Harold Bedoya Pizarro Harold Bedoya Pizarro ( born December 30 , 1938 in Cali , Colombia ) is a former General and Commander of the Colombian National Army . Bedoya has also ran for President of Colombia in the 1998 and 2002 elections . Military career . Bedoya ' s military training began at the Jose Maria Córdova Military Academy in September 1955 where he received the rank of Infantry Second lieutenant . In 1965 he attended the School of the Americas and trained in military intelligence , later returning in 1979 as a guest professor . In 1987 he was promoted to Commander of the Seventh Brigade , Villavicencio where he developed the plan of dismantling the laboratories and eradication of illicit activities by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia ( ) ( FARC ) . Three years later he will be given the position of Commander of the Fourth Brigade in Medellín , Antioquia where he participated in anti - narcotic operations against drug kingpin Pablo Escobar . In 1991 Bedoya was given the position of Director of the Superior Military School in Bogotá , Cundinamarca . The following year he was again promoted to Deputy commander of the Northeastern Division , a position he held for three years before being finally promoted in 1996 to Commander - in - chief of the armed forces where he replaced Admiral Holdan Delgado , he held the position for one year . On July 24 , 1997 , Bedoya was forced into retirement by then President Ernesto Samper due to his unwillingness to negotiate with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia ( FARC ) . Presidential candidacies . In 1998 Bedoya announced his candidacy for President of Colombia , running as independent for the Force Colombia ( ) party he founded . During his campaign he stressed the important of ridding Colombia of drug smugglers and stated it as his number one priority . Bedoya stated he did not agree with the prior removal of the Colombian National Army from FARC controlled territory and , stated he would not negotiate with them until their " narco - based finances have been squeezed . " On April 27 , in what was believed to be an attack by rebel groups to destabilize the campaign , five bombs detonated in Bogotá , one at the campaign headquarters of Bedoya . At the end of the first round of voting Bedoya and running mate Jorge Garcia Hurtado were removed from the running after receiving only 193 , 037 votes , a total of 1 . 82 % . Conservative Andrés Pastrana went on to the second round and , facing off against Liberal Horacio Serpa , eventually became President of Colombia . In the 2002 elections , Bedoya once again participated as a presidential candidate and ran against Horacio Serpa , Luis Eduardo Garzón , Noemí Sanín , Álvaro Uribe and Íngrid Betancourt . Betancourt would later be kidnapped by FARC rebels during the election season . Bedoya ' s Force Colombia obtained 50 , 763 votes , 0 . 459 % of the total . Álvaro Uribe went on to win the election , representing the Colombia First political party . Controversy . Human rights . General Bedoya was criticized during the later years of his military career for his past attendance at the School of the Americas , as a number of its graduates have committed human rights violations . Bedoya was also accused of tolerating , working with or doing little to combat paramilitary groups . BINCI and Triple A . Bedoya ' s past service in the former Batallón Único de Inteligencia y Contrainteligencia ( ) ( BINCI ) of the Colombian National Army has been linked to the activities of the Anticommunist American Alliance ( ) ( AAA ) . The BINCI , acting as AAA , has been accused of carrying out a series of bombings against the Colombian Communist Party ' s Headquarters and its newspaper " Voz Proletaria " . The AAA has also been accused of engaging in other kidnappings , bombings and assassinations against leftist targets and abuses of guerrilla detainees during the late 1970s . Then - Lieutenant Colonel Bedoya was mentioned in an open letter published on November 29 , 1980 by the Mexican newspaper " El Día " , in which five individuals identified as former Colombian military detail a number of activities carried out by BINCI personnel operating as Triple A . According to them , Lieutenant Colonel Harold Bedoya , the commander of BINCI , would have given orders to the personnel involved in the bombing of " Voz Proletaria " . Legal actions against critics . Bedoya has been criticized for filing slander charges against Father Javier Giraldo , the director of the Intercongregational Commission for Justice and Peace ( ) . Human Rights groups such as Human Rights Watch and the Organization of American Studies have called these slander suits a measure intended to silence critics .