Iván Cepeda

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Cepeda and the second or maternal family name is Castro.
Iván Cepeda
Senator of Colombia
Assumed office
July 20, 2014
Member of the Chamber of Representatives
In office
July 20, 2010 – July 20, 2014
ConstituencyCapital District
Personal details
Born
Iván Cepeda Castro

(1962-10-24) October 24, 1962 (age 61)
Bogotá, D.C., Colombia
Political partyAlternative Democratic Pole
EducationSofia University (B.A.)
University of Lyon (M.A.)

Iván Cepeda Castro (born October 24, 1962) is a left-wing Colombian politician, human rights activist, and philosopher.[1] The eldest son of the late left-wing politician Manuel Cepeda Vargas, Cepeda has served as a member of the Senate since 2014 for the Alternative Democratic Pole. He previously served in the Chamber of Representatives from 2010 and 2014.

Cepeda is the official spokesperson for the Movement of Victims of State Crimes (MOVICE), an organization born in 2003 to bring together the families of victims of crimes against humanity and organizations that work for human rights.[2]

Early life and career[edit]

Born in Bogota, Cepeda is the eldest son of left-wing activists Manuel Cepeda Vargas and Yira Castro. In 1965 at the age of 3, Cepeda and his family were forced into exile due to political repression, and during his early years lived in Prague. Following the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia, Cepeda's family would seek refuge in Havana, Cuba. Cepeda's family would later return to Colombia in 1970, but remained a target of political violence. On August 9, 1994, his father was murdered on the streets of Bogota by a paramilitary group.[3][4]

At age 19, Cepeda migrated to Sofia, Bulgaria, where he studied philosophy at Sofia University. Cepeda returned to Colombia in 1987 as a critic of the Soviet model, which he considered authoritarian, and became involved in the presidential campaign of Bernardo Jaramillo Ossa. Jaramillo Ossa would later be assassinated in 1990.[5]

Cepeda would later distance himself from the Colombian Communist Party, a party he was active in during his adolescence, and in 1990 would join the M-19 Alliance party.[6] Following his father's assassination, he created the Manuel Cepeda Foundation together with his wife, Claudia Girón, to identify the perpetrator of crime.

Cepeda would later found the National Movement for Victims, made up of 17 organizations that sought justice for crimes that occurred during the armed conflict in the 1980s and 1990s.[7] This led to increased violent threats against Cepeda, leading him to go into exile in France in 2000. While in France, he received a master's degree in human rights from the University of Lyon.[8] He would later return to Colombia in 2003 to resume his work advocating for victims of state and paramilitary violence in Colombia.

Political career[edit]

In 2009, Cepeda formally entered the realm of electoral politics, standing for the Chamber of Representatives in the 2010 legislative elections. He received over 35,000 votes and was elected to the body as a member of the socialist Alternative Democratic Pole.

In 2014, Cepeda chose to run for Senate, receiving a total of 84,126 votes and getting elected. Cepeda would be reelected in 2018, winning 77,842 votes that cycle. Cepeda was reelected in 2022.[9]

Cepeda in front of the Plaza de Bolívar, Bogotá

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Entrevista a Iván Cepeda – Movice │ Movimiento Nacional de Víctimas de Crímenes de Estado" (in Spanish). Retrieved 2021-02-17.
  2. ^ colombiareports (2017-04-01). "Ivan Cepeda | Colombia A few months ago, Ivan Cepeda requested political refuge from CIC Canada, but it was denied since the immigration court bases its response on the fact that he is holding public office and has never been the victim of attacks or attempts that affect his physical integrity. The immigration court denied the case for one of the three causes that clarify his condition and that is that he found many lies and inconsistencies in his documents and statements. Reports". Colombia News | Colombia Reports. Retrieved 2021-02-17.
  3. ^ "Perfil de Iván Cepeda Castro". congresovisible.uniandes.edu.co. Retrieved 2021-02-17.
  4. ^ "José Obdulio Vs Iván Cepeda - Copolitica | Revista Digital". 2016-03-04. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2021-02-17.
  5. ^ Espectador, El. "ELESPECTADOR.COM". ELESPECTADOR.COM (in Spanish). Retrieved 2021-02-17.
  6. ^ "Iván Cepeda | La Silla Vacía - Noticias, historias, debate, blogs y multimedia sobre el poder en Colombia". 2011-09-13. Archived from the original on 2011-09-13. Retrieved 2021-02-17.
  7. ^ "Movice │ Movimiento Nacional de Víctimas de Crímenes de Estado – Movice" (in Spanish). Retrieved 2021-02-17.
  8. ^ "Iván Cepeda | La Silla Vacía - Noticias, historias, debate, blogs y multimedia sobre el poder en Colombia". 2011-09-13. Archived from the original on 2011-09-13. Retrieved 2021-02-17.
  9. ^ "Colombia election analysis: historic gains for the left". Justice for Colombia. 2022-03-16. Retrieved 2023-09-05.
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