Gustavo Balcázar Monzón

Gustavo Balcázar Monzón (born 10 August 1927)^[1] is a Colombian lawyer and retired politician. A member of the Colombian Liberal Party, he served as Member of both the Senate and the Chamber of Representatives of Colombia, presiding over both chambers of Congress. He also served in the administrations of President Guillermo León Valencia as the 48th Governor of Valle del Cauca, and as the 16th Minister of Agriculture,^[2] and in the administration of President Julio César Turbay Ayala as the 18th Ambassador of Colombia to the United Kingdom,^[3] and Non-Resident Ambassador to Algeria.^[4]

Gustavo Balcázar Monzón
Senator of Colombia
In office 20 July 1982 – 20 July 1994
In office 20 July 1966 – 18 January 1979
In office 20 July 1962 – 8 September 1962
15th Colombia Ambassador to the United Kingdom
In office 18 January 1979 – 21 September 1981
President	Julio César Turbay Ayala
Preceded by	Jaime García Parra
Succeeded by	Diego Andrés Restrepo Londoño
16th Colombian Minister of Agriculture
In office 6 October 1964 – 1 September 1965
President	Guillermo León Valencia
Preceded by	Virgilio Barco Vargas
Succeeded by	José Mejía Salazar
48th Governor of Valle del Cauca
In office 8 September 1962 – 17 October 1964
President	Guillermo León Valencia
Preceded by	Carlos Humberto Morales
Succeeded by	Humberto González Narváez
Member of the Chamber of Representatives of Colombia
In office 20 July 1958 – 20 July 1962
Constituency	Valle del Cauca Department
Personal details
Born	Gustavo Balcázar Monzón (1927-08-10) 10 August 1927 (age 98) Cali, Cauca Valley, Colombia
Political party	Liberal
Spouse(s)	Bolivia Ramos (divorced) Nydia Quintero Turbay (1984–2025; her death)
Children	María Isabel Balcázar Ramos Iliana Balcázar Ramos
Alma mater	Pontifical Xavierian University (LLB, LLM, LLD)
Profession	Lawyer

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Balcázar and the second or maternal family name is Monzón.

Personal life

He was born on 10 August 1927 in Santiago de Cali, to Ricardo Balcázar and Leonor Monzón and married Bolivia Ramos, with whom he had two daughters, María Isabel and Iliana.^[1] Already divorced, he remarried to Nydia Quintero Turbay, former First Lady of Colombia, in a civil ceremony in 1984.^[5]

He received his primary and secondary education at Berchmans School in Cali. He later traveled to Bogotá to pursue his university studies in Law and Economics at the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, obtaining his degree in 1950 with the thesis The city, urban planning and the valorization tax.^[6]