″ What am I going to die ?, ¡mamola! ”: This was the last video interview of Horacio Serpa Uribe

The death of the former senator and president of the Constituent Assembly in 1991, Horacio Serpa, was confirmed at noon this Saturday. Just on March 13, 2020, when the covid-19 pandemic landed in Colombia, Serpa spoke with Semana Magazine and told how he found out about his cancer. “Last year, I said I was going to have some routine exams and the doctor said ‘there something came out.’ Three days later, the biopsy, they told me it was a malignant cancer, then I had to do other tests, including a CT scan: cancer in the pancreas, metastasis in the liver, all of that in ten days! ”Serpa recounted with much calm.

The liberal politician said that the most important achievement of his career was reaching the presidency of the National Constituent Assembly in 1991. “I learned that he who makes mistakes loses and that to do politics in Colombia you need money.”

He also made reference to the accusations that have haunted him since 1995 when Álvaro Gómez Hurtado was assassinated. For the family of the journalist and conservative leader, Serpa and the then president of the Republic Ernesto Samper conspired to cause his death due to the strong criticism made by Gómez Hurtado for the 8,000 process in which the entry of drug trafficking money into the campaign was confirmed of Samper.

“First a surprise that they dared to make such claims. People know me and know that they can classify me as anything but homicidal. I was and am ready to face justice. That doesn’t get me up late ”, Serpa said.

He also touched on the most difficult moment with the 8,000 process. “When the prosecutor in the case summoned some Samper ministers for an investigation. All this was due to the fact that money from drug trafficking had entered the campaign, terrible because that caused a lot of damage to the country. I did not know that, there were people involved but not all. And Samper was not involved. I always defended that cause because I believed in it and I continue to believe. “

Then he referred to the iconic phrase with which he defended his friend and partner at the time, Ernesto Samper. When his resignation was requested in a debate in the House of Representatives for those monies, Serpa said “That Dr. Ernesto Samper Pizano resign? Mamola !, as Jorge Eliecer Gaitán used to say ”.

“The next day I had an appointment on Caracol Radio with Darío Arizmendi and he asked me about ‘mamola’, that became so powerful that I almost lost my identity. The doctor called me ‘mamola’.

Finally he said that he never wanted to be president and, although he was later convinced, he was defeated, but he tried again a second time, where he also lost. “Already in that one I did not have much desire, but someone told me: ‘the third is the charm’ and I made the biggest mistake of my life,” he commented with laughter.

The former presidential candidate said that when he became aware of cancer, many people told him that overcoming that disease was his last great fight, so he said: “I want to go down as a great fighter to posterity.”