Álvaro Gómez Hurtado

Álvaro Gómez was murdered by gunmen on November 2, 1995 in Bogotá while leaving the Sergio Arboleda University, where he was a Visiting Professor. FARC-EP claimed responsibility for his murder in letter to the Special Justice for Peace (JEP) tribunal in October 2020. In a clandestine book of letters from FARC founder Manuel Marulanda, titled Documentos y Correspondencia Manuel Marulanda Vélez (1993-1998), there are six mentions that the guerrilla committed the magnicide.

However it is important to take into account that the family of Gómez Hurtado stated that it is a strategy to distract the investigation that during the last 25 years has been collecting evidence that might incriminate former president Ernesto Samper Pizano (1994-1998).

He was elected to the Constituent Assembly, which created the new Colombian Constitution of 1991. He was elected as co-president of the Constituent Assembly along with Horacio Serpa and Antonio Navarro. After the Constitution had been written and ratified, Gómez left politics and focused on journalism and academia.

In 1988, Gómez was kidnapped by the M-19 guerrillas, and was released after the intervention of Álvaro Leyva.

Gómez founded the National Salvation Movement. He ran (unsuccessfully) as its candidate for president three times: in 1974 against Alfonso López Michelsen, in 1986 against Virgilio Barco and in 1990 against César Gaviria.

He studied law at the Pontifical Xavierian University and graduated as a lawyer in 1941. His thesis was entitled Influencias del Estoicismo en el Derecho Romano ("The Influence of Stoicism in Roman Law").

Álvaro Gómez was born as the second of four children to Laureano Gómez, a newspaper publisher who later became president of Colombia. His mother was María Hurtado Cajiao. His siblings are Cecilia, Rafael and Enrique. The family grew up in La Candelaria, a traditional neighborhood of Bogotá. The children attended private schools in Brussels, Belgium and Buenos Aires, Argentina while their father served as a diplomat. After his family's return to Bogotá, Gómez went to the Colegio de San Bartolomé, a preparatory school, graduating in 1936.

Álvaro Gómez Hurtado (May 8, 1919 – November 2, 1995) was a Colombian lawyer, politician, journalist and active member of the Colombian Conservative Party. Gómez was a son of the former President of Colombia, Laureano Gómez. He is mostly remembered for being one of the writers of the Colombian Constitution of 1991, for running three times for the presidency, without success, and for his murder at the hands of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. He served separate appointments as ambassador to Switzerland, Italy, the United States and France, beginning in the 1940s.