Turbay, Gabriel (1901–1946)

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Turbay, Gabriel (1901–1946)

Gabriel Turbay (b. 28 January 1901; d. 17 November 1946), Colombian Liberal leader. Of Syrian-Lebanese descent, he was trained in medicine at the Universidad Nacional in Bogotá, but devoted little time to its practice. He attracted attention during the 1920s as a member of a circle of young socialist intellectuals. After the Liberal Party's return to power in 1930, he occupied a series of responsible government positions, and in 1946 he was the official Liberal candidate for president, opposing the dissident Liberal Jorge Eliécer Gaitán and Conservative Mariano Ospina Pérez. The latter won as a result of the Liberals' division. Turbay then left Colombia for a European tour; he died suddenly in Paris.

See alsoColombia: Since Independence .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Agustín Rodríguez Garavito, Gabriel Turbay, un solitario de la grandeza, 2d ed. (1966).

Herbert Braun, The Assassination of Gaitán: Public Life and Urban Violence in Colombia (1985).

Eduardo Durán Gómez, Gabriel Turbay, estadista santandereano (1988).

                                    David Bushnell