Harold Bedoya Pizarro (December 30, 1938 in Cali, Colombia – May 2, 2017 in Hospital Militar de Bogota) was a general and commander of the Colombian National Army. Bedoya 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 was 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 that 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 an independent for the Force Colombia () party he founded. During his campaign he stressed the importance 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.