Biography of Miguel Abadia Mendez

Miguel Abadia Mendez

(Vega de los Padres, 1867 - Bogotá, 1947) Colombian politician and writer who was President of the Republic (1926-1930). A member of the Conservative Party, his presidential term was characterized by relative stability and restored confidence among foreign investors.

Affiliated from a young age with the Conservative Party, Miguel Abadía Méndez worked as a lawyer, journalist, and diplomat and was repeatedly a deputy and minister in successive Conservative cabinets. He was elected President of the Republic for the four-year period 1926-1930, the last of a long period of conservative hegemony (1885-1930).

The government of Miguel Abadía did not have the collaboration of the liberal party and faced great economic problems to finish the works begun in the administration of Pedro Nel Ospina, as well as to face the world economic recession of 1929. His diplomatic management was important since Boundary treaties were ratified with Brazil, Peru, and Nicaragua.

However, he had to face serious problems of public order; He persecuted and repressed union activity, and during his government the infamous massacre of the banana plantations (December 1928) took place, fictionalized by García Márquez in One Hundred Years of Solitude. All this and the indecision of the Conservative Party to unify around a candidate meant the fall of the ruling party.

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