Rodrigo Pardo García-Peña, the foreign minister and ambassador who gave up his diplomatic career to become one of Colombia's most respected journalists, died this Monday at the age of 65. A brilliant analyst, he led several of the country's most renowned media outlets and also left his mark on academia with groundbreaking studies in the field of foreign relations. Politicians from various sides, civil servants, all kinds of journalistic organizations and countless public figures have mourned his death.
Sensible, calm and optimistic, even in times of increasing polarization, he was always highly regarded in all the editorial offices he visited. No one remembers seeing him raise his voice. “He deserves the admiration of a generation of journalists, he deserves the respect of those of us who have seen him analyze the country, advise it, write about it and breathe it through its streets in sips and marathons.” “A farewell and a big thank you to the unforgettable Rodrigo Pardo,” reacted Andrés Mompotes, the director of El Tiempo, where Pardo served as editor-in-chief and deputy director. Fidel Cano, the director of El Espectador, the other major national newspaper that Pardo also ran at the time and in which he still published, lamented this “great loss” for Colombian journalism, which he could no longer count on in his quiet , analytical and responsible voice.” He was also director of the magazine Cambio, Noticias RCN and editorial director of the magazine Semana.
The University of Los Andes economist with a master's degree in international studies from Johns Hopkins University worked with President Virgilio Barco (1986-1990) as an advisor on international issues and held various diplomatic positions in the Foreign Affairs Department in the 1990s in the government of Ernesto Samper (1994-1998). “Former Foreign Minister Pardo García-Peña made valuable contributions to Colombia’s foreign policy. His professional career was linked to the work of this ministry, where he served as Chancellor, Vice Foreign Minister and Ambassador of Colombia to the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and the French Republic. “From the academy on, he was one of the pioneers in the study of international relations,” he recalled Chancellery as he expressed his condolences. Vice President Francia Márquez remembered him as “an outstanding diplomat who transcended political ideologies, an outstanding journalist who defended freedom of expression and an academic with a passion for knowledge.”
In 1998 he took over the management of El Espectador, never to give up journalism again, and in 2020 he resigned as editorial director of Semana, amid the business upheavals that blurred the publication's traditional character. “First of all, an excellent journalist and analyst, not only for his knowledge but also for his seriousness and attitude. A prime example of an honest and responsible informant. How we will need it,” praised the senator and former peace negotiator Humberto de la Calle. “As chancellor, he extolled Colombia’s name and role, certainly under very difficult circumstances,” added De la Calle, who resigned as Samper’s vice president amid the turmoil caused by the influx of drug money. Process called 8,000. The mayor of Bogotá, Carlos Fernando Galán, also described Pardo as “an extraordinary person and a great journalist: serious, responsible and fair.”
A successful runner who completed 14 marathons, cancer affected his health in recent years, but he continued to publish political analysis in El Espectador during this time. “Fortunately, I forget that the tumor follows me everywhere. I lead a normal life and there is little left of the after-effects of the treatments. Not even difficulty walking, just a few balance problems,” he said in an interview published by Bocas magazine in 2022, in which he admitted that he missed not being able to walk. “We are definitely not prepared for the only inevitable. “We don’t know how to die,” he remarked in that conversation.
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