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31st President of Colombia | |
| Predecessor | Rafael Caldera |
| Successor | Felipe Ramón Hernández |
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Secretary of the Chamber of Senators | |
| Predecessor | Ricardo Cortez |
| Successor | Enrique Montevideo |
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Assistant Ambassador to Mexico | |
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Senator | |
| Born | October 17, 1922 Ciudad Panamá, Prov. Istmo, Dep. Panamá |
| Died | March 18, 2013 (aged 90) |
| Spouse | Isabella Maria Villana Modelo |
| Political Party | Republican |
Raphael Gusto Villana Pedante (October 17, 1922 - March 18, 2013) is a retired Colombian politician, diplomat and academician. As one of the most prominent center-right politicians of an extremely left-wing era in Colombian politics, he engineered the formation of Rafael Caldera's Unity government from 1982-1986 which brought his own Republican Party to power for the remainder of the 1980's, and became the first Republican President since José Luis de López y Santa Maria, sixty-one years earlier when he was supported by the Unity Colombia coalition in 1986.
Villana served as President of Colombia between 1986 and 1990 as a reward for his support for Caldera during the "dark days" of the war, and for his stewardship of the Senate. During his reign, the economy of Colombia fluctuated, but he oversaw the withdrawal of American forces from Colombia, aggressively broke the backs of powerful entrenched Colombian interests impeding the war effort, and launched a surprisingly ambitious counterattack against the sagging Brazilians in 1986 after a few years of tepid fighting. Villana is regarded as a national hero in Colombia for expediting the collapse of the Brazilian military dictatorship, especially as he did it with the Americans gone.
Despite his popularity in the wake of the 1987 victory over Brazil, the economic collapse of 1988, which had vast regional implications, soured public opinion of him and the Republicans barely survived local elections later that year. The Unity Colombia pact collapsed as former President Carlos Andrés Pérez attempted a comeback in 1990 and he was succeeded by 8-year Defense Minister Felipe Ramon Hernandez.