2002 in Colombia

* 2001
* 2000
* 1999
*   *

|  | 2002

Colombia |

* 2003
* 2004
* 2005
*   *

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Decades:|

* 1980s
* 1990s
* 2000s
* 2010s
* 2020s

See also:|

* Other events of 2002
* Timeline of Colombian history

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (August 2024)

|

Events from the year 2002 in Colombia.

## Incumbents

[edit]

* President:
* Andrés Pastrana Arango (1998 – 7 August 2002).[1]
* Álvaro Uribe Vélez (7 August 2002 – 2010).[2]
* Vice President:
* Gustavo Bell (1998–7 August 2002).
* Francisco Santos Calderón (7 August 2002 – 2010).[3][4]

## Events

[edit]

### Ongoing

[edit]

* Colombian conflict

### January

[edit]

* 9 January – The Colombian government announces it is suspending peace talks with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and plans to enter the demilitarized zone.[5]
* 30 January – Journalist Orlando Sierra Hernández is shot in the head twice while walking with his daughter in Manizales, Caldas. He dies in the hospital the following day.[6][7]

### February

[edit]

* 20 February – Four FARC members hijack a commercial plane flying from Neiva to Bogotá. The president, as a result, decides to halt the peace process.[8]
* 23 February – Presidential candidate Íngrid Betancourt and her campaign manager Clara Rojas are kidnapped by the FARC near San Vicente del Caguán.[9]

### March

[edit]

* 10 March – 2002 parliamentary elections are held.[10]
* 15 March – Football player Jairo Zulbarán is murdered while at a public market in Santa Marta.[11]

### April

[edit]

* 11 April – Ancízar López López is kidnapped, allegedly by the National Liberation Army (ELN).[12]
* 12 April – Valle del Cauca Deputies hostage crisis: 12 Deputies of the Valle del Cauca Department Assembly are kidnapped by FARC members with the goal of prisoner exchange.[13]
* 26 April – Apartado massacre: FARC members kill nine workers and place explosives at the Villa Lucía banana plantation[14][15]

### May

[edit]

Bojayá Church after being hit (May 12, 2002). 2002 presidential election results by department  Uribe|  Serpa.

* 2 May – Bojayá massacre: An estimated 119 people are killed after a church is caught in the crossfire of fighting between the FARC and the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), struck with a cylinder bomb.[16]
* 26 May – The 2002 Colombian presidential election is held; Álvaro Uribe of the Colombia First movement wins, earning 53% of the vote.[10]

### June

[edit]

* 18 June – President-elect Álvaro Uribe meets with United States Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Richard Myers in Washington, D.C..[17]

### July

[edit]

* 15 July – Amnesty International issues a 'fear for safety' public statement on SINTRAELECOL Human Rights officer Rodrigo Acevedo and other union members. This came after multiple apparent attempts on his life and the murders of at least 160 trade unionist murders in 2001.[18]

### August

[edit]

* 7 August – Álvaro Uribe and Francisco Santos Calderón are inaugurated as the 31st president and 8th vice president of Colombia.[3]
* 7 August – 14 people are killed in a FARC missile attack on the Casa de Nariño during Uribe's inauguration.[19]

### September

[edit]

* 23-26 September – President Uribe meets with U.S. President George W. Bush.[20]
* 24 September – The U.S. Department of Justice unseals indictments against AUC members, including Carlos Castaño-Gil, for cocaine trafficking.[21]

Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela being captured.

### November

[edit]

* 7 November – Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela, a drug lord from the Cali Cartel is granted early release after serving 7 years in prison on the basis of good behavior, despite efforts by the U.S. government to stop his release.[22]

### October

[edit]

* 16-18 October – Operation Orion: the 4th Brigade of the Colombian military, the Administrative Department of Security (DAS), and police special forces conduct a military offensive within Comuna 13, Medellín with the stated mission of fighting FARC, ELN, and People’s Armed Commandos (CAP) members. [23]

### December

[edit]

* 11 December – Police discover a number of cars rigged with remote control steering and explosives, believed to be prepared for attacks in Bogotá. They manage to defuse five cars bombs.[24]
* 24 December – At a check-point in Paime, Cundinamarca, councilman José Alirio Macías is killed by the FARC-EP.[25]

## Births

[edit]

## Deaths

[edit]

* 9 January – Maruja Hinestrosa, pianist and composer[26]
* 1 February – Orlando Sierra Hernández, columnist and journalist (b. 1959).[6][7]
* 15 March – Jairo Zulbarán, football player (b. 1970).
* 16 March – Isaías Duarte Cancino, Roman Catholic archbishop (b. 1939).

## References

[edit]

1. ^ East, Roger; Thomas, Richard J. (3 June 2014). Profiles of People in Power: The World's Government Leaders. Routledge. p. 108\. ISBN 978-1-317-63940-4.
2. ^ "How President Alvaro Uribe changed Colombia". BBC News. 4 August 2010. Retrieved 20 August 2024.
3. ^ a b Publications, Europa (2002). South America, Central America and the Caribbean 2003. Taylor & Francis. p. 271\. ISBN 978-1-85743-138-4.
4. ^ Kline, Harvey F. (2012). Historical Dictionary of Colombia. Scarecrow Press. p. 196\. ISBN 978-0-8108-7813-6.
5. ^ "Peace Timeline: 2002". The Center for International Policy's Latin America Security Program. 12 March 2002. Retrieved 20 August 2024.
6. ^ a b "The Case of Orlando Sierra Hernández". Global Freedom of Expression at Columbia University. Retrieved 20 August 2024.
7. ^ a b "Orlando Sierra Hernández". Committee to Protect Journalists. Retrieved 20 August 2024.
8. ^ "Colombian peace talks suspended after hijacking, kidnapping". CNN. 20 February 2002. Retrieved 19 August 2024.
9. ^ Begg, Kirsten (13 July 2010). "Betancourt's arrogance got her kidnapped: Ex-hostage". Colombia Reports. Archived from the original on 20 September 2022. Retrieved 26 September 2024.
10. ^ a b "Colombia Cracks Down" (PDF). Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), Colombia Monitor. July 2002. Retrieved 20 August 2024.
11. ^ "EL FINAL TRISTE DE MUCHOS FUTBOLISTAS" [The sad end of many players] (in Spanish). El Colombiano. January 2006. Archived from the original on 4 July 2012. Retrieved 20 August 2024.
12. ^ "la FIDH condena el secuestro y la muerte del ex gobernador Ancízar López López". Federación Internacional por los Derechos Humanos (FIDH) (in Spanish). 2005. Retrieved 26 September 2024.
13. ^ "Ex diputados piden acuerdo humanitario" [Former deputies ask for a humanitarian agreement]. El País (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 20 August 2024.
14. ^ "Incrementan seguridad en Urabá, tras masacre de nueve personas" [Security increased in Urabá after massacre of nine people]. Caracol Radio (in Spanish). 27 April 2002. Retrieved 20 August 2024.
15. ^ "Masacre de Apartadó 2002" [Apartado massacre 2002]. Rutas del Conflicto (in Spanish). 16 October 2019. Retrieved 20 August 2024.
16. ^ Grattan, Steven; Voge, Cady. "Bojaya massacre: After 17 years, victims' remains returned". Al Jazeera. Archived from the original on 3 February 2024. Retrieved 19 August 2024.
17. ^ "The Friends of "El Viejo": Declassified Records Detail Suspected Paramilitary, Narco Ties of Former Colombian President Uribe". National Security Archive at George Washington University. 31 August 2020. Retrieved 20 August 2024.
18. ^ "PUBLIC" (PDF). Amnesty International. 15 July 2002. Retrieved 20 August 2024.
19. ^ "14 Dead At Colombian Inauguration". Retrieved 8 April 2017.
20. ^ "Visits By Foreign Leaders of Colombia". U.S. Office of the Historian. Retrieved 20 August 2024.
21. ^ Ashcroft, John (24 September 2002). "United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) Indictment". Department Of State. The Office of Electronic Information, Bureau of Public Affairs. Retrieved 20 August 2024.
22. ^ "Drug Lord Is Released From Prison". Los Angeles Times. 8 November 2002. Archived from the original on 22 February 2024. Retrieved 20 August 2024.
23. ^ pbicolombia (10 January 2017). "Operation Orion". PBI Colombia (English). Retrieved 5 May 2025.
24. ^ "Bogota Colombia RC Car Bombs 2002". Collective Awareness To UXO (CAT-UXO). Archived from the original on 23 January 2023. Retrieved 20 August 2024.
25. ^ "Lo que hizo las Farc en Cundinamarca" [What the FARC did in Cundinamarca]. Verdad Abierta (in Spanish). 25 January 2013. Retrieved 21 August 2024.
26. ^ "Murió la Compositora de El Cafetero" [The composer of El Cafetero has died], El Tiempo (in Spanish), 11 February 2002, retrieved 4 July 2025

## External links

[edit]

* Media related to 2002 in Colombia at Wikimedia Commons

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2002 in South America

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