José Vicente Concha

José Vicente Concha Ferreira (April 21, 1867 – December 8, 1929) was a Colombian politician who served as President of Colombia from 1914 to 1918. He was also a noted member of the Colombian Conservative Party.

Biographic data

Concha was born in Bogotá, on April 21, 1867, during the administration of General Tomás Cipriano de Mosquera.

Early life

Concha studied jurisprudence and specialized in criminal law. He became a University professor in the fields of journalism, literature, and oratory. He also stood out as a political debater as a skilled, eloquent, and persuasive public speaker.

During the presidential election of 1914, two candidates were running for office, Nicolás Esguerra for the liberal party and Concha for the conservative party. Concha obtained 300,735 votes and Esguerra obtained 36,763.

Since Colombia had just gone through two major wars, the Thousand Days' War and the war of secession with Panama, Concha decided to maintain the country neutral during World War I, for which Congress approved and gave him extraordinary powers to rule by decree.

Diplomatic career

Concha had served as Colombian Ambassador to the US in 1902. He also served as Minister of Foreign Affairs during the administration of President Marco Fidel Suárez. In 1925, Concha is designated as Colombian Ambassador to Italy and later to the Vatican City in Rome, where he died. In one of his last statements he said: "I never violated the rights of people or parties, I was impartial and neutral in every political debate or election, I kept diplomatic and cordial relations with every nation and, I never placed the country at risk".