Belisario Betancur, former president of Colombia and member of the Columbian Academy of Language, History and Jurisprudence, has been awarded the International Menéndez Pelayo Prize unanimously for defending noble causes, especially for his democratic reforms, for his attempts to bring peace to his country incorporating the principal armed movements into civil life, for promoting low-cost housing, for his literacy campaigns and for promoting open universities, among other reforms that have influenced other Latin American countries. He chaired with exemplary academic and moral authority the IV International Congress of the Spanish Language, which has so excellently served the interests of the entire Hispanic Community of Nations.
Betancur is currently the Vice-president of the Club of Rome for Latin America, President of the Commission for Truth in the El Salvadorian peace process, President of the Pan-American Health Office in Washington, and President of the Santillana for Latin America Foundation in Bogotá. He is also a founding member of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences and Member of the Club de Madrid.