
Enrique Olaya Herrera (12 November 1880-18 February 1937) was President of Colombia from 7 August 1930 to 7 August 1934, succeeding Miguel Abadia Mendez and preceding Alfonso Lopez Pumarejo.
Biography[]
Enrique Olaya Herrera was born in Guateque, Boyaca Department, Colombia in 1880. He became a journalist at the age of 12 and rose to prominence with the rest of the "Centennial Generation" that came of age after the Thousand Days' War. Olaya joined the Colombian Liberal Party and opposed Rafael Reyes' dictatorship, supported the moderate conservative Carlos Eugenio Restrepo's "Republican" movement, and served as Foreign Minister from 1910 to 1911 and from 1921 to 1922. He was elected President in 1930, interrupting an era of conservative dominance, and he allocated half of his government's offices to Laureano Gomez's Colombian Conservative Party. He enacted workers' legislation, public assistance, protection for workers and farmers, and presided over the Colombia-Peru War, which resulted in the resolution of their border dispute in 1933. Olaya later served as Foreign Minister under Alfonso Lopez Pumarejo and died in 1937 while on a diplomatic visit to Rome.