidence against Samper the case was precluded, that is neither guilty or innocent.

As a consequence of this political turmoil, the U.S. government withdrew any political assistance to Samper's government. For consecutive years, Samper's administration was lambasted by the US for its supposed failure to make every effort to effectively fight the war against cocaine and the Cali Cartel. Additionally, the US revoked Samper's visa and thereby effectively banned him from entering the country.

For a detailed timeline of the events regarding this investigation, see Procedure 8.000.

Ambassadorship Offer[link]

In July 2006, President Álvaro Uribe offered Samper Colombia's ambassadorship to France. This led to the resignation of former President and Ambassador of Colombia to the United States, Andrés Pastrana, who criticized the decision. Opposition was also expressed by the media, political groups and other parts of Colombian society. In the end, Samper did not accept the offer.

Personal life[link]

Ernesto was born on 3 August 1950^[1] in Bogotá to Andrés Samper Gnecco y Helena Pizano Pardo. Among his siblings, Daniel stands out as a prolific writer and journalist, a trait not alien to the Samper family who come from a long line of writers. He married Silvia Arbelaez with whom he had one son Andrés. He divorced and later remarried to Jacquin Strouss Lucena on 16 June 1979, and out of this marriage were born Miguel and Felipe.^[6]

Samper studied in the Gimnasio Moderno, a prestigious secondary school in Bogotá, and attended the Pontifical Xavierian University. Additionally, he conducted graduate studies in Economics at Columbia University while living in New York City.

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Fernando Botero's 2007 Spanish language tv and radio interview with new details on Ernesto Samper's involvement on receiving money from the Cali Cartel - El Tiempo
• Ingrid Betancourt, La Rage au Coeur, Edition XO, Pocket, 2001, ISBN 2-266-12016-6

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Francisco Lopes Santos

Personal information
Full name	Francisco José Ribeiro Lopes dos Santos
Nickname(s)	Xesko
Nationality	Angola
Born	(1962-05-17)May 17, 1962 Luanda, Angola
Height	1.78m (5 ft 10 in)
Weight	70kg
Sport
Sport	Swimming
Club	Clube Desportivo Nun' Alvares Clube Náutico da Ilha de Luanda F.C.Belenenses

Francisco José Ribeiro Lopes dos Santos, known mainly as Francisco Santos (born May 17, 1962, in Luanda, Angola) is an Angolan/Portuguese multi-talent artist with many names and faces. As Francisco Lopes Santos he is likely to be known as a swimmer. Art enthusiasts may know him as the visual artist Xesko, lovers of poetry as Elias Karipande, fantasy and science fiction fans as Alan J. Banta. As a writer, published in English and Portuguese.^[1]

As a sportsman represented Angola in swimming at the 1980 Summer Olympics (Men's 100 m Breaststroke^[2] and Men's 4 × 100 m Medley Relay^[3]).

He also represented his country in other international games, including the Algiers 1978 All-Africa Games, the Moscow 1979 Seventh USSR Summer Spartakiade and the Mexico 1979 Summer Universiade.

Biography[link]

Xesko's parents (who were Portuguese) had immigrated to Angola in 1959, and he grew up immersed in the African quarters (musseques) of Luanda.^[4]

Since very young, he was dedicated to the Arts and Sports. He began writing at 14 years old and painting at 16 (watercolours and Chinese Ink). In that time, he had published some short stories and poems in several magazines and newspapers.^[5]

In the secondary School, were a Founder and Publisher of the Magazine "The Bantalas" entirely dedicated to the Arts (Fine Art Painting, Photograph, Prose and Poetry) and participated in a contest of Art Painting whose objective was the creation of a poster commemorative of the anniversary of the MPLA obtaining the 1st place.^[5]

He detached himself widely in Sports, obtaining several titles of National Champion, in Swimming (consecutively from 1972 to 1980) and Chess (1977 and 1979). He also represented is nation abroad several times, being the last time in the 1980 Summer Olympics (Moscow).^[6][7][8]

He loves experiencing new techniques and ideas in Art Painting, being strongly influenced by the African art and by the work of Salvador Dalí. His interest by the painting avenged until 1986, time in that personal problems caused to stop having started again painting in the year of 2002.^[5]

Noticeable Militant of the Youth of the Party (JMPLA) abandoned the politics when he moved to Portugal in 1986.^[5] In Portugal, began a career as a musician under the name of Francis Riba, having created several musical groups, being the better known, the psychedelic rock band ZEM.^[9]

From 1982 to 1999 he was involved in several musical and theatrical projects as a technician, musician, producer and director, writing several adaptations and two original pieces.^[5]

Graduated in the Soviet Union, in 1986, in Chemical Engineering, where he frequented also the courses of "Scientific Drawing" and "Creative Thought in Post-modernism". In Portugal, graduated in Data Processing, Systems Engineering and Programming. He frequented also the Courses of “Improvement in Painting Techniques for Oil Portraits”, promoted by the Fine Art-Painter Master Almaia, “Photograph and Graphic Design”, from IADE (Institute of Visual Arts, Design and Marketing), “Aesthetics and Theories of the Contemporary Art" and "Art Painting and Visual intervention”, from SNBA (National Society of Fine arts).^[5]

He has a MA of Contemporary Fine Arts from the Sheffield Institute of Arts (Sheffield Hallam University), Sheffield, UK, and has several works displayed in public places and he is represented in several private and official collections in Portugal, Russia, France, Spain, Brazil, UK and Angola.

Heteronyms[link]

Xesko

Francisco Santos's primary nom d'art or alter ego.

Alan J. Banta

The heteronym Alan J. Banta is described as a civil engineer, born in 1952 in Kakamas, a village located in the Northern Cape, South Africa but living and working in Angola. After independence, in 1975, remained in the country, for he considers his true home. This heteronym, emerges as a prolific writer of fantasy and science fiction, because of their South African origins and English education, is tending to express in a very classical way. According Francisco Santos, Alan J. Banta, appears for the necessity of the author has in distancing his student's life from his fantasies.

Elias Karipande

By other side, the heteronym Elias Karipande, was born in 1958 in Karipande, a village of Alto Zambeze in Moxico, Angola. Countryman, having only attended primary school, enroll the FAPLA in 1977 after the killing of their parents by UNITA. Born poet, his poetry reflects the heroic spirit of the time. According Francisco Santos, this heteronym, appears for the necessity of creating a soul of pure nationalism.

Works[link]

Alan J. Banta[link]

(Novel, Short story)

• 1976 – Exodus. ISBN 989-8085-10-X
• 1977 – Crossed fire I (A Travel to the Past) - Fogo Cruzado I (Uma Viagem ao Passado). ISBN 989-8085-11-8
• 1978 – Crossed fire II (Perhaps the Future) - Fogo Cruzado II (Talvez o Futuro). ISBN 989-8085-12-6
• 1979 – Crossed fire III (What Reality) - Fogo Cruzado III (Que Realidade). ISBN 989-8085-13-4
• 1981 – Zantar. ISBN 989-8085-14-2
• 1993 – Terrae Incognitae. ISBN 989-8085-15-0
• 1994 – Dreams (Short story) - Sonhos (Contos). ISBN 989-8085-16-9
• 1995 – Thoughts of Chom - Pensamentos de Chom. ISBN 989-8085-17-7

Elias Karipande[link]

(Poetry)

• 1982 – The Rainbow Warriors - Os Guerreiros do Arco-íris. ISBN 989-8085-00-2
• 1984 – From Kabinda to the Kunene - De Kabinda ao Kunene. ISBN 989-8085-01-0
• 1986 – 24 Hours in the Life (Finally the Peace) - 24 Horas na Vida (Finalmente a Paz). ISBN 989-8085-02-9
• 1988 – Green - Verde. ISBN 989-8085-04-5

Xesko[link]

(Poetry)

• 1986 – Putting the Points in the iis - Pontos nos iis. ISBN 989-8085-03-7
• 1989 – A Step in thin Ice - 1 Passo em Falso. ISBN 989-8085-05-3
• 1993 – Between God and the Devil - Entre Deus e o Diabo. ISBN 989-8085-06-1
• 1996 – Muses (A Lost Secret) - Musas (Um Segredo Perdido). ISBN 989-8085-07-X
• 2002 – Ambiguities - Ambiguidades. ISBN 989-8085-08-8
• 2006 – The Electric Zone of the Colors - A Zona Electrica das Cores. ISBN 989-8085-09-6

(Novel, Short story)

• 1998 – Cel, Angel or Demon - Cel, Anjo ou Demónio, ISBN 989-8085-18-5

Selected exhibitions[link]

Solo[link]

Oil on Canvas (101 X 76 cm) - Homage to Álvaro Cunhal (1913-2005).

• 1981 - "Freedom" Scientific Institute of Minsk (Minsk/Bielorussia - Ex. Soviet Union)
• 1982 - "Butterfly Effect" Humbi-Humbi, Art Gallery (Luanda/Angola)
• 2004 - "7 Shades of Gray" Café da Ponte, Docas de Alcântara (Lisbon/Portugal)
• 2008 - "E Pluribus Unum" First Gallery, (Lisbon/Portugal)
• 2009 - "Devaneios/Reveries" Gallery Vasco da Gama, (Loures/Portugal)
• 2010 - "Devaneios II/Reveries II" Gallery Fernado Pessoa, (Lisbon/Portugal)^[10]
• 2011 - "Transições/Transitions" Gallery Fernado Pessoa, (Lisbon/Portugal)^[11]

Collective[link]

Oil on Canvas (101 X 76 cm) - (In exhibition in the Military Hospital of Belem, Lisbon, Portugal).

• 1978 - "Um Quadro para a Revolução" (A painting for the Revolution) Noble Room of the National Assembly (Luanda/Angola)
• 2005 - Military Hospital of Belém (Lisbon/Portugal)
• 2006 - "Coisas de Campolide" (Things about Campolide) (Lisbon/Portugal)
• 2007 - "1st National Exhibition of Fine Arts" (Lisbon/Portugal).^[12]
• 2007 - "Lembrar Abril" (Remember April - commemorations of 25th of April and the International Workers' Day) (Alcochete/Portugal)
• 2007 - "Viver Campolide" (To live Campolide) (Lisbon/Portugal)
• 2007/2008 - Arte Fora da Galeria (Art Outside the Gallery) (Alcochete/Portugal)
• 2008 - "Os 5 Mágnificos" (The Magnificent 5) Tic Tac Café (Alcochete/Portugal)
• 2009 - Puro Arte, (Vigo/Spain)^[13]
• 2009 - Artexpo NY, (New York/U.S.A)^[14]
• 2009 - Art Meeting in London III, Gallery 118, (London/UK)^[15]
• 2009 - Poésie Visuelle dans Paris II (Visual Poetry in Paris II), Galerie Artitude, (Paris/France)^[16]
• 2009 - Galeria Aberta XVI (Open Gallery XVI), Museum "Jorge Vieira", (Beja/Portugal)
• 2009 - Around the Bull - Gallery Vieira Portuense (Porto/Portugal)^[17]
• 2010 - Transmission: Off Air, SIAD Gallery, (Sheffield/UK)
• 2011 - Global Echo: Artists in Print, Furnival Gallery, (Sheffield/UK)
• 2011 - Creative Sparks 2011, Furnival Gallery, (Sheffield/UK)

• 2007/8/9/11 - Alcarte (Alcochete/Portugal)^[18]

See also[link]

Poetry portal

• Angola at the 1980 Summer Olympics
• Swimming at the 1980 Summer Olympics - Men's 4 x 100 metre medley relay
• Post-Modernism
• Contemporary art
• Modern literature
• Modern poetry
• Heteronym

References[link]

Additional references

• Official Site
• DIÁRIO DE LUANDA, Luanda, Angola, (1968 to 1974), (Newspaper)
• PROVÍNCIA DE ANGOLA/JORNAL DE ANGOLA, Luanda, Angola, (1968 to 1981), (Newspaper)
• International Olympic Committee, (1980). Moscow '80, Moscow: Fizkulturai Sport Publishers'.
• Federação Portuguesa de Natação, (1984) “Ranking Nacional 82/83”, Lisboa: FPN.
• Federação Portuguesa de Natação, (1985) “Ranking Nacional 83/84”, Lisboa: FPN.
• Federação Portuguesa de Natação, (1986) “Ranking Nacional 84/85”, Lisboa: FPN.
• Federação Portuguesa de Natação, (1987) “Ranking Nacional 85/86”, Lisboa: FPN.
• Federação Portuguesa de Natação, (1988) “Ranking Nacional 86/87”, Lisboa: FPN.
• Federação Portuguesa de Natação, (1989) “Ranking Nacional 87/88”, Lisboa: FPN.
• RECORD, Lisboa, Portugal, (1982 to 1990), (Newspaper)

External links[link]

• (English) Men 100m Breaststroke Olympic Games Moscow
• (English) Men 4x100m Medley Relay Olympic Games Moscow
• (English) Sports Reference
• (English) Official Olympic Reports
• (English) Official Olympic Reports - Moscow 1980
• (English) Saatchi Gallery
• (English) Babele Arte
• (English) modelmayhem.com
• (Portuguese) SPA - Portuguese Society of Authors
• (Portuguese) APEL - Portuguese Association of Publishers and Booksellers
• (Portuguese) Jornal de Angola (Newspaper)
• (Portuguese) Record (Newspaper)